05/08/17 - London's Royal Parks

Distance - 7.5 Miles
Geocaches - 1
Walk Inspiration

London on a Saturday, with several hours to kill before a Virgin Experience Day at a Shaftesbury Avenue Comedy Club.   How to entertain ourselves?

I've had my eye on a walk from www.walkingworld.com that takes in all of the Royal Parks in an 8 mile spectacular of urban country walking.   Apart from a brief spell across Marylebone, this is almost entirely pavement free.

This is one of the many reasons London is unique.

The walk is only an inspiration.  Rather than face the tube to get to Chalk Farm station, we notice the Regents Canal is a stone's throw from our hotel.  We'll add this to the trek.

Mrs M is impressed by the canal side regeneration (Barge Based Book Shops, Flats made from Gas Tanks) until the exact point we walk under the first bridge.   Unhappy campers have divided their two tents with the latest in outdoor WC technology.   A bucket.  This is a theme that repeats itself at the majority of bridges into Camden.

The Word - on the Water

What can we do with old Gas Tanks?  Make Flats, of Course.

A handy sign to show where we have arrived.

Primrose Hill, at the back of Regents Park, provides my favourite view over the City.   A fine place to "start" any walk and I was delighted to share this with Mrs M, who was visiting for the first time.  She admired the little farmer's market at the school and the clamber up, through the discarded prosecco bottles, for a cracking game of spot the landmark.

She did rather well but thought "Walkie Talkie" a stupid name for a building

Through Regents Park, past the Zoo and into our only bit of road walking - along the delightful Marylebone High Street.   Another chance to demonstrate something new to Mrs M - the Ginger Pig Butchers, purveyor of the finest sausage rolls in the land and a regular lunchtime haunt.   If you ever find yourself in Moxon Street...

The walk is meant to take you into Hyde Park, to complete a circuit.   Three reasons for not including it today - 1)  I walked the perimeter in only April 2) the clouds are looking most ominous and 3) we've added a couple of miles to start.

Instead, we wind our way through Mayfair, finding the only geocache of the day, before struggling on how to cross Piccadilly to get into Green Park and see if Queenie is at home.

She Is

Into St James, the finest of all the Royal Parks, complete with fine views of the London Eye and a spanner shaped pool to walk around and over.

St James - The pick of the Royal Parks

The walk ends at Trafalgar Square but the thunder storm breaks and everyone takes cover.  Many hide in the subway under Horse Guards Road, but I know a place where they sell Badger Beer - a minor component of Panda Pops Shandy, from back in the day.

St Stephen's Tavern has one of the finest views of any pub in London.  If only the Tanglefoot came with a head, I would heartily recommend it to you.

View from a Pub Window

The Headless Badger

15 minutes of damp refuge before the walk can be completed as designed by heading past Theresa's Den and onto Nelson's Column.

Just 30 minutes prior, thunder and lightening

29/07/17 - Ashton Under HKMHILL

Geocaches - 18
First Cache
Walk Distance - 5 Miles

Lets look at the reasons why HKMHill has provided me with more finds than any other cache owner.

His many cache trails always incorporate the following essentials;

A Charming Village

I'm a Worcestershire boy, born and bred.  Bredon is one of my favourite places and the desired resting place for my ashes to be scattered.   Although Mrs M is looking for somewhere more local (and how rude of her to presume I'm going first).

Yet, I've never previously been to this charming little black and white village.

Ask an American to draw what England looks like and they'll probably produce something like this.

C14th Stone Cross

Black and White Timber Framed and Thatched

Great Walking

This figure of 8 walk takes in most of the mile length of the village and then climbs the Eastern flanks of Bredon Hill.   I was surprised by the woodland.  I wasn't surprised by the views.

Great paths, all in fine condition.

Ashton Wood was a real surprise

The Views were not

Interesting Containers and Always an Ammo Can

Proof indeed that caches can be made out of absolutely anything.  The trademark army pouches were expected.  Banana guards suspended under a bridge were not.

I'm coming up to 7,000 finds and never before has Mrs M demanded a sniff of one.  Much chuntering about needing cake for the rest of the walk.

Caching Assistant distracted by Vanilla

King of the Cache Containers

A Pub

The Star Inn is a classic country boozer that markets its services on several footpath markers on this walk.  Proud of their food and their beer, you will find evidence of their marketing all along this walk - with adverts placed on various footpath signs.

Black Sheep is not too often found in Worcestershire.

I was delighted.

Need a place to start the Round?  It will cost you a round.

Classic Country Pub

Black Sheep - One of My Favourites

Once again, thanks Mike. I'll eagerly keep my eyes open for future cache notifications.

23/07/17 - Wye to the Thames Summary

Number of Stages - 12
Start - Hereford on 07/05/16
Finish - Oxford on 23/07/17
Total Distance Walked -  130.5 Miles
Geocaches Found - 68


I forgotten how I found out about this walk, but there's no doubt on where I got the guide book from.  What did I used to do before eBay?

Think I paid more than £2.50 as well

Published in 1995, it details 12 walks that run between the railway stations on the Cotswold Line.

The Start is Hereford (The Wye) and the end is Oxford (The Thames).  Each stage begins at a railway station, involves a ramble ranging between 5 and 18.5 miles and then catches the train back to your starting point.  Simple but effective.

And with the exception of the industrial estate at Pershore, all of the paths remain.

Highlights
The walking is uniformly excellent and you pass through some great Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Oxfordshire villages/towns, with some cracking boozers.   I don't think I will ever forget nearly getting press-ganged into the Ledbury faction of the Morris Men at the Prince of Wales pub on Leg 1.

Everyone knows how good the walking is in Malvern but the qualities of Worcestershire Walking in Evesham (arrival by hand pulled ferry) and Pershore are there to be explored on this route.

This of course leads to the honeypots of the Cotswolds, including Moreton in the Marsh, the start of the Cotswold Way in Chipping Campden and Sezincote Hall.

Oxford is a fitting finale to any adventure.

Almost Joining the Morris Men in Ledbury

A Typical Cotswold Walking Vista

Lowlights
Man, they got free parking at all the stations back in the nineties.  Now you can expect to have to pay via an App or phone call.   After walking for 5 hours, its a little saddening to get whisked back to you starting point in less than 10 minutes and often paying the best part of a fiver for such a short journey.

And GWR seem to stop operating for a couple of hours at lunch time.  Time it wrong and you could be hanging around for a train for rather a while.

The Stages
Blog for each Stage.

Stage 1 - Hereford to Ledbury
Stage 2 - Ledbury to Colwall
Stage 3 - Colwall to Malvern
Stage 4 - Malvern to Worcester
Stage 5 - Worcester to Pershore
Stage 6 - Pershore to Evesham
Stage 7 - Evesham to Honeybourne
Stage 8 - Honeybourne to Moreton in Marsh
Stage 9 - Moreton in Marsh to Kingham
Stage 10 - Kingham to Charlbury
Stage 11 - Charlbury to Hanborough
Stage 12 - Hanborough to Oxford

The Photo Album on Flickr 

Flickr Album (arrows to move through photos)

23/07/17 - Oxford Pub Crawl

The final section of a Long Distance Walking Path, the Wye to the Thames, delivers us to the City of Dreaming Spires for traditional end of adventure celebrations.

No problem finding boozy inspiration.   The 2017 Good Beer Guide has 12 entries.  This excludes several city classics.   Even after careful planning, we manage to miss the location where Bill Clinton failed to inhale.

The Bear, Alfred Street, ESB

It's not in the GBG but who wouldn't visit a Fullers Pub with 4,500 neck ties, wall mounted and on display?

The Bear

We time things perfectly to a) get a bar seat in one of the tiny alcoves and b) get in before a gaggle of around 20 foreign students burst in to buy drinks individually.

Prime position to engage in chat, mainly around the price of Oxford Hotels.   As this was a celebration night, I was seriously tempted to splash out on the Randolph Hotel.  Until I saw the booking.com price of £400 per night.   One of our fellow drinker in here used to work in the kitchens.

Apparently, they are minging.

It's my perfect pub and the ESB was in top condition.   Have a butchers at my new FB profile pic.

A man at peace with the World

St Aldgates Tavern, 108 St Aldgates, XT 2

Short hop, skip and a jump and we are getting our first GBG Tick in Oxford.   This is a classic looking Victorian City Centre pub.  One that tourists shouldn't walk past.  It's practically a living museum.

First Tick in Oxford

Quite a fan of the XT Brews and later tonight, I learn what the numbers mean from a beer towel in another pub.   I'm not sure if I knew the higher the number, the darker the beer.   I definitely didn't know they went up to 9.

An uninspiring, lifeless yet aptly named, number two today.  Not a great example.   All nice and quiet until our tranquility was interrupted by a rabble of annoyingly noisy twenty-somethings who Mrs M thought had been punting.

She may have got her University cities confused.

The Royal Blenheim, St Ebbes Street, White Horse Waylands Smithy

Possibly the first time I have ordered a pint simply because it's named after a place I have walked past.

I'm new to the White Horse brewery and this is one of their tied pubs, dispensing the full range with the odd Everards on offer too.

Functional enough, this single room Victorian pub was empty apart from us.   We were driven out by the light metal music that was gently being piped in for entertainment.

But not before Mrs M rested her post 11 mile walk achy foot

The White Rabbit, 21 Friars Entry, Shotover Oxford Scholar

The Blenheim was tick number 2 and after a struggle finding an alley round the back of the High Street, this was tick number 3.

It was worth it for several reasons.   Quiz night had brought the students out in force and the place was packed.  We thought about joining in, but two of us against the elite minds of the University world?  Really, we should have.   I might not have known the official name of a Jaw Bone but I did clean up on the music round, with most songs from the 70's or 80's.

This was a pub done well - food seemed to be only pizza.  Real ale was limited to two or three.  And a first Oxford Scholar was easily pint of the night.

Students, the same the world over

The Eagle and Child, 49 St Giles, Hook Norton Old Hooky

We were hoping to get two more visits in - a non tick here and a tick at the Lamb and Flag over the road.   However, its been a long time since I have been out in a strange place on a Sunday night and it would appear the 10:30pm Sunday Licences laws are religiously adhered to.

We try this one first - because of its literary connections.  CS Lewis and Tolkien met here weekly in the Rabbit Room, under the group name the "Inklings".

I wonder if the beer was as bad then?

An Inkling Ghost - Haunting the Rabbit Room since poisoned by Old Hooky in 1962

The beer was terrible - flat, cloudy and rank but was changed for a bright Brakspear Oxford Gold with no complaint, once the offending article had been tested for opaqueness by being held to the light by two different barmen.

It's 10:32 when we cross the road to try the Lamb and Flag.

All the chairs on on the tables.  The night is over.  Till next time, Oxford.