walking – My London+

Something from the archive: Isle of Wight

This week I am falling back on the archive and we are visiting the Isle of Wight. This was the place of many holidays with my parents. We stayed in Ryde where we used to watch the hovercraft come in, mounting the beach on its cushion of air. Me and my brother were fascinated by it. I have memories of sitting in a cafe with the windows steamed up (it was probably raining outside), and giggling at the whoosh of the coffee machine..

My memories of the Isle of Wight are getting sunburnt, rain, and my dad in one of those photo booths taking silly pictures. But also I remember long walks alongside the beach by Appley Park and Puckpool Park. I remember my dad lugging the suitcase (before they had wheels and retractable handles) down the length of Ryde Pier to save money. There was, and still is, a train (old London Underground trains used to service the island from the pier to Shanklin.) You can read about the current train service here.

The bus service is good too. In later years my brother and I returned, buying weekly ‘rover tickets’ to go all over the island. More years later, I came with my husband and two boys. We used to walk alongside Appley Park and watch the bats emerge in the evenings.

The beaches are sandy and the island was a holiday escape for Queen Victoria (Osborne House). There are country parks, a steam railway, thatched cottages, interesting towns. Sadly and the wonderful Flamingo Park, has permanently closed.

Even more years later, I returned with a friend, staying on the other side of the island at Freshwater Bay. We were on a walking holiday and we hit good weather, and Freshwater Bay has fast become my favourite place. It is quiet, and our hotel was set overlooking the bay one way and Tennyson Down the other.

The walks are lovely from Freshwater. Our walking leader mainly kept away us from the tourist spots. Even at Alum Bay we found quiet spots on the cliff.

Tennyson Down where our leader read us The Charge of the Light Brigade

One of the highlights for me was visiting Dimobla Museum, the home of photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. The museum was just over the road from our hotel and as a group we went after dinner one night, gathering for a talk in the lovely tearoom, before exploring the house.

There was much swooning over the bedroom with its William Morris wallpaper!

I would like to return to Freshwater Bay in the future and also there is this dream of walking the whole island along the coastal path! The island has so much to offer, I’m sure I’ll be back soon.

A parched land

In the past week, the UK has been experiencing a second heatwave. There has been no rain since the break in the previous heatwave in July, and there really wasn’t enough of it. The photo above shows what was once a green field. This is a lovely spot, with acres of fields and green space leading down to the River Hogsmill. But everywhere is the same. All the parks, especially in London and the south are parched and scorched. There is no pleasure in walking these places right now.

The last time I remember seeing grass like this was back in the 1970’s, the long hot summer, but it was never as bad as this. Rivers are drying up, reservoirs are emptying, and temperatures have been over 30c for several days. It is too hot to go out by mid-morning. For me, it’s been to hot to travel anywhere. I even went shopping at 10pm to the 24 hour Tesco! The last time I went anywhere else was on Wednesday when I attended a singing workshop. There they had the aircon on (not great for the environment). It was up so high, it was actually a pleasure to come outside in the heat! It was around 30c that day.

Across Europe, fires are still raging that have been going for weeks, main rivers are drying up so boats cannot pass anymore, old villages and bridges once submerged under water are re-emerging. If people cannot see this is climate change, when will they?

I love this planet. I love walking in the countryside, being close to nature and rivers. Right now, it is distressing to see and I long for rain (I never thought I’d say that), but like my craving for cups of tea on a walk, rain is fast becoming my desire. The earth is crying out for rain. And I am too.

I heard this morning that the first ten miles of the River Thames from its source in Gloucestershire are now dry. No river. Drought is something we see in the developing world due to climate change, but did we take notice then, even though the west is the main cause? No. Now it’s here, will we take notice? Sadly, it seems that changing the way we live to save this planet is low down on people’s list of priorities. Most people (?) would agree this is climate change, but changing anything is an inconvenience some are not prepared to endure. And of course people don’t like to be told what to do. So how do we persuade them?

This wasn’t what I set out to write about this morning, but I’ve been aware of climate change for decades, when people thought I was weird (I think some still do). I’d rather be called weird than see this world die. I am finding it difficult to live in this heatwave and see what it is doing to the earth. What is this world going to look like in ten, 20 or 30 years? It breaks my heart that profits come before people, and governments talk a lot but do hardly anything. This world has so much to offer us if we just work with it. We are part of it, the trees are our lungs, we are connected to the earth, an intricate part, interwoven with it, but we do not own it. Make no mistake, the earth will recover because nature is stronger than us. It may yet destroy us because of our abuse. The planet can get along just fine without us. If we want to be part of it, still here to enjoy it, then our hearts have to change.

I cannot end on negatives, and this week we saw the last Supermoon of the year (I think I’ve got that right). After my dash to Tesco in the night, I came out to capture the brilliant moon.

Walk safely and never leave anything behind except your footprint.

Lake District mid-week break

This holiday was fraught with worries about train strikes. In the end, the strikes came on the Wednesday (we left on the Monday) and Saturday (the day after we returned home. We were lucky in more ways that one. The train before ours had been cancelled, so there were double the amount of passengers on our train. Every seat was taken and people were still standing with luggage in the corridors. We had reserved seats, but had our train been cancelled, that would no longer apply. On the return the branch line between Windermere and Oxenholme had problems and two trains were cancelled. To connect with the London train, we had to go by taxi from Coniston all the way to Oxenholme, which was expensive, but there was no option. There seemed to be similar problems on the main train coming back to London, but luckily we again had seats.

Having got the moan over, we come to the main event. Our first surprise was how green everything was. Further south grass is like straw. Greenery is hard to come by. There has been no real rain for weeks. In the Lakes the air was sweet and scenery lush. Weather-wise they had had more rain than in the south, and while we were there we had some drizzle, but nothing spoiled our walking with sightseeing trip booked through HF Holidays. This is the 8th holiday I have had with them, from pure walking holidays to walking with sightseeing and special interest holidays. They take care of everything and all meals are included.

The view of Lake Coniston from hotel grounds

So, on arrival at Monk Coniston (our base) there was tea laid on with scones and cookies! Before we had even unpacked one of the leaders took us on a walk through the grounds, owned (like the house) by the National Trust (the house is leased to the holiday company). There was an on/off drizzle as we looked at trees and given instructions about where the gates led (one down to Lake Coniston, which we had a view of from the bedroom window.

There was then time to unpack before meeting our leader and the group we would be with. There were just eight of us in our group, and Phil, our leader. Phil told us where we would be going in the morning and what we would be doing, and then it was on to dinner with a whole other bunch of people to meet.

Tuesday:

Drizzle greeted us this morning, but being the optimist, I was holding out for something better. We boarded our minibus at 9.15am and set off for Windermere where we strolled up to a viewing point before a slow walk alongside the river. The views were beautiful. We were also treated to a flypast of US aircraft on manoeuvres. The speed, agility and the sheer noise was, I admit, exciting! The weather was brightening all the time and it wasn’t long before blue skies appeared and the sun showed its face.

A bit too fast to get a good shot with mobile! USA plane

We arrived at Wray Castle in hot sunshine. This was a busy place, a major stop obviously as there is a car park. Some of the group were going down to near the jetty where we booked onto a ferry later. Two of our party tried queuing for tea, but gave up as it was so busy. We made use of the facilities inside the door of the castle, ate our lunch in the sunshine, and headed down to join the others. It might have been nice to take a look inside the castle (which is actually a home, not a castle!), but no one seemed that bothered. This is one thing about travelling with others! When I go solo I stop where I want. However, there are advantages of travelling with others. You can’t have it both ways!

The ferry ride took us to Ambleside where we promised tea (this tea thing is not just me then!). The cafes were manic and Phil asked our minibus driver if she could take us to a different place where we would be ending our walk the next day. Chesters by the River turned out to be a great place to stop, and the tea tasted like nectar!

Before dinner we had a stroll down to the lake and that evening there was a little quiz run by one of the leaders which was fun.

Wednesday:

This was a day of contrasts with good weather all day. We headed into Langdale, where we walked before moving on to another place for a second walk and to visit a slate mine. Wow! This was breathtaking. It was a day of spectacular views, streams, and waterfalls. My photos can’t do this day justice. Our minibus driver, Laura, was fun and her driving on narrow roads with tight passing earned her a round of applause. We had a great lunch stop and ended up Chesters by the River for tea before heading back to our hotel.

We were told that this lake is used in the opening credits of BBC’s Countryfile

Our last (unscheduled) stop was Tarn Hows. From here we walked back to our hotel. What a lovely walk.

After dinner that night we took part in the national HF Holiday quiz. This is always fun. I’m sure the questions have got harder over the years. Our little quiz party came 3rd, but then there were only three groups! It’s the taking part, isn’t it?!

Our final day we opted out of the programme to do our thing. Originally, our tour was to include a stop at Brantwood, the house of John Ruskin. Unfortunately, this was no longer to be. As this (for me) was the reason I booked this holiday, we organised it ourselves and used one of HF Holidays self-guided walks (most excellent!) as it is it just two miles from the hotel. We had a lovely day. Because there is much to say about this, I have decided to write a separate blog post about this. Look out for it! For now, I shall leave you hanging in the Lakes!

My Week in pictures (6) and something from the archive

I visit Sussex quite regularly, especially around the Brighton and Eastbourne areas. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that I shall get there this year, but I live in hope. I thought I’d share a few photos of a walk I took with my family back in 2004 along the South Downs Way taking in The Old Man of Wilmington. The countryside is stunning and I miss being able to walk there, or anywhere in the countryside right now.

This week I reached a mini goal in my jogging by running down the side of the park and along the back until I came to the where the main path slices the park in half, all without stopping. Then it’s a walk until I come to a certain post then off again until I reach the trees. That is my favourite part of the journey. It is peaceful and I always stop (I need to by then anyway!) and admire the undergrowth. Them I set off again to the top of the park – another breather – a short run, another stop and then I’m in the final stretch. At the end I sometimes visit the flower garden and take some photos.

I’ve been binge watching Look Up London videos of virtual walks in London and Museums in Quarantine on BBC4, catching up with some art exhibitions that closed before I could see them, plus others I probably wouldn’t have gone to, but I found them interesting nonetheless. These included Young Rembrandt, Andy Warhol, and a documentary about Monet’s garden and other artist’s gardens. The later was particularly beautiful and relevant to me as we were due to visit Monet’s garden in June. This is the nearest I would get to it this year, sadly, but I am even more excited about the prospect of visiting next year (all being well).

So, here is my week in pictures.