Caister Holiday 2025

Monday 5th May, 10.32 a.m. at Stratford Station, and I’m waiting for the train, due in 5 minutes, to start our holiday at Caister. Oh, I’m also waiting for Louise, who is booked on the same train, which one would arrive first? Eventually, Louise arrived, followed A MINUTE later by the train, talk about cutting it fine!

After an uneventful journey, we arrived at the holiday caravan park, signed in, tried to find the short cut to the caravan, which we eventually found and then unpacked. Sue was still to arrive so we decided to walk into Caister, have a look around the village, visit the very windswept beach and get the shopping. By the time we returned Sue had arrived. Jinan was originally coming, but sadly had to pull out, so we all had the luxury of a room to ourselves, and being the gentleman that I am, I baggsied the main bedroom and left the smaller twin rooms to the girls.

In the evening we met up with Annick and Peter, who were staying in a caravan with Frances and Parviz, for a meal at the Mash and Barrel, the camp’s traditional pub style restaurant, and it was pretty good. Afterwards we checked the entertainment at the “Live Lounge” the resort’s entertainment centre. I think it’s best described as “variable”, being largely aimed at the camp’s smaller visitors, although the last act was enjoyable

On Tuesday, we were going for a six mile circular walk along the coast into Great Yarmouth, returning along the Broads and through countryside to the camp. We met up with Frances and Parviz and headed to the beach, walking along the sand and promenade and with a bracing sea breeze. On reaching the Venetian Waterways, it started to rain slightly, so we headed for a cafe for a tea break, thinking it would be sunny when we left. Well, it might not have been sunny, but the rain had stopped.

We soon reached Great Yarmouth where Frances and Parviz left to explore and we headed to the yacht station to start back along the River Bure, with the occasional boat cruising along it. Having had lunch by the river, we continued to a lonely avenue of trees, and uphill for some good views over the Broads, before reaching Caister. It felt a long 6 miles, and arriving back at the campsite we found we had actually walked 10 miles (I’d forgotten to add on the mile to and from the walk). In the evening we all went to the campsite restaurant.

Wednesday was to be an easier day (not for me it wasn’t). Louise, Sue and I caught the bus to Great Yarmouth to visit the Time and Tide museum, which details Great Yarmouth’s history. The museum was in an old herring processing plant, and in the courtyard there was a Punch and Judy show, being enjoyed by a class of school-kids who were really loving the show. Moving on through the museum there was a lot about the old fishing industry, and the town’s history, oh and some low doorways, which weren’t always well signed, as I painfully found out (idiot!).

We then had lunch before wandering back into town and returning to the campsite. Sue and Louise went to the prize bingo, whilst I decided to check a possible walk for next day. I really should have learnt from Durham that I shouldn’t go out alone without a responsible adult. The walk looked promising, rural footpaths and quiet roads, but returning to walk along the beach to the campsite, I tripped over a semi submerged railing and twisted my knee, so had to hobble the mile back to the campsite. We’d booked a meal at a pub in town, and Sue kindly offered to drive us there, but we walked into town, albeit slower than expected, for a nice meal.

On Thursday morning we awoke to bright sunshine (about time too). After a test walk to the shops, we decided against a long walk and went into Great Yarmouth again. This time we visited the Elizabethan house, which was pretty interesting and according to legend was where the Parliamentarians decided to execute Charles I after the Civil War. After the museum we walked along the seafront to the Pleasure Beach, had lunch and headed to the crazy golf where we were joined by Frances and Parviz. I narrowly won it, beating Frances by just 1 shot with Louise and Parviz contesting the wooden spoon.

Afterwards, we returned to the campsite and all went for a game of prize bingo with a couple of us getting close to, but sadly not quite winning, the substantial jackpot of almost £180. Afterwards, we enjoyed a meal on site before visiting the entertainment in the live lounge or playing on the machines in the arcade, before returning to the caravan.

On Friday we packed, left the site and Sue dropped Louise and me off at the station for our train home. It had been a good holiday, our caravan was comfortable and spacious, and it had been a very relaxing and enjoyable break. I just mustn’t go out on my own next time!

Trev (Pathfinder Hoppity) Eley

Walthamstow Village walk

Waiting for the walk to start outside Walthamstow Central station on 9th May, I was interested to count the number of e-bicycles on the road. The answer was Nil, they were all on the pavement.

We walked up Hoe Street, turned right into Church Hill and right again to enter the peace and calm of the village. We stopped at Vinegar Alley and the Monoux alms houses then went on to St Mary’s Church where we stopped for a tea and cake. Our leader Kathy had done a lot of research and told us the church was the oldest building in the village, dating back to the 12th century. It had connections to William Morris, Sir George Monoux and - I like this - Samuel Pepys. Apparently, Pepys once visited the church and found the sermon so boring he pulled out a pocket sized book of Latin to read instead.

Refreshed, we went on past the Squires alms houses and Vestry House, the last currently closed for refurbishment.

The pedestrianised area of Orford Road was charming with lots of small shops, the former town hall and eateries. We walked on to arrive at God’s Own Junkyard. This is an eccentric emporium, decorated with period posters and illuminated with neon signs of every description. See the photo to appreciate the effect. A real mixture of miscellany, all of it apparently for sale.

We walked back to The Village Pub in the pedestrianised area for a pleasant lunch and then back to the traffic maelstrom that is Hoe Street and on to our homes.

Brian U.  12th May 2025

Circular walk from Chingford Golf Club

We had a beautiful 3.5 mile walk on a sunny Saturday 5th April when 8 of us met at The Holly Trail Café for a cuppa before setting off for Pole Hill. This is a good view-point looking across Chingford in one direction and the Enfield/River Lee reservoirs, with London beyond in the far distance. There’s a trig point at the view-point as well as an obelisk commemorating T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), who in 1919 bought several acres of land and built himself a small hut here.

View of the forest canopy from Yates Meadow. Pole Hill is to the right of the picture.

We then headed away from the reservoirs - via a tree resembling a totem pole - making towards another view point: Yardley Hill. The instructions in the book HillWalking London were a little vague, as well as Google Maps placing the spot a bit to the east of it’s true position, so we didn’t quite make it. We then walked in the woods behind Yates Meadow towards Gilwell Park where we saw a beautiful butterfly (maybe a Peacock?), but then turned into the Meadow at the far end where there was another good view of the reservoirs and across the Lee Valley to Alexandra Palace.

We then headed downhill past a small stables with a couple of ponies, then on to Bury Road where we followed a footpath parallel to the road and on the edge of the wood, to get us back to the café.

Richard.  15th April 2025     Photo by Madeleine

London Bridge, Bermondsey and Rotherhithe walk

Saturday 22nd March, and Twelve of us met at London Bridge Station for Claire’s walk from there to Rotherhithe.  The day was pleasant enough – a decent amount of sunshine, not too cold, and the possibly stormy showers threatened for later in the afternoon didn’t get us.

Almost always if I have walked in these parts – being south of the Thames and therefore alien territory – it has been along the riverside path, but Claire’s walk – in the main – was different. We turned right off Tooley Street into Bermondsey Street where the decent amount of sunshine was quickly occluded by a long and dark tunnel under the railway lines serving London Bridge Station. This reminded me of the sort of location that is often used in London-based evil-crime dramas.

The workshop and studio of Peter Layton, London Glassblowing,Emerging from the darkness, we soon reached the premises of Peter Layton, London Glassblowing, where we were warmly welcomed by the reception staff. The gallery displays beautiful and expensive examples of their work, so there was a reasonable request that we take off any rucksacks as we walked around. As well as appreciating the completed works, you can stand and watch the process itself at the workshop and furnaces at the rear of the premises. Chatting to one of the staff, I asked if I might take photographs of the gallery, and indeed of her, using her wonderfully decorated eyes as an excuse. She seemed pleased to assent to this, and gave permission to publish the photograph on our website.

Moving on – well, we almost didn’t. There was considerable discussion as to where we might pause for that light refreshment that is often referred to as ‘coffee’, but may well alternatively be tea or something else, and a tiny-looking ‘Chapter 72 Low-key stop for coffee and baked goods’ shop enticed some of the group inside. Meanwhile, I investigated a narrow cobbled alleyway – Carmarthen Place - immediately alongside. This would once have been a passage-way through the rows of houses to the fields beyond, but now leads to a 1930’s estate.

Grange Walk, the Charity School for Girls and early 19th century terraced housesWhen the coffee-imbibers had imbibed, we continued our perambulation, passing Morocco Street on our right, then Tanner Street and Tanner Street Park on our left. These street names are reminders of the tanning industry that was prevalent in these parts, processing leather from the 18th to the early 20th century.

Further on, we passed St Mary Magdalen, a Grade II* listed late 17th century church, behind and alongside which is its graveyard and associated watch house. Watch houses were a shelter for men guarding the graveyard from grave robbers, but this one is now a cafe. We do have a watch-building at St Mary’s in Wanstead, but the Wanstead one is more of a sentry box than a house. You can see reference to it in a walk we did in Wanstead back in 2011 here.

1836 Railway Viaduct tunnel in Abbey StreetWe crossed Abbey Street into Bermondsey Square. Although Abbey Street is a bit of a giveaway, there wasn’t anything I could see of an abbey. It has gone. Nearby, though, as we walked down Grange Walk, there are some late seventeenth century houses and on the wall of one of them are two large hinges – convincing evidence of the gates of an abbey for an abbeyologist, I am sure. The rest of the street includes a former girls' charity school – which has the words “Bermondsey Vnited Charity School for Girls” and “Erected A.D. 1830” inscribed in stone – and a nice terrace of early 19th century brick 2-storey houses.

Riverside edge of the Tideway Project at Chambers WharfWe turned left from Grange Walk into the road called The Grange, on both sides of which are much more modern maisonettes, fronted by grass lawns which were brightened by Sweet Violets and Speedwells, and further on lots of Daffodils and a variety of flowering cherry trees. The Grange related to the farm house of the abbey, and we turned right into Abbey Street again, the street which once connected the abbey to the river. That is the Thames river, of cours, but alongside the road ran the small Neckinger River. This is one of those so-called ‘lost’ rivers, as it flows underground now from somewhere in Southwark to the Thames, where it is still visible at Saviour’s Wharf. The strange-sounding name might derive from the term "devil's neckcloth", a slang term for the hangman's noose. In the 17th century, convicted pirates were hanged by the neck by the wharf at the Neckinger’s confluence with the Thames.

Ten of the group by the Thames. Another is hiding and another behind the cameraWe walked through another of those somewhat eerie road tunnels, the railway viaduct above supported by two rows of fluted blue-painted doric columns, twelve each side of the roadway. As there were twelve of us, that is a column each, which could hve made a photograph. However - as was so often the case on this walk - we were too spread out to get into formation, and anyway, who would have taken the photograph? A blue plaque commemorates that this Grade II listed bridge is one of two surviving bridges which supported London's first passenger railway line, the London & Greenwich Railway. The bridge was completed in 1836.

We crossed Jamaica Road and walked along George Row, at the end of which is Jacob Street, recalling Jacob’s Island, once an area of slums and notoriety and the site of Bill Sykes's death in Dickens's 'Oliver Twist'.

Turning right into Chambers Street, we passed the hoardings protecting the Chambers Wharf site of the Tideway East Project. Tideway East is the project that has built a 25Km ‘Super Sewer’ from Acton to Abbey Mills (Stratford), where it connects with the Lee Tunnel to carry waste to Beckton Sewage Treatment Works. It opened operationally on March 28th this year (2025).

Ada Salter statue, and some EFOG members reading about the SaltersAfter passing the construction site, we were able to access the Thames riverbank by way of Bevington Street and Fountain Green Square, opposite which is the Old Justice pub. This pub is in 1930’s ‘Tudor’ style, and a blue plaque commemorates it as the location in Paul McCartney’s film "Give My Returns to Broad Street" and for the music video to his hit single "No More Lonely Nights".

We followed the Thames Path from here, which like much of the Thames Path in the London area is a bit on and off as far as being a Thames-SIDE path is concerned. Just before The Angel pub, which provided us with a stop and a few drinks, there is a waterside platform with statues commemorating Dr Alfred Salter, his wife Ada, their daughter Joyce and their cat, whose name I don’t know. After working as a physician at Guy’s Hospital, in 1898 he moved to the deprived area of Bermondsey where he set up a medical practice. He offered free medical services to those who could not afford to pay, and offered what has been described as an ‘NHS before the NHS’. Near this point would have been where the view of "The Fighting Temeraire" - the painting by Turner - was painted, as the ship was on her way to be broken up at Rotherhithe.

The Angel PubAfter an unplanned stop-off at The Angel, we continued along the roadways parallel to the Thames, eventually to reach and visit St. Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe. The small playground adjacent to the churchyard reminded me of a previous EFOG visit to this area, when I photographed Ken on the slide, and we visited the nearby Brunel Museum. That walk is described here. Inside the church, two throne-like chairs are part of what is left of The Fighting Temeraire herself, having been made from its timbers.

Not far along Saint Marychurch Street (I wonder how it got that name?) we crossed a somewhat complex intersection of roads and foot and cycle-paths by the entrance to the Rotherhithe road tunnel, and went into St Olav’s Norwegian Church, where we had tea or coffee and waffles, prepared and served to us by Norwegians. This was a restful and pleasant near-end to our walk, and from there we walked the short distance to Rotherhithe Station, caught a train to Whitechapel, another to Stratford, and went our separate ways home.

Thanks to Claire for leading an interesting walk.

Paul Ferris, 28th March 2025.