Chipping Ongar and the Roding Valley

Length - Walk – 6.5 miles approx

On 20th September 2025, eleven of us went in three cars to Chipping Ongar, where we regrouped near the library. As we drove into the town a couple of us saw the steam of a steam engine but the locomotive itself was hidden by the carriages behind it. By the time we’d exited the cars and headed up the road for our walk the train had left the station.

We therefore cut through the old cemetery to Lyn’s café at the sports ground for a bit of refreshment before the main walk.

Leaving the café, we turned left onto a footpath which passed the scout hut, turned left into a field, then immediately right round the edge of the field, then headed up towards a children’s play area. Tempting though the zipwire looked, we kept on through a couple of fields to reach the A414 near a bridge over the Roding. Crossing the road, we roughly followed part of the Essex way, but keeping nearer to the river than some of the official path. After crossing several bridges, mainly over dry tributaries and having covered about 3 miles, we elected to stop for lunch, using a bridge as a bench to sit/relax on. I was asked how far it was to the pub and estimated about 1-1.5miles or ½ hour. After lunch we carried on heading roughly north over a couple more bridges till we came to footpath signs marked ‘Fyfield’ and joined the Three Forests Way to head south to High Ongar and The Forresters Arms pub. On the way some fields were fairly recently ploughed so we had to go round rather than across them. In doing so we saw a sign for a Care Home up the road - the final line of which was ‘No Exit’ which was a bit ominous. Further on we saw something white near the hedgerow, some thought it might be a skull, my thought was an ostrich egg, but no it was a giant puffball mushroom. Probably the first time any of us had seen one. We were also glad we hadn’t waited for lunch as it had taken about another 1.5 hours to reach the pub, probably nearer 2 miles, where we had more liquid refreshment, then did what Google maps said was about 1.25 miles in ½ hour back to the car park, where a sign showed we were near the site of the old Motte & Bailey Ongar Castle.

The weather had started dull and there were a few spots of rain as we finished lunch, but towards the end of the walk the sun was coming out. So a pleasant walk with good company.

The length of the walk was approximately 6.5 miles.

Richard, 23rd September, 2025

V&A East Storehouse visit

On Tuesday 9th September, eight of us managed to beat the tube strike and get to Stratford station via alternative routes in order to visit the new V&A Museum nearby.  Phil was less fortunate, having given up after waiting half an hour and not seeing a single bus.  

We had a pleasant 20 minute walk through the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, following the path alongside Waterworks River and then over the River Lea, before veering off, down Waterden Road, to the V&A East Storehouse. A tea / coffee break was required immediately. Marian and Brian also tried cardamon pastries, that were apparently much nicer than they looked; Annick tested out one of the rocking armchairs positioned by the huge windows overlooking the street.  

The museum is not like any that I've been in before: industrial shelving, industrial steel, mesh walkways (and glass floors in places) and huge open spaces. You're also immediately struck by the diversity of what's on display as artefacts are stored based on size, weight materials and fragility, so furniture from the 1600s is next to a Piaggio scooter which is near huge ceramic plates, for example.  Whilst most of us looked on from the edges, Brian happily stood on the glass floor, above the Agra Colonnade - five columns / arches that once formed part of the portico in front of a bathhouse built for Shah Jahan (of Taj Mahal fame) in the Red Fort at Agra. Nearby, photographs show close-up detail of the inlaid designs that decorate the pillars.  There is also the 9m high facade, stairwell and lobbies of two flats that was rescued from Robin Hood Gardens, a brutalist East London housing estate that was demolished in 2017, as well as the only complete interior (of an office) designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that is on permanent display outside the USA; elsewhere, there are ergonomically designed chairs underneath the Torrijos Ceiling so that you can recline to look up at the fabulously carved woodwork and an ante-room is dedicated to the largest Picasso work in the world, a 10m x 11m stage cloth used for Ballet Russes production Le Train Bleu.  

We visited all three floors, explored side rooms, looked up, down and out, watched conservators working on items (either below us or on the other side of glass walls) and were all amazed at the variety of what we could see before us. It's very, very well done and is a fascinating place to visit. I'm quite sure that on a return visit, each of us would see things we hadn't noticed previously.  For most of us, our only gripe is the lack of descriptions - boards with QR codes are placed around for you to scan to find out more info, but that means you either spend your visit staring at your phone or just gazing at the artefacts; we mostly gazed at the artefacts.  A few hours later, we reconvened in the cafe downstairs for a bite to eat before making our way home.  

Jill S, 17th September 2025

Below: Photos by Jill S.

Below: Photos by Madeleine

Chingford to High Beech Circular Walk

On Saturday 6th September, with a start at the Holly Trail café on Bury Road in Chingford, 8 members started this circular walk along the edge of Chingford Plain via the London Loop to meet up with the Boundary Walk Somewhere near Cuckoo Brook some of us strangely did actually have a discussion about Cuckoo's, which started with sighting of a woodpecker-holed dead tree. Passing the oddly named Catacombs Corner junction with Lippets Hill we continued on the Boundary Walk Trail through the forest to cross over Avey Lane and make our way through to High Beech. We dropped into the Visitors Centre and had a break for lunch while awaiting the arrival of Brian who had not managed to make the start of the walk.

Now with 9 members, we joined a path from High Beech which took us through to cross the Epping New Road at Mount Pleasant, this path then joins up with the Green Ride. We were admiring a nice new wooden signpost that has appeared, however, we all questioned one of the signpost arrows pointing to 'BroadStrood' which we did not recognise - Brian looked this up to find it was the car park on Goldings Hill (learn something new every day!). Passing by Loughton Camp we continued along the Green Ride and down the big hill and on to stop by both Earls Path Pond which had lots of water lily plants and some still in flower and Strawberry Hill Pond which had lots of ducks, mainly Mallards and Moorhens.

Crossing back over the Epping New Road at Lincolns Lane we took the path immediate left that crosses a green path to join up with the Fairmead (disused) road and then taking the straight gravel path route that led through to Connaught Waters. Admiring some of the of the wooden Brambley Hedge sculptures on our way around, we left Connaught waters to walk back through to Chingford Plain. Brian & Kathy left us to visit the Vue and the rest of us returned across Chingford Plain to the Holly Trail café for end of walk refreshments. A six and a half mile walk according to the distance counter on my phone. We had a lovely walking day with good company and ideal walking weather.

Sue S., 7th September 2025

River Lee Walk – Tottenham Hale to Chingford

Having moved the date and route of my planned walk to avoid clashes with Weeley Music Festival and the Notting Hill Carnival, seven of us met at Tottenham Hale station at 11 o’clock on Bank Holiday Monday, 25th August 2025, for a walk along the River Lee. Sue arrived first, with Cathy, Richard and myself soon after, followed by Eileen, Louise and Madeleine. Asking about the Weeley Festival, it become clear from both Eileen and Louise that the walk there had been a “bit of an adventure” to put it kindly, hopefully today’s walk would be less traumatic (unlikely with me leading it!).

At Stonebridge LockAfter a short walk along the road we turned left onto the canal tow-path at Tottenham Hale locks, passing the locks as we headed northwards, with the river on our right. There were plenty of narrow boats moored up by the tow-path, some looking splendid, and others not quite so.

After a while we reached Stonebridge Lock, where we crossed over the river via a footbridge, continuing with the river now on our left. We went to the footbridge over a stream leading to Tottenham Marshes, where a heron was patrolling the stream. Re-tracing our steps, we continued along the River Lee, spotting a little egret (or was it large egret far away?) passing under the North Circular Road and the construction works for a new energy recycling plant on the opposite bank.

Chinese GooseAfter a while we reached our lunch stop at Picketts Lock, where there was a handy table, although I decided to lunch just downstream of the lock so I could watch a swan family, with six cygnets on the river. Finishing lunch, a couple of boats were in the lock and so I just had to help in closing the lock gates. Passing Picketts Lock, we spotted two large unusual looking geese, which Sue helpfully later found out were Chinese geese.

After a mile or so, we reached Ponder End locks where we turned off the river onto the road which runs between the William Girling and King George Reservoirs (thanks spell-check!) leading to Kings Head Hill. Fortunately, there is a pub part way up the hill, so we decided to refuel there before our final assault on the summit of the hill. Suitably refreshed we continued up the hill to arrive at Chingford, where we said our farewells and headed for buses home.

It was a very enjoyable walk of 6 miles, mostly level, except for the hill at the end with plenty of wildlife along the river, certainly a good replacement for the walk I’d originally planned.

Trev Eley,  28th August 2025