Gate to Gate Walk - Sat 31st March, 2012

Morning

At an ungodly hour for a Saturday, about a dozen rather bleary Efoggers assembled at Epping Station for the start of Jim and Sue’s epic Gate to Gate walk. The title "Gate to Gate" was chosen as the idea was to walk the length of Epping Forest from the Forest Gate pub at Ivy Chimneys to the Golden Fleece pub near Forest Gate.

The sky was cloudy but the rain held off, the cool air provided a good walking temperature, and the recent spell of dry weather meant a distinct lack of mud. We set off at a brisk pace, to be stalled early on in the walk by the presence of a small creature that Paul identified as a vole,  turning round and round in circles in the footpath,  perhaps in some distress.   Some of the Group ascend a Forest Ride. Some of the Group aren't ours!Paul managed to move it off the path and out of the way of tramping boots, where the poor thing continued to circle, reminding me of myself trying to follow a map. I hope it recovered from the trauma.  We continued on our way, navigating the forest traffic which included a group of cyclists and a riding school; a little later on we became aware of a rhythmical noise steadily approaching, which I assumed was another clatter of  horses’ hooves.  The 'hooves' turned out to be poles, as we were quickly overtaken by an enthusiastic group of pole walkers (as opposed to dancers) who were powering through the forest on a keep fit mission, and showing an admirable grasp of right and left as they coordinated their walking poles with their footsteps, assuring us they hadn't lanced anyone yet.   After just under two hours of walking, we were glad to come to the first stopping point, ahead of schedule; the green tea hut at High Beech.

Fortified with tea, coffee, bread pudding or other equally sturdy cakes, we strode on through the forest for another hour or so; scaling ups and downs of various gradients, none of them too steep excepting the final hill before we reached Butler’s Retreat, which, after a level stretch of footpath that had lulled us into a false sense of ease, came as rather a surprise, and made us feel we’d really earned our lunch stop.  We were joined at the Butler’s Retreat by Lynne, Maz, Peter and Katie, and the weather was just warm enough for everyone to sit outside, enjoying meals, designer sandwiches or yet more cakes,  before the group continued onwards and upwards, and Val and I left to go our separate ways after a very enjoyable morning’s walk.

Louise

Afternoon

At 1.10 sharp, after lunch - Val and Louise having left to catch the train from Chingford and Lynne, Maz and Peter plus the greyhound Katie having joined us - we left Butler's Retreat. It was still sunny but getting a bit cold.  We had a pleasant walk through the forest arriving at Highams Park lake at about 2.10 where we stopped for a short drink and rest, then continued through the forest passing the back of Snaresbrook Crown Court to the Green Man roundabout.  A couple of people caught the train from Leytonstone and the rest continued through a very pretty Browning Road, along Bush Wood and onto Wanstead Flats (where there are flats and it is very flat!).  Loads of birds are said to like Wanstead Flats and they keep coming here; I'm not sure what the attraction is - must be the food.  Apparently it is one of the best area for spotting migrating birds in the whole of London.  Lots of men playing football who were spotting the ball and not the birds, but we did see a couple of guys with binoculars (I think they're called twitchers).

By this time my legs were aching as I haven't walked so far in a long time, but I speeded up a bit as I could see the Golden Fleece in the far distance - arrived at 4.15pm where we had a drink and some of the Group had dinner.  It was an enjoyable walk and we were lucky with the weather.

Jill V.

Of the fifteen Group members who started or joined us on route, ten reached the Golden Fleece, and of these Clive, Fred, Jenny, Jill, Jim, Paul and Sue walked the whole 15 miles. The distances involved were:

Epping to Butlers Retreat 7.25 miles

Epping to Leytonstone 13 miles

Epping to the Golden Fleece 15 miles

April 2012