Greenwich Walk on Saturday 6th October

On a bright sunny Saturday in early October, itself a highlight in this funny Autumn weather, a group of Effogers ventured down to Greenwich for a local history walk.  The Cutty Sark - newly refurbished after the fire in 2007 - provided a picturesque backdrop while we waited to get started.  Much of the hull is now obscured from the outside but inside the walls visitors are able to go underneath the ship and see just what made her such a fast clipper on the tea runs.

Once walk leaders Amina and Madeleine had arrived we set off, bypassing the market, to Crooms Road.  On the way up the hill we passed the Greenwich Theatre, home of our more recent pantomime outings and the Fan Museum, home of, well, fans!  Along the way we saw the home of Benjamin Waugh, founder of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.  We also heard the story of the local residents fight to have the park walls made lower so that they could have a view of the trees rather than of bricks; they won the fight, with the bricks being replaced by railings and a lovely view.  Near the top of the hill was the delightfully named Convent of Our Ladye of the Seas, and at the top of the hill the home of the hero of the siege of Quebec, General James Wolfe, whose statue overlooks the Naval College.

After all of this elevation it was time for a break, and where better than the local tea hut on Blackheath.  Familiar in design to those of us who get out and about in the Forest, this particular tea hut is under threat of closure from road widening proposals.  We dutifully all lent some support in the form of drinks and huge squares of cake, all of which went down very well.

Suitably refreshed, we renegotiated Blackheath Road and headed back into Greenwich Park.  A particularly handsome chestnut tree caught the group's collective eye and they decided on a spontaneous hug, followed by dancing round the tree.  Luckily no-one else thought this strange, though the deer in the compound may have got wind of the hugging as they were nowhere to be seen!

After lunch we stopped to welcome some runners who were finishing 10 marathons in 10 days, then admired the views over London.  The panorama covers Canary Wharf to the London Eye and all the way through to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford.  We also got to see the same view the audience must have had of the Naval College and the Queen's House during the equestrian events, the stands for which were still in situ.

Across the park we stopped at the house of Sir John Vanbrugh and admired it for quite some time while assistance was called for an injured seagull, then it was down the hill to visit the college and the chapel before heading back to the station for the journey home.

Sue U.