efog-blog
Greenwich and the Maritime Museum
The journey to the Maritime Museum on 16th February to see the Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition couldn’t have gone more smoothly. I wish.
If the Elizabeth Line being out on Saturday didn’t get us, the 121 steps at Cutty Sark did their best to stop us in our tracks, the escalators being out of action. Some members chose to take a bus from Greenwich Station to avoid the climb; others braved the steps, and we were all glad to emerge into the daylight. Worse was to come; as we made our way through a rather cold and overcast Greenwich, Eileen, Cathy and I were slightly ahead, and after crossing a road looked back to see how close the others were, and there they weren’t. Group A went one way, Group B went another, both groups getting lost. I blame the sign posting, which didn’t direct us all the way to the museum’s entrance, and not the organiser of the trip at all. Thankfully both groups met up in the foyer before too long, and were soon joined by Peter, Annick and Fozi who had taken the Greenwich Station route.
As the café was filling up, and caffeination was much needed after such a disjointed journey, we decided to have an early lunchbreak before seeing the exhibition, and managed to all sit together.
The exhibition was really lovely, and well worth a visit. The photographs were wide-ranging, featuring for example the Northern Lights, galaxies, skyscapes, lunar eclipses and asteroids, and many of the works were stunningly beautiful. Accompanying each photograph was information on how the photographer came to capture the image, along with (dare I say slightly geeky) technical descriptions of the camera-work.
After the exhibition, Trevor very kindly led us on a walk through Greenwich Park. First we climbed up to the Royal Observatory, where the Greenwich Prime Meridian begins, and looked out at various London landmarks. Canary Wharf did its best not to be spotted, but eventually we all located it. We then went to see the deer, but found that they have been relocated to Richmond Park while the deer’s habitat is improved. We made our way back through a wooded part of the park, and several of us had a cup of tea for the road at the museum before going back to Cutty Sark Station, where the steps were a doddle to descend, and the journey back was almost disappointingly uneventful.
Thank you very much Trevor for the park walk, and to everyone who came along on Saturday.
Louise, 18th February 2025
Photos by Trevor
Bethnal Green to Canary Wharf Walk
Five members met at Bethnal Green tube station to brave the weather on a damp and drizzly 8th February. Passing the V&A Museum of Childhood, we walked towards Victoria Park, stopping on the way to reflect on the Cyprus Road memorial plaques, 26 soldiers from this one street lost their lives during the 1st World War. Cyprus road is also one of the smartest streets around with colourful doors and matching window shutters. On arrival at Victoria Park, we stopped at and read about the Pagoda before 4 of us walked on around the lake. With lots of ducks and geese on the lake, the Pochards stood out, both the standard one and some amazing red-crested Pochards with lovely bright red/orange heads. There were also quite a few Shovelers which were funny to watch as some pairs were going around in tight circles stirring up the lake-bed for food.
The Chinese Pagoda, Victoria ParkWe then joined the Regents Canal to continue our walk admiring the river various craft with all their unusual names and decorations. Fozi left us just after the Ragged School Museum and luckily did not have to wait long for a bus. The remaining 4 of us carried on down the Regents Canal to the Limehouse Basin where we admired the larger boats, and where we were in for a nice surprise. Just after the dock gates on the Thames side, Trev and Richard spotted a seal sticking its head up out of the Thames. We all then tried to spot it again, and when it surfaced again we saw it was a large grey seal, with a large fish in its mouth (on looking up 'fishes in the Thames' when I got home, I think it was a Carp). The seal went down again, and did not reappear so we carried on down Narrow Road to admire the huge Seagull statue (one of my favourites). We carried on through to the Thames Path to view the river traffic and on to Canary Wharf Pier. With the drizzle turning to rain, we headed up the stairs and through to the Canary Wharf fountain. Richard left us at that stage, leaving 3 of us to walk across the Pontoon bridge to West India Quay, watching a group of young men bathing in a 'tub' boat gave us a laugh (mad!) the bubble covered boat pods at least looked dryer and saner. We finished our walk with lunch at the Ledger Building before heading home.
Sue S. 9th February 2025
Crystal Palace to the Horniman Museum
On a sunny Saturday 25th January, just after storm Eowyn, 11 of us met at Whitechapel Station to catch the newly named Windrush Line (old Overground) to Crystal Palace Station.
Photo by MadeleineOne member was delayed due to engineering works on the Elizabeth Line and then bus delays so caught up with us at the dinosaurs.
Leaving Crystal Palace Station we turned right and headed straight down to the dinosaur lakes. We did a full tour of the lake seeing a robin, cormorant and grey heron on the eastern side and all the dinosaurs on the western side. These were stone replicas installed in 1854, the Palace itself having been relocated from Hyde Park where it had formed part of the Great Exhibition of 1851.
Photo by Madeleine
We then back-tracked towards the café, nearly losing two members of the group who were too engrossed in the wildlife on the lake, and then headed for the Fisherman’s Lake and exit where we crossed the road and headed round Charleville Circus. As we said goodbye to the Circus we headed straight across the road and down to Sydenham Wells Park. Exiting the park we crossed over to then ascend through a housing estate to Sydenham Hill. One member opted to get the bus and go straight to Forest Hill Station, for the rest it was a stroll along the road, alongside a wood to the Horniman Museum with fine views across London when we reached the junction with Kirkdale.
Once at the museum another member joined us and we partook of sustenance at the café – which was very busy and made us wish we’d maybe gone mid-week. I then felt it easiest if we just split and went our separate ways to go round the Museum at our own pace then head to Forest Hill Station and home. The length of the walk was 2.5 miles.
Richard. 31st January 2025
Photo by Richard
Photo by Richard
Photo by Madeleine
Hampstead Heath and the Hill Garden
On a chilly 18th January 2025, nine of us met at Stratford Station to catch the newly named Mildmay Line (ex Overground) to Hampstead Heath Station, and Kathy & Brian met us en route.
This was a re-run of last year’s August walk since the rain had put some off then, but the cold evidently wasn’t such a deterrent for EFOGers, though unlike in August, there were no signs of swimmers in the ponds today.
Kenwood HouseWe passed to the left of the ponds and followed the paths heading for Vale of Health Pond 2.
Following a path just to the left of VH Pond 2 we headed for Whitestone Pond with Hampstead Observatory virtually next to it. Just beyond the Pond is Jack Straw’s Castle – not named after the Labour MP, but a leader of the 14th C Peasants’ Revolt – it used to be a pub, frequented by Karl Marx, Dickens et al, but alas is now converted to flats.
Beyond the Castle we turned left towards West Heath, then shortly right to arrive at the Hill Garden and Pergola, a lovely oasis in the woods, which we wandered through. In August we’d kept to the Pergola and hadn’t realised we could actually walk through some of the gardens themselves.
The group at Parliament HillWe then headed down to the Old Bull & Bush pub, immortalised in music hall song, which Kathy and others gave a brief rendition of. Turning alongside that we headed towards the main Hampstead Heath, passing Blue plaques for William Blake (poet) and Sir Raymond Unwin (architect and designer of Hampstead Garden Suburb).
Entering the Heath, we headed for Kenwood House and the café. When we had almost finished our food a couple of pigeons started pestering, but then in a Hitchcock like scene several went for the food on a neighbouring table where two people were still eating, and within seconds there were about 20 pigeons on and around the table.
Leaving the café we headed for Parliament Hill and a slightly misty view over London. En route we passed a group encouraging birdwatching and lending binoculars, then a little further on we saw 3 cormorants in a tree overlooking a pond.
Just before arriving back at the station after about a 5 mile walk we did a quick detour into the ‘World Peace Garden’, a small urban wooded garden area backing onto the railway and adorned near the entrance with prayers and poems.
Richard. 19th January 2025
A visit to the Natural History Museum Gardens
On Monday 16th December, eight of us met at South Kensington station at 2pm and headed through the underground tunnel towards the Natural History Museum. Previously, at the 'Museums' exit, you'd climb some stairs to then walk along the road and access the museum either via the front or side entrance. Now, following a major re-work of the gardens that was completed a few months ago, the tunnel brings you straight out into a reasonably wide space at the start of the Evolution Timeline Garden, with a choice of taking a few steps up or following a zigzag pathway to explore the different areas of this section. 
EFOG members at the Natural History Museum GardensRocks (mostly from different regions of the UK, starting with the oldest and moving through the ages), fossils (real and brass models), plants (mostly ferns) and sculptures (dinosaurs) tell the story of the evolution of our planet, starting with the emergence of the first life forms moving through the age of the dinosaur and up to the present day; the paths take you on a 540 million year journey in about 15 minutes. 
Listening to the sounds of underwater lifeI'd found an audio (presumably for visually impaired visitors) that explained what we'd be seeing in each of the two gardens that have been created and also described what was deemed the best route to follow. Even better, I found a transcript of that audio, but needed to edit it down a bit or I'd have been talking all day. Unfortunately, whilst continuing my editing on the train, I managed to delete the whole lot so we mostly just wandered, without any enlightening commentary or explanation. I remembered a few bits, so we noticed some of the brass tactile objects, depicting early life forms, that are embedded in the pathway or the rocks, saw evidence of the mosses that the NHM team are actively trying to cultivate here, saw ferns that were originally imported from Australia that can be completely dried out, transported and will start growing again if re-wetted and we also found the coppery-orange, fossilised tree trunk. We had a group photo taken in front of 'Fern' - the name given to the Diplodocus skeleton, cast in bronze, that's in the central 'Jurassic' section. There are smaller sculptures of dinosaur skeletons nearby and also a couple of large ammonite fossils, but Fern really is quite impressive to see.
One of the older group membersAfter a brief detour to the newly opened Garden Cafe for drinks / cakes, we finished the Evolution section, passing the winged mammals area and then following a series of metallic footprints, embedded in the path, that represent the evolution of animals and mammals through to the emergence of humans.Crossing in front of the museum entrance we then headed towards the Nature Discovery Garden. Here, there are representations of grasslands, wetlands and woodlands, a large pond and a smaller one, listening posts so that we could hear the sounds of life underwater, of ant colonies under ground, beetle larvae munching on rotting wood and of tree roots moving; there are also giant metal funnels that direct your gaze to sculptures - animals, reptiles and insects - on the museums fascade that you may otherwise not notice, plus a few viewing posts with magnified visuals of some of the insects likely to be around us. 
Pond viewing platformThere are also benches for those who want to sit and enjoy their surroundings and a number of wooden, curved recliners for those who really want to lie back and get in touch with nature - a couple of us tested those out. Nearby is a section that, at certain times of the year, will be grazed by sheep and close to that was an area with a net tent inside it and a warning sign telling people to keep clear "Science in progress". For us, it was a fun afternoon and interesting to wander around, but the NHM's scientists are monitoring the diversity that these gardens attract, despite it being a small space, in the middle of London, and have multiple microphones and other instruments dotted around.
Once we'd seen as much as we could, most of us went in to the museum and had a look around the Dinosaurs section before retreating to the cafe for a well-deserved drink and piece of cake.
A few areas, in each of the sections, were closed either for maintenance or for reasons not stated and the gardens will naturally change as plants grow and seasons change, so it's definitely worth considering a return visit at some point.
Jill S. 19th December 2024