Hampstead Heath Walk

On a slightly damp summer Saturday 24th August, 2024, three of us met at Stratford Station at the early (for some) time of 10am to catch the Overground to Hampstead Heath Station.

Although the basic walk idea was taken from ‘Hidden London Walks’, partly in light of the weather, I decided to skip some of the road sections which would have taken us past Keat’s House and Erno Golidfinger’s 1930s Modernist house amongst other sights. Instead we got straight onto the Heath at South Hill Park, heading towards the mixed bathing pond. Slightly surprisingly there were quite a few hardy souls swimming in the rain, but we didn’t join them. Instead we passed to the left of the ponds and followed the paths heading for Vale of Health Pond 2.

The Hill Garden, West HeathApparently in 1524 astrologers convinced much of London’s population that a flood was about to submerge the city and about 20,000 Londoners gathered on the heath in panic. However on the predicted day it didn’t even rain and the astrologers then ‘discovered’ that their calculations were out by 100 years. Monks and others apparently took refuge around the Vale of Health during the plagues of 1349 and 1665.

The view from Parliament HillFollowing a path just to the left of VH Pond 2 we headed for Whitestone Pond doing a minor detour to Hampstead Observatory. 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. 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. We then headed down to the Old Bull & Bush pub, immortalised in music hall song, and turning right alongside that headed towards the main Hampstead Heath. Seeing a sign for Kenwood House and knowing there was a café alongside we decided to head there rather than following the suggested route. This enabled us to have a warming cuppa and dry off a little, two of us also had a quick look around the house where there was a display of a modernist take on 17/18th C portraits. We preferred the originals.

By this stage the rain had actually stopped or at least taken a break, but having broken with the original route we took a bearing as straight as we could, given the winding paths, towards Hampstead Heath Station, but detouring up Parliament Hill for lunch with the view over London. On Parliament Hill road we passed one of George Orwell’s many London homes. At first sight from the plaque we thought he’d lived there 47 years 1903-1950, but on checking, the years given were his birth and death and he lived in that particular house just in 1935.

Just before arriving back at the station we did a quick detour in to what was sign posted as the ‘World Peace Garden’, a small urban wooded garden area backing onto the railway and adorned near the entrance with prayers and poems.

The walk was about 5 miles.

Richard.   25th August 2024

Durham – 8th-11th August 2024

On the morning of 8th August seven EFOGers set off for Durham, two by car and five by train. The race was on, who would arrive first? The plan was to meet at Crook Gardens at about 2.30 pm. However, there were a couple of diversions on the roads and the driver and passenger needed refuelling (the car was fine), so we suspected the train would be faster. However, with a change at York their connecting train was cancelled and so they had to await the next one.

Suffice to say that Cathy & I had a cream tea and a wander round Crook Hall & Gardens then met up with the other five a little later.

After settling into our rooms in the halls of residence, we had a stroll along the river, past the Kathedra (stone throne) and a single room dwelling once lived in by Josef Boruwlaski, an 18th C. Polish dwarf.

This was followed by a very welcome meal in a Lebanese restaurant just near the halls (though the centre of Durham is pretty small so everything is fairly near).

The next day was a trip to Beamish Museum where there were trams, trolley buses, a steam train etc, 1920s houses, bank, dentist etc, a colliery village, 1940’s farm. Staff are dressed for the eras and play the parts well, some really getting into character with banter and backstories between them.

That night we ate at a Thai restaurant down by the river and although we’d been told that some lights weren’t working it was light enough. The food was good, though Marian was rather surprised that her ‘Duck with Tamarind Sauce’ had rather more sauce than duck, but it wasn’t that there was a lack of duck.

Saturday was a trip to see The Angel of the North, which is certainly impressive when you are stood alongside, looking up at it.

Cathy & I having been there a few years before opted to walk instead to the Botanical Gardens, which are part of the University and were very peaceful and pleasant.

Trevor also opted not to see the Angel, but started off with a river walk, but then found a trail along a disused railway. Unfortunately at one point on his walk he was going up some steps and in looking down at the steps, failed to notice a branch at head height. Luckily, although it drew blood, there was no major injury, but now as well as the University dining room making us think of Harry Potter, Trevor had the Harry Potter scar on his forehead.

At lunchtime we met at the Cathedral Café and afterwards had a stroll round the Cathedral. We were very taken with a modern piece of artwork hanging in the main aisle consisting of thousands of hand-made paper doves tied to the dangling ribbons.

Evening meal was at an Italian restaurant called Uno Momento, whilst the food all tasted very nice, the pizzas which three of us had did take some effort to cut and chew.

On the Sunday Cathy and I headed to Lindisfarne whilst the others had a boat trip on the Wear, before which two real water lovers, Marian & Trevor hired a rowing boat. It was then back to the University to collect their luggage from reception, having had to vacate rooms by 10 am, then an Uber to the station and back to London.

 Richard.   25th August 2024

Stratford to Walthamstow Wetlands Walk

A sunny and pleasantly warm Saturday 17th of August, just perfect for a river-side walk. We were meeting at Stratford Station by the ticket gates leading to Westfield at 11 a.m. and we had a good turn-out with 11 people, Cathy, Claire, Eileen, Jill S, Laurel, Louise, Madeleine, Nigel, Richard, Sue, and me (Trev). We headed off to the Olympic Park, by-passing Westfield shopping centre and its crowds seeking bargains.

Crossing the road into the park, we headed towards the London Stadium, crossing over the River Lea and turned right to head north with the River Lea on our right side, passing the new East Bank “cultural area” with new buildings which will house the V&A Museum, the BBC and Sadlers Wells. After a while we had left the landscaped gardens of the park and were walking along the bank overlooking the River Lea heading towards the Velodrome.

Crossing the A12 slip roads near Eastway we rejoined the river-side path. The path split into two with a surfaced footpath/cycleway or a natural track by the river. We took the riverside path through the trees, passing the football pitches of Hackney Marsh on our left and enjoyed the wildlife on the river, spotting ducks, cormorants and a good number of Little Egrets. After a while we reached Friends Bridge, a footbridge over the river and turned left towards the Filter Beds Nature Reserve, where we were going to stop for lunch.

On entering the nature reserve I spotted a large lump of concrete, presumably part of the old structures,but which now rather handily made perfect seating for 11 people, a stroke of luck! After lunch we continued through the reserve to a henge of stones, called Nature's Throne, and then joined and crossed the Lee Navigation. Exiting the towpath at the Princess of Wales, we turned right onto Lee Bridge road, eastwards for about 500 yards before turning right and right again onto a footpath and subway under the road and headed north along what used to be an aqueduct carrying water from the Walthamstow reservoirs to the filter beds.

We followed the pathway under the railway lines with the Walthamstow marshes on our left, to the car park at the end. Exiting the car park we ignored the low bridge beneath the railway, which was built so cattle could access the marshes, and turned right to enter the Walthamstow Wetlands Nature Reserve, continuing to the cafe at the visitor centre for some refreshments. Suitably refreshed we left the nature reserve heading for bus stops or railway stations to take us home.

The walk had been about 5½ to 6 miles and had taken about 3 hours including the lunch stop, and included a riverside section and two nature reserves, and if you turned up early you could even fit in some shopping at Stratford!.

Trev Eley.  22nd August 2024

Themed Music Evening

On Thursday 15th August we held a Themed Music Evening for our weekly get-together at the Scout Hall.  We first tried this back in June and it could vaguely be described as successful, so we thought we'd put another one on the programme.  The theme this time was Gemstones and I'd received 15 suggestions, plus I had the two songs that I'd whittled my shortlist of 150+ down to.  

Whilst everyone got tea / coffee and biscuits, so that I could check I had correctly connected the speakers to my laptop and therefore had sound working properly, we started the evening with a Neil Diamond medley that encompassed the two songs suggested, in absentia, by Brian.  We then settled down to business. In turn, each person who had submitted a suggestion explained why they'd chosen it, I played the song and then we had a brief discussion as to whether anyone had heard the song before / whether we liked it.  Many of the songs that were played, and even some of the artists, were new to several people in the group.  

Although two of them were then asked to come up with an alternative choice, three people suggested "Diamonds and Rust" by Joan Baez and two people suggested (different) songs by Caro Emerald, yet our eclectic selection still managed to cover pearls, emeralds, jet, rubies and diamonds and we had a mix of jazz, blues, country, pop and rock.  It was a fun evening that could have gone on for a lot longer than the time we had available - it was such a shame that we had to cut Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle's "Diamond Lights" short!   

Our playlist consisted of the following:

Pearl in the Shell by Howard Jones

Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond

Absolutely Me by Caro Emerald

Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez

Jet by Paul McCartney & Wings

The Birth of the Blues by Pearl Bailey

Emerald Eyes by Fleetwood Mac

Back It Up by Caro Emerald

Diamond Smiles by The Boomtown Rats

Hollywood by Marina and the Diamonds

Diamond Lights by Glen Hoddle & Chris Waddle

Leaving on a Jet Plane by John Denver

Diamonds on the Water by Enya

Diamonds are Forever by Shirley Bassey

Ruby by Kaiser Chiefs

Beautiful Noise by Neil Diamond

Rock n Roll Ruby by Johnny Cash

I look forward to adding another evening, with a different theme, when we plan the next programme. 

Jill S. 19th August 2024