Go (to Penge) West young man!

Venue:  Yes, you guessed it, Penge West!

Walkers:  Farty, TB and Mrs P - the northern hemisphere urbanites!  The southern hemisphere rurals aka Miss Windy Nohills and Clat were doing a gentler Reigate Hill walk.

Distance:  8 1/2 miles

Time taken:  Most of the day due to leisurely stops for lunch and ice cream in the park!

Find of the walk:  Freddie's school bag

Mrs P arrived on the Uckfield Express - which this time was actually running - bang on time at East Croydon to be met on the platform by a very welcoming welcome committee in the form of Farty and TB.  We quickly made our way to Norwood Junction where we caught the Overground to Penge West - a total journey of 15 mins, so we started our walk by 10.45.  Today Farty had planned a 'lollipop' walk.

Mrs P, yours truly, tried once again to contain her provincial excitement about all
things 'London' and 'Urban' - and failed miserably!  We headed straight into Crystal Palace Park which was looking quite beautiful in the glorious sunshine.  We stopped to look a the ship's bell from WW1 and to have our photos taken by the Sphinx.

Onward to Sydenham Hill with its lovely houses and stunning views over London.  (Sydenham Hill is one of the highest spots in London.)  We caught glimpses of the Shard and the Wembley Arch as the visibility today was excellent.

Then into Dulwich Woods where we could well have been in the middle of deepest Sussex as it was so quiet - well, apart from the odd aircraft overhead which I suppose is just like Sussex too!  Onward past the manicured greens of Dulwich and Sydenham Hill Golf Course, arriving at Dulwich itself.
We stopped at the gate house to the Dulwich private estate, took pictures and had a chat with the friendly gateman who agreed with TB that it was the only paying toll in London apart from that other small one over at Dartford!  Bet the houses were exceptionally posh in the estate but we moved on as Dulwich Village and Gail's Bakery were calling.

We passed Dulwich College - a beautiful building where Mon informed us Shackleton's boat from the Antarctic is on display, Shackleton being one of Dulwich's old boys.  Usually out of bounds to the public, she was able to see it on one of the college's infrequent open days.  An extremely polite young man (no, not George Clooney, he was busy at Reigate Hill!) entered the college as we took pictures (it is exam week) - clearly all that money and history buys not just an expensive education but excellent manners and diction!  We know our place ..... so carried on towards the bakery, finding Freddie's bag along the way.  Having checked for phone numbers (not a chance, just his reading record) we hung it on the railings for him, or more like his Mum,  hopefully to find it later.

Dulwich Village is very pretty and was full of yummy mummies having coffees/lunch sitting in the sunshine.  We dived straight into the bakery and came out with bags stuffed full of their lovely offerings which of course meant we were then starving hungry and in need of lunch ourselves!  We turned back into the park to head for the pub.

The park was full of all the remaining yummies and their tiny offspring - talking of which we kept stopping to ooo and ahhh and the wildlife and their tiny offspring!  Amazing wildlife everywhere (no, not the human kind, this is Dulwich after all) - some cute goslings with very proud mum and dad, baby coots who were quite adorable as they tried to climb back onto their nest having dipped their toes in the water, ducks and cygnets.  Later on in the day we also saw a magnificent heron, some grebes (very impressively identified by Farty) .......... and the ubiquitous rat scurrying across the path towards the water.  Hopefully not after our gorgeous fluffy babies ........

So, through Sydenham Woods and to the pub - Dulwich Wood House.

A super pub, friendly staff and loads of tables outside in the shade to chose from.  So lovely to have pubs that serve food all day - and the food was excellent too.
Fish and Chips all round!  Not quite the size of Cornwall but not far off!
It was almost too comfortable sitting in the sun so we moved on before we felt the call of a bucket of wine .... back through Sydenham Woods, passing John Logie Baird's house on the way.  Mon took us to see the disused railway tunnel that used to go to Crystal Palace which has now been boarded up but is a major bat nesting site.  We walked through the park in a different direction, stopping to look at the wonderfully restored Crystal Palace station and on to the

dinosaur lake - yes, really -  complete with all manner of dinosaurs and I don't mean cabin crew from our era! A young dad walked past with his 2 toddlers, one of whom was demanding ice cream - that was it, Mon and I turned all toddlerish on TB and demanded to be taken to the cafe too!  So we ended up in the park cafe with our yummy double scoops enjoying the late afternoon sunshine, getting more and more chilled (sorry!), feeling that we could quite happily have moved on a pub for the rest of the afternoon/evening.

However, the clarion call of the Uckfield Express beckoned  so reluctantly we walked back towards Penge West and East Croydon.  Farewells bid all round - it had been a really lovely day with so much variety: parks, woods, views, lovely houses and gardens, wildlife, history - and of course, great company.

I'm off down south again for the next 4-5 weeks, so Farty & TB will be continuing their urban walks but I'm sure there will be some liaising going on so hopefully we can all meet up again very soon.

See you soon! xx

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Reigate Hill - The Urban Cafe

Tuesday 10  June

The Southern Hemisphere Offering

Walkers:  Windy and Clat:
Distance:  3 miles
Find of the Walk: (not photographed) but a toy butterfly in a tree.

Farty. T.B. and Mrs P are 'doing' London, and, hopefully, a blog will emerge from the Northern Hemisphere later.  8 Legs have more goings-on, going on, Lil is on a snowmobile , round a glacier in Banff, and Sally is probably at work.  She has a double bunyun op. (i know the sp. is wrong), in September, and is having through the  keyhole surgery - Lloyd Grossman is performing.


Wonderful, gorgeous weather.  The sun shining brightly, clear blue skies, and enough breeze to keep the heat off, and the cold, too.

As we are not up to speed or fitness, we started our walk with a coffee!  A very enjoyable vista, over the Reigate suburbs and beyond, with a litre of liquid between us, and George Clooney by our side.  The place was very busy, and the cafe was doing a roaring trade, but, due to a roaring tradewind down one side, they could only open half the hatches.

The liquid quickly worked its way through , so a pit -stop ensued, before we set off in our light-weight walking sandals, and gear, accompanied by Tom  Cruise and all manner of gorgeous hunks - or was it the sunglasses playing tricks on us?

We ambled along at a gentle speed, and noting the lush greenery, dog roses, and other blooms, we came to the observatory/obelisk thing, which tells you where Worthing and Leith Hill are, all decorated with someone's melted ice cream - ah the charms and delights of the local wildlife.  Talking of which, the Belted Galloways, are still here, crunching and munching on their pastures, (humans, on their pastries) with big, shiny wet noses , and their hair ruffling in the breeze.  A group of anoraks was also there, most put-out, cos they couldn't fly their model aeroplanes - if you look up, sirs, you can see the real things crossing the skies on the horizon, but where is that missing 777?- still missing.

A veritable field-day out here - picnics, groups of walkers, and school kids, gangs of dogs, and the odd cyclist or two.  We headed for the far gate, and turned round, as a fellow walker told us it was a definite 3 mile round trip - excellent.   Once returned, and considering the weather was SO lovely, we dined at the cafe - really good cheese/tomato toasties. We sat in deckchairs admiring the view, and George gave us a bottle of champagne to help complete the picture.

We chatted about the D day landings memorial progs from last week, and declared the Queen incredibly fit and able. The Oldies left alive, certainly went through hell and high water, in the war, and so young too - and so modest. 

Now it's the tennis and more tennis, season, football in Rio, and the hosses at Ascot - it's a wonder we can get outside, but get out we will, and we;ve told George too.

Keep using the sun cream and love to all. xxxxxxx

Warnham - The Sussex Oak

Tuesday  3  June

A  Touch  of the Veras (think about it!)

Walkers:  Windy, Lil and Clat. Farty and T.B  joined us once they' d got back from their longer walk
Diners: 2 Legs (Sue), Sally .
  Chris unable to make it and Mrs P is entertaining a New Zealander in her house - at least that's what she told us, but then she has also been cruising, but not in the 'looking for a good time' sense.
.


So, after a long gap, and much goings on with health, welfare, Mothers, et al. we finally got it together.  A grey and muggy day, but humid.  Us later walkers met, and noted that Farty and T.B. had already gone off in their direction, and we went off in ours.

Wend and Clat were a little trepidatious (sp) as A. a virus and lack of energy, and . B the ongoing hip thing, they wanted to road test their bodies on a shorter walk.  We had Lil with us, so we knew one of the group would keep going!

Everywhere is so green and lush, absolutely lovely.  We went south-eastwards, through verdant fields - found a gorgeous little vole skittling about, out to near the A24, and in again, along country lanes, admiring the blooms in folks' gardens.  In through the deer park, where a magnificent group of stags (not the rutting season, thank goodness), were lying around surveying the scene.
Our find was a discarded walker's water bottle, but no camera with us, so apologies for the lack of pictures - please use your imaginations.

Some more lanes, and gardens, Wonham Manor, and then a stroll back to the pub - 1 3/4 hours in total and fine by us and our bits.  We found Sue and Sally swigging instead of swinging, in the garden, and we all entered the pub.  Things were pretty quiet, something not quite the same, and the usual landlord absent.  Hey ho, we ordered, and pretty soon Farty and T.B. pitched-up, and we had a good old gossip.  Sally is our only connection with the flyers' pasts, and last night's t.v prog on B.A was discussed and dismissed, and we talked about many other topics, including My Granny the Escort, and I wont say any more.

Windy had a new device with her - a gadget to test your blood sugar.  She bought it on Amazon, and cannot get it to work properly, and an alarm keeps going off.  She asked T.B. to show her his pricking action, and after a wedge of meat pie, he duly obliged.  Apparently, she has the American version which means scarily  high readings if you're a Brit.  He had a fiddle, but it wouldn't change nationality, so it's back to the drawing board on that one.

Are the RAHRAS down the pan?

So, that's us back in action, sort of.  We are aiming for regular gatherings/walks/,wotnots,  but whatever happens, it would be nice to meet once a month, even if it's just for lunch for those non-walkers, and for those who want to put their boots on, there are options to be had.  Make mine a gin and tonic  ta ta xxxxxxx


p.s.  dire warnings abound re an imminent cyber attack on your computers, so don't open any attachments unless you are 100% sure it's safe - good luck.  Clat3p.o.(More importantly make sure your anti-virus is up-to-date!- Ed)