(Off message) After Labour Local Government Conference in Coventry, Gill and I stayed over and went for a walk on the Sunday around nearby Warwick. A 5 mile flat circular walk courtesy of the AA, starting off at the racecourse. It rained in the mornin…Read more…
Sunday Stroll to Wanstead
Off message but picture collage from a local winters walk yesterday from Forest Gate to Wanstead and back. It was cold but lots of sunshine and blue skies. We stopped off to feed the birds at Jubilee Pond with defrosted green peas (bread makes their st…Read more…
Malvern Hills New Year Walks 2019. Joy & Sadness
Mostly off message but Gill and spent new year in Great Malvern, Worcestershire. We had never been here before but I had seen the historical railway poster (see bottom right) and thought it might be a good place to go walking.
It turned out to be a fa…Read more…
Moel Famau Christmas Eve circular walk 2018
I am back in London after spending Christmas with family in beautiful North Wales. On Christmas Eve, Gill and I went for a fantastic 8.3 mile circular walk to the Jubilee Tower at the top of Moel Famau, starting and finishing in Llanbedr village.
The …Read more…
Roding Valley Walk (Newham to Barking)
I can’t believe that it was 8 years ago that Gill and I went for a 3 hour walk along the River Roding way (North) from Wanstead to Roding Valley underground station.
For whatever last minute whim reason, we decided today to go from Newham along the Ro…Read more…
Coombe Hill & Chequers Walk 2018 (& 2004)
Off message: Gill and I went for this fantastic 8 mile autumnal walk last Sunday in the Chilterns. The weather was incredibly warm and sunny for the time of year. Many trees were still remarkably green which I put down to the unusual hot summer we have…Read more…
Tonwell walk Hertfordshire (Ramblers route) – Big Skies, Slave Trade, Toll roads, Double VC, Harvest Festival
Off message this was a seriously good Sunday walk that Gill & I did late September which is only a short drive from London (apologies to my fellow Newham Cllr Daniel B for using the “D” word). It was the first walk that I had downloaded from the Ra…Read more…
Bumbles Green Walk
Off message but another great walk from the free Essexwalks.com site. “Bumbles Green” is within spitting distance of London. It is only 30 minutes drive from Newham and like most walks just outside London, incredibly quiet and peaceful.
King Haro…Read more…
South West Coast Path: Newquay to Perranporth Walk
Off message. Drove back today after a lovely week’s holiday in Cornwall recovering from UNISON conference. I did of course develop the traditional post conference lurgy but it did not spoil the break.
Yesterday Gill and I had the best walk of the week…Read more…
Essex Way: Epping to Chipping Ongar
Off message. Last year Gill and I finally finished the London Loop walk (which took us 3 years to complete in stages) but on 10 June we started our next long distance walking challenge, the 82 mile (130 km) Essex Way. Which starts in Epping and fi…Read more…
Great Expectations Met: Northward Hill and Halstow Marshes walk
Off message. Please excuse the “Great Expectations” pun but we went for what turned out to be an unexpectedly lovely walk yesterday near Rochester in Kent. The guide book claimed this was the countryside described by Charles Dickens in “Great Expe…Read more…
Clavering Walk
Off message, I had my first day on Sunday off from politics and the union for a long time. I downloaded this 8.5 mile circular route from the free website Essexwalks.com and we drove to Clavering near Bishop Stortford in around 45 minutes from Eas…Read more…
Mill Green & Blackmore walk
Off message but did a fabulous 6.5 mile walk in Essex today (Pathfinder Essex walks). Cold and windy but blue skies and sunshine. Mill Green Common is only about 40 minutes from Forest Gate, East London by car (near Brentwood).
The start of the walk i…Read more…
The Alwen Trail (& The Fairy Freckled Cow)
Picture collage from a lovely walk in North Wales last week. A 7.5 mile circular walk around the Alwen Dam and Denbigh moors. The dam was built in 1911 and flooded an ancient sheep farm valley in order to provide drinking water for Birkenhead in …Read more…
While in Dancing Dick’s Lane – White Notley to Witham walk
Definitely off message but today Gill and I went for a linear walk from White Notley station to Witham station (Essex). It was a walk in an old booklet I found on my shelf called “Off the Beaten Track – 20 Rambles in Rural Essex” by Great Eastern Railw…Read more…
Walk from Forest Gate to Chingford
Off message but a lovely walk today from the People’s Republic to Queen Elizabeth’s Hunting Lodge at Chingford. Highlights are :- Great sky. Fantastic breakfast at the Lakeside Diner. Then got lost. Found way across A406. Had coffee at Higham lake. At …Read more…
Levada bashing in Madeira – Ribeiro Frio to Portela
Off message but recommend this marvellous recent summer holiday walk, 11k (4 hours-ish) alongside Madeiran Levadas (irrigation water channels) in stunning mountain countryside.
Madeira is an Atlantic Portuguese Island off the coast of Africa and a li…Read more…
Ditchling Beacon Walk June 2017
Off message but this was a great recovery walk that Gill and I did after the UNISON NDC conference in Brighton last month.
The National Trust car park at Ditchling Beacon is pretty small so either get there early or be patient. There is no cash car pa…Read more…