This photo was taken on the Dorset coast on Friday evening (July 29th), approaching Lulworth Cove on the South West Coast Path fom Weymouth. Thanks to Jan and Katja for helping with the research on this new route for ECW.

One notable addition is the Alice in Wonderland walk, which I’m putting together to commemorate the release of the upcoming Walt Disney Studios film, due out this Friday. The walk is scheduled for Sat/Sun March 6th and 7th. Read about it here.

So far we’ve been out four times, to four very different destinations all over the country: the Chiltern Hills, Hampstead Heath, Loch Ordie in Scotland, and most recently the Mendip Hills near Bristol.

Here’s some coverage of last weekend’s walk. Clicking the screenshot below will take you to the Times article.

You can see photos from this day out on my Flickr stream here.

At the moment, there are still two more Times Walks open to sign up for:

a) Sunday July 12th: an expedition to Pistyll Rhaeadr, the highest waterfall in Wales, with myself and Paul Sanders, the Times Picture Editor, and
b) Saturday July 25th: a walk near Aylesford Priory in Kent, with myself and Times correspondent Ruth Gledhill

If you’re interested, visit the sign-up page for Times Walks.

More updates to follow soon. Please keep in touch -

David

The White Cliffs of the Seven Sisters
King Beorthwulf’s Gardens (Benington Lordship)
Bodiam Castle
Fortress of the Black Swans (Leeds Castle)

as examples.

Benefits of this approach:

a) you can zoom out to see where the route is relative to London and the rest of the country
b) you can zoom in to see details of the route
c) you can switch from “Terrain” view to “Satellite” view and get a highly detailed aerial image of the route

Once I start getting the hang of the Google Maps API (Application Programming Interface), I ought to be able to add nifty new features like pop-out photos showing on-the-ground views from selected points along the route of a walk.

– DW

Too whipped to do much more than post a couple of snaps from the day. I’ll get around to posting the full photo stream later.

Felipe and Ben in blizzard conditions, standing on the path of the old railway line in Clowes Wood.

More snow squalls ahead. Here we are on the track into Whitstable.

Weather like this is unheard of here at this time of year. I will check the records tomorrow to see when London last saw snowfall in October.

Yes the clocks went back yesterday, and yes according to my favorite online UK weather source Metcheck (thanks Dale) it’s about to feel very cold …

but I’ll still be doing walks through the rest of the autumn and winter. It’s a great time to get outdoors.

This week’s tentative schedule: Leeds Castle on Thursday, the New Forest on Friday, and a trial of a new walk from Canterbury to Whitstable on Sunday. Call or email if you’re interested in the Sunday walk – I can send you details.

Given the lack of posts on ECW over the spring and summer months, you may be forgiven for thinking that there’s nothing going on here. In fact, a LOT has happened. I’ve got photos from over 20 walks to post, so look out for these in the days to come.

– DW

WALK REPORT These are some photos from a trip we took back in February – a visit to Benington Lordship gardens in Hertfordshire. This was at the tail end of winter, with spring imminent. 31 shots. With friends Aleks, Anneli, and Tobi.

1. Goodbye London! Passing through the North London neighborhood of Finsbury Park, on the train up to Hertfordshire.

2. Aleks at Stevenage station. We’re changing trains here to get to the little village of Watton-at-Stone, where today’s walk starts.

3. Anneli and Tobi at the start of our walk. Taken on the bridge over the tracks at Watton station. A violently graphic public safety film (The Finishing Line) warning kids about the dangers of playing on railway lines was shot here in the 70s, starring children from the local primary school.

4. Aleks, Anneli, and Tobi on the country lane that leads into the south end of Watton-at-Stone. The village takes its name from a type of conglomerate rock found locally, called Hertfordshire puddingstone.

5. The 15th-century tower of the church of St Andrew & St Mary, Watton-at-Stone. If you believe the Luton Paranormal Society, this place is haunted by the ghost of a jilted woman who jumped to her death from the parapets. Here are some photos from their recent night-time “investigations“.

6. Anneli in front of the small door to the church’s west tower (for scale). This may be the bellringers’ entrance.

7. Wrought iron finials on the church gates.

8. Outside The Bull on the high street in Watton village, admiring a 1973 Ford Escort mk I Super. This model, with its characteristic “dogbone” grille, was very successful as a rally car.

9. Local headlines on sandwich boards, High Street, Watton-at-Stone. Can you solve the mystery of the mill?

10. We followed the Hertfordshire Chain Walk out of Watton-at-Stone and into the countryside. First signs of spring!

11. Farming equipment: a heavy-duty cultivator parked in a field near Blue Hill Farm. This is what it looks like in action.

12. Anneli’s shoes started to get a bit muddy here.

13. Anneli and Tobi on the hill up to our first pub stop of the day in Hebing End. Thank you, Tobi.

14. Apple buds.

15. Aleks at the Lordship Arms, Hebing End. We stopped for a half here; they do good bitters.

16. En route to lunch in Benington village now. This is Benington Park, with Tobi pretending he actually lives here.

17. Sign on a house near Benington village.

18. We had lunch at The Bell in Benington. This car was parked in an old garage outside. It’s a 1.5L Singer from the mid-1930s.

19. Detail of the Norman folly at Benington Lordship gardens. It was designed by James Pulham, a noted Victorian landscape gardener.

20. Close-up of a willow bud in the gardens.

21. The manor house at Benington Lordship is the centerpiece of the gardens. The veranda makes it feel like something off the set of Gone With the Wind.

22. Spring crocuses at Benington Lordship. I think these are Crocus dalmaticus.

23. Pollarding on trees in the garden.

24. Just a few of the many thousands of snowdrops that crop up here at Benington every February.

25. A Moto Guzzi parked in the grounds of the gardens. The Ferrari of motorcycles.

26. Architect Tobi snapping a pic of the stylish water tower outside Benington.

27. A spot of mud on the path to Walkern village.

28. It’s not even 4pm, but dusk is near. Tobi and Anneli on the tree-lined drive near Box Hall. 45 minutes to go before we hit the pub at the end of our walk.

29. Tobi stops to talk with some friendly cows.

30. On the path near Walkern Hall.

31. The last sign. Taken on the hill down into Walkern village.

If you’d like to try this walk yourself, I’m running it on these dates.

– DW

WALK REPORT This was the second trial of my Tiptree cream tea walk. Still needs work to improve the route. Parts of Kelvedon are pretty, but the section from there to Tiptree lacks interest. Also, it’s a real shame that the old church at Inworth is kept locked – most of the country churches I pass on my other walks are open to the public, but not this one. Thanks to Anne and Cristina for help with trailblazing.

1. Here we are just off the train at Kelvedon, crossing the footbridge over the tracks into town.

2. First stop: the chemists in Kelvedon. Cristina needed to pick up some sun cream – it was that nice out!

3. Eternity, by Jesus Christ. Chee-zee! Propaganda outside the Kelvedon United Reformed Church. Underneath, it reads “It’s for you, it’s for me, it’s for everyone!” Oy veh.

4. And here’s the original. Cristina happened to have some on her.

5. Sign outside a shop on the High Street in Kelvedon. ‘MBHI’ means Mr Papworth is a member of the British Horological Institute.

6. More High Street scenes. This florist had an amazing display out front.

7. Leaving town now, crossing the River Blackwater. This is the old flour mill on the edge of Kelvedon.

8. A rusting farm wagon mired in the mud at Ewell Hall.

9. Which way do we go? Contradictory footpath signs on the way to Inworth.

10. One of the morning’s highlights was finding this pile of rubbish. Like I said, I need to fix the route a bit.

11. Cristina feeding a horse near Windmill Hill outside Tiptree.

12. Coming into Tiptree village we had to thread our way through some sand and gravel pits. Lots of unfriendly signs here …

13. … and here.

14. Mercifully, the Tiptree jam factory wasn’t far away. We stopped here for lunch. This was our peppered mackerel dish.

15. Afterwards, we had a cream tea. It consisted of scones and Tiptree jam …

16. … and a pot of tea, of course.

17. Cristina in the cafe at the Tiptree jam factory.

18. Scenes from our afternoon/evening walk. Spotted this pig weather vane on a house near Tiptree.

19. On the path to Tolleshunt D’Arcy.

20. Power lines at dusk, near Little Totham.

21. A dead tree on the path at Chigborough Lakes.

As you can see, things got kind of dark about now. We made it as far as The Old Ship Inn at Heybridge Basin, then called a cab to take us back to the train home at Chelmsford.

For the next attempt, I will try incorporating more time on the Blackwater Estuary. Here are the dates I’ll be running this walk.

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