Maltby at High Elms

I took the dogs to High Elms this morning – my first woodland walk with Maltby. I didn’t have any concerns about him running off, but I was a bit worried that he’d want to play with a ball – not a good idea in woods!

But very soon he caught on to the idea of chasing sticks instead, and soon they were both running around with a stick in their mouth:

(Sorry for the poor photo – fast moving dogs and little light)

He totally ignores other dogs (and owners) which is a nice change from the last visiting dog I took to High Elms.

Later on, they had a brief tug-of-war:

However, it was a lot of work keeping a constant supply of sticks being thrown for TWO dogs!

Back home, Maltby is a lot calmer now he’s a bit more settled.

Maltby

5 years after fostering (and keeping) Rocco, we got a call from Labrador Rescue looking for someone to urgently foster a dog. We had a quick chat and decided to go for it.

Maltby was delivered the next day, very lively and full of energy. As is often the case, he was a bit nervous at first, but as soon as a ball appeared, he was more than happy.

He will chase a ball for hours and hours, and drop it back at your feet to throw again (more than Rocco ever managed!)

Rocco didn’t seem to put out by his arrival:

Later on, I took them for a walk in the park and decided to risk letting Maltby off the lead – he just ran in circles around me, so no worries about running off – which is a big bonus.

He didn’t settle very well the first night, so we put up the crate he came with, and once inside was much happier.

We took them both to the club, and he (mostly) behaved himself once he’d got used to a different environment.

The next day, I took them both to Goddington Park with the ball chucker, thinking I could launch the ball at full power and give him lots of exercise. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that if I threw the ball too high and far, he’d no idea where it went, so I had to either send Rocco to get it or find it myself. But after an hour of that, he returned home suitably tired at last and slept in his crate with the door open.

So all good so far. Sorry for the lack of photos, but without much light and a dog that never stops, getting a clear photo is a challenge!

Jubilee Greenway 7

A very cold day today, but we were brave and decided to walk the last section of the Jubilee Greenway route. For various reasons, we ended up doing the last few sections out of order, but we did cover the entire route.

We caught a train to Lewisham, then the DLR to Cutty Sark. After some issues finding the lift (we had Rocco with us), we eventually escaped the station and headed for the river:

Nice to pass the Cutty Sark without hordes of tourists crowding the place! Rocco was soon off the lead as we headed along the Thames Path with the Greenwich Foot Tunnel entrance behind us:

There was an interesting information board about the long gone Greenwich Steam Ferry (forgottenhighway.co.uk/greenwich2.html) – you can see what remains of the ramp for the moving platform behind the railings:

A bit further on was a statue of Peter the Great:

There were several diversions “inland” from here, but eventually we reached some green at Sayes Court Park and Pepys Park before rejoining the Thames at Deptford Wharf:

There were light flurries of snow at this point! There were a series of docks to cross, thankfully all with bridges:

By this time, we needed a pub; the first one we passed wasn’t open, but the next one was not only open, but gave the dog the best welcome he has had for a while. Nice beer too:

Suitably refreshed, we headed on to Rotherhithe:

and stopped for lunch (and more beer!) at The Mayflower. It was quite busy, so we had to sit in a semi-outdoor terrace OVER the Thames (which you could see through the gaps in the floorboards). One of the few times we were grateful for patio heaters!


A nice view of the Thames from the pub:

After lunch, we followed the river towards Tower Bridge:


This is the official end of Section 7; from there it was a short walk to London Bridge station and a train home. A nice day!

Jubilee Greenway 6 – Woolwich to Greenwich

Finally, time to complete another section of the Jubilee Greenway walk, which we started in 2018! We caught the slow train from Orpington to Lewisham, then a second train to Woolwich Arsenal station.

Nearby is the Elizabeth Line station and the Dial Arch Open Space where Rocco could burn off some energy:

Time for a coffee in a nice comfy chair:

We then headed through new housing developments to the River Thames – a nice attractive space and so much better than walking along busy roads:

This is the river bus pier in the background:

Finally on the Thames Path, we headed east:

And watched the (new) Woolwich Ferry dock:

Further on, the path goes through an industrial estate past the old Siemens factory, with information on past activities. I had a client many years ago whose factory was in this estate!

Soon we came to the Thames Barrier and views across the river to Docklands:

We saw some umbrellas and tables by the path, and only just noticed an open pub beside them. So a good opportunity to get out of the wind for a while and have a beer:

Further on, we passed through an aggregates site at Angerstein Wharf; rather noisy and dusty:

Things got quieter again, and we found somewhere to have our sandwiches:

Yet more new housing as we approach North Greenwich, which is the southern terminus of the cable cars:

The path now goes around the Greenwich Peninsular (and O2 dome), with odd bits of artwork dotted around:

We had to wait for an excavator loading gravel before being able to continue on this bit:

Further on, the area becomes a lot more industrial (as I remember Blackwall before it got redeveloped and renamed Greenwich Peninsular):

A bonus further on was another pub (also dog friendly):

It turned out that this was on the site of the Greenwich STC factory (another of my clients); remembered with a bit of art and a sign:

Further on was a decorated wall and the rather garish Trafalgar Tavern:

And not far away, the Cutty Sark and the nearby DLR station:

From here, it was a DLR train to Lewisham, and after a short wait on a windy platform, the slow train back to Orpington, with a tired Rocco:

Today was a much more interesting walk than we’d expected!

 

 

 

 

Robinswood Hill

The roads are nice and quiet on a Sunday Morning, so it’s an ideal time to drive to Robinswood Hill Country Park for a walk. A bit cold to start with, but after a few uphill bits, we soon got warm. And of course Rocco was constantly running around with a stick.

Eventually the top came in view, but for us there was still a way to go as we took the gentle route up.

But nice to get to the top. Still a bit murky in the early morning mist, and quite breezy at the top as they’d removed some trees to (presumably) improve the view.

A nice walk!

Gloucester pub crawl…

A lovely sunny day today, really warm…

We caught the bus into Gloucester:

We walked the dogs through Gloucester Park; nothing exciting but Rocco could let off steam…

None of our usual pubs were open yet, so we stopped at a Wetherspoon Pub for an early beer – this was a converted cinema:

Lovely sitting in the sun…

Then on to Gloucester’s Micro pub, in a different location from a year ago:

As it was sunny, we sat outside:

The dogs attracted a lot of attention from passers by, mainly as they were blocking the pavement!

Then on to The Fountain, a regular haunt:

High Elms in the frost

A cold start to the day (-5C) so it’s dress up warm to walk Rocco. The fields by High Elms looked lovely this morning, and quite surreal with the moon behind:

Rocco doesn’t mind the cold, and was soon destroying a stick:

And then into the sunshine:

A lovely walk once I’d warmed up!

 

 

Tunbridge Wells

The weather looked reasonable today, so we headed to the station and caught the train to Tunbridge Wells:

Tunbridge Wells Common is a short walk from the station, so it wasn’t long before Rocco had a chance to let off steam:

Wellington Rocks look very strange just “growing” out of the ground:

Rocco had a chance for a drink:

and we had a brief stop in the sunshine:

After grabbing a geocache further on in the woods, we headed to The Pantiles:

By then, it was too late for a coffee, too early for a beer, so found a nice pub (The White Bear) and had one of each with nice comfortable armchairs to sit in:

We were given a little pack of “Mini-Bonio’s” – see the pack on the table. Rocco enjoyed most of these:

Suitably refreshed, we continued along the High Street to a pub (The Bedford) that had a large range of beers:

Unfortunately, they turned out to be not beers we liked, and the pub had large TV screens showing sport, so we headed back to another pub (The Compasses) just off the High Street:

Very friendly, an excellent Ruby Beer (which even Tina enjoyed), and some interesting food:

After lunch we walked through a lovely open space (The Grove), just behind the pub:

Then onto an even nicer park (Calverley Park), which could almost have been a National Trust garden:

From there, it was a short walk back to the station and the train home. Tunbridge Wells station has an interesting mural about the town under the over-bridge:

A nice day out, and we got back well before the rain started!

 

A Green Walk To Downe

We decided to go “green” today, and have a country walk and a pub lunch without using the car. It took a bit of planning correlating bus routes and footpaths, but it worked out really well in the end.

First off was a walk to the High Street to catch a R2 bus:

The bus was there, but we had to wait a few minutes for the driver to appear. We took the bus to Keston:

where 100 yards from the bus stop was the footpath by Holwood Estate, and a chance for Rocco to stretch his legs:

Not long after, we stopped to look at the view from the Wilberforce Oak:

After a failed attempt to get a coffee at Holwood Farm Shop, we had to navigate our way through fields with horses in and very poor stiles. This one was easy though:

The path then climbed up the side of the valley, with nice views, albeit of a golf course:

Further on, the path was blocked by a fallen tree, and we had to divert onto the golf course to get past it:

We then walked past Downe House and Christmas Tree Farm into Downe itself, and headed for the pub:

Rocco made himself comfortable:

and we enjoyed a few beers and a lovely meal:

I was expecting to have to walk down the road to get to High Elms, but a path went along the side of the road allowing Rocco to run around and play with sticks:

We then walked through High Elms down into Green St Green:

Of course, we just missed the R11 bus back, so we had to wait a few minutes for the next one:

6 miles of walking and 1 geocache today.