We took the train to Hastings for our annual visit today. We’ve found the best place on the train to keep Rocco out of everyone’s way is at the back of the train. Unfortunately, only the front 4 carriages of our train went on to Hastings, so we still ended up with a stream of people (and a pushchair!) trying to get past him…

Anyway, we were soon at St Leonards Warrior Square station, and after a short walk, on the promenade:

We stopped for a coffee on the pier:

and followed the promenade along to Rock-a-Nore beach:

The miniature railway was running, but we didn’t go on it:

and then it was time to find the pub for lunch. Afterwards, we climbed up to the top of West Hill so that Rocco could run around a bit and let off steam:

Then back to Hastings station and the train home. A lovely day!

Another fine day, so it’s on with the walking boots and out into the countryside. We’re continuing our attempts to not use the car so caught a bus to Green Street Green.

After a short (and noisy) walk along a bit of the A21, we headed off up Snag Lane – Rocco was pleased to be off the lead:

There are many geocaches along this path:

To avoid stiles, we kept to the bridal paths:

and even passed several fields with sheep in:

After finding some lovely ripe blackberries, we dropped down into Pratts Bottom for lunch:

After lunch, we headed across the fields and woods to Knockholt:

We then had to use a diverted and rather overgrown path through what used to be Broke Hill Golf Club:

This was sold to developers in 2017, and various attempts since have been made to build 100’s of houses on the site.

From there, it was a short walk to Knockholt Station and a train home:

7 miles and 8 geocaches today. Another lovely walk.

Continuing our exploration of London, we visited Wanstead. Probably not high on any tourist “Bucket List”, but an interesting area (and a chance to travel on trains we’ve not used before). We had an uneventful journey to London Bridge this time and got a tube to Moorgate, intending to walk to Liverpool Street Station as it’s a fairly direct route.

Unfortunately, Finsbury Circus was closed (no reason given), which is a shame because it looked like a nice oasis in a busy part of London:

Things went downhill from there, with many road closures stopping us getting to Liverpool Street Station, but eventually after a tour of the local area, we got there:

From there it was a quick journey to Manor Park on the Elizabeth Line – interesting to see how the new trains work on older track:

We were soon in countryside, crossing Wanstead Flats (no, I don’t know why it’s called that):

There was a lake, but very low on water:

After a short trek through quiet suburbia, we arrived at Wanstead Park itself, and found a cafe:

We continued exploring the park (now part of Epping Forest), thankfully with some trees for shade:

And came to a long ornamental lake near to the River Roding. Unfortunately, this one was totally dry, and looked like it had been for a while:

After a diversion to grab a geocache, we eventually came to another lake, this time still fairly full:

From there, it was a short walk down the road back to another part of Wanstead Flats:

Part of this was fenced off to protect ground nesting skylarks (not that we saw any):

It all looks so dry:

After a short walk, we got to Wanstead Park station and caught an shiny new overground train to Gospel Oak. The last time I used this line, it still had diesel trains!

After a quick beer, we returned via West Hampstead Thameslink and Blackfriars station – the view from the platform is great:

Then back home via London Bridge. A good day!

Despite the rather gloomy weather forecast, we decided to go to Battersea today.

Our fast train to London had been cancelled, so we decided to take the slow train instead. However, when we got to Orpington Station, it turned out that the previous fast train was so delayed that we were in time to catch that one instead.
It was a bit of a slow journey, then got slower and at one point, we were even diverted onto the slow lines. An announcement told us of a signalling issue near Waterloo. We then passed various other trains heading to London, and eventually there was another announcement that our train would terminate at London Bridge due to a “lineside fire”. So we got off and headed for the tube, only to find that closed as well. We headed outside, along with what seemed like thousands of other people and walked past some fire engines and across London Bridge away from the area.

It turned out that there had been a major fire at Southwark, which not only closed the railway to Charing Cross, but smoke had got into the tube tunnels, so the tube was closed as well.

Luckily, Monument tube station was unaffected, so we got a tube to Victoria, then a train to Battersea Park station.

From there, it was a short walk to the park, and finally, a bit of peace and quiet:

We stopped for a coffee at a cafe further into the park:

Then onto some very nice fountains and planting:

Then to a very peaceful “Old English Garden”:

and finally reaching the Thames by Battersea Bridge:

A bit further along was the “Peace Pagoda”, built in 1984:

We carried along the Thames under Chelsea Bridge to the new development around Battersea Power Station and stopped for a beer:

We both remember the area more as a building site that an upmarket bit of London:

and then to the power station itself, looking almost TOO clean and tidy:

From there, we made our way to the new tube station also called “Battersea Power Station”:

All bright and shiny, but despite costing 1.1 billion pounds for a few miles of new railway, still has the old tube trains:

We stopped off at the other new station at High Elms, but nothing much to see there:

From there, we went to Charing Cross – good timing as it had just started to rain!
And our (uneventful) journey home. An interesting day out!

By this time, it was too hot to stay on the tops, so we headed down to a small National Trust Wood/Heathland, Sullington Warren. It was lovely in the shade, and the whole area made for a pleasant stroll.

Rocco and I still had a bit of energy left, so we did a short walk to a nearby hill overlooking the valley north. This was the view from the South Downs Way looking south:

The South Downs Way seems very popular with cyclists, so getting Rocco out of the way could be a challenge!

Eventually we reached the brow, and this is the view looking North:

Another lovely day (who needs to go abroad), so we used the car to climb up to a car park at the top of the South Downs, and went for a walk. Initially the path was a bit scrappy, but Rocco didn’t care:

Then the land opened out, with the sea visible in the distance:

It was quite hot, so we (in retrospect foolishly) took a shortcut on a footpath. The first stile has a good dog size gap in it, but my heart sank with the 2nd stile. Luckily, it was quite low so Rocco just jumped over it – maybe there is hope getting him across Kentish stiles now!

He is well camouflaged in the crop:

The path then followed through a wood. Oh good, we thought, some shade. But the path was very overgrown with brambles and nettles, so ended up being a bit of a challenge. We were glad to escape back on to fields:

This is a field of maize – Rocco is somewhere ahead!

We had to cross a road by a farm. Simultaneously, hundreds of sheep appeared, so we had to wait for them to pass before continuing. Rocco looked bemused (better than wanting to chase them, I suppose):

From there it was a steady climb back to the car:

4.5 miles in total, though with the heat, felt a lot longer!

Another fine day, so we decided on a long walk across the Knepp Estate to a pub in Shipley.

First stop was at the ruins of Knepp Castle, from a millennium ago:

Then Knepp Mill Pond, which use to power a (long gone) iron works:

The estate has many nice paths:

Rocco decided he needed a drink (and luckily didn’t get in!):

Shipley has a fine windmill:

And then to the pub. Lovely garden (they don’t let dogs inside), good food and reasonable beer:

After a long lunch, a nice walk back through the estate:

And Rocco needed to cool down:

A lovely day out!

One advantage of this cottage is a pub in the village about 5 minutes walk away.

Well presented and nice food:

And of course, dog friendly:

And a nice walk home through the fields admiring the sunset: