I was reminded by my friend Jackie that it was not only Christine who read our blog posts. I must get back into the habit of posting again.
So Jackie and I met at St Pancras station and spent a pleasant time chatting, eating and strolling around.
I was moved by this memorial at St Pancras which I hadn’t noticed before.
Today I have been making table decorations for the Pastime Christmas party. Four separate ones, which could also be one large one:
I also made a festive quiche for the feast!
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!
It’s quite a while since we’ve managed a day out, and with good weather forecast, we decided to repeat a walk we did back in July (see Lunch at Downe) though in the other direction.
We caught an R11 bus from Orpington High Street (having just missed one, of course) to Green St Green. After negotiating the busy A21 roundabout, we were soon away from roads:
Rocco appreciated being able to run around and chew sticks:
Soon we were in High Elms, gently climbing through the autumn leaves:
We needed to cross High Elms Road at Sparrow Wood Car Park:
and then followed the permissive footpath into Downe village:
And then to the Queens Head for lunch, washed down with Timothy Taylors Landlord Dark – an excellent beer we both enjoyed.
After lunch, we had a bit of road walking, then escaped across the fields by Farthing Street:
Then back into the woods:
and across Farnborough Fields to Farnborough Village, where (again) we just missed a 358 bus back to Orpington. Not long to wait for another one though!
After a hearty breakfast, several of us joined a guided tour of central Hereford. We started at the cathedral.
And continued around the immediate vicinity, including the last remains of the castle moat.
I left the tour to head to the station, passing the site of yesterday’s festivities, the Town Hall.
Caught a train to Newport, then Paddington. Hammersmith and City line to Farringdon, where I discovered Thameslink was closed for engineering work. So a bus journey past St Paul’s, and finally a fast train from London Bridge to Orpington. Phew!
A wonderful day of dancing and music. Being in the moment, I didn’t take any photos of the dancing – they never do it justice anyway. But the contributions were extraordinarily varied, the dinner was good and the masquerade ball in the evening was fun, with an excellent band.
We did pay our respects to Elgar during a short walk round the block:
In spite of major disruption on the railways today, my train to Hereford left Paddington on time and was a mere ten minutes late arriving. I was able to walk to my hotel, while less fortunate passengers had to wait for transport to wherever they hadn’t been able to get to.
I had barely settled in my very elegant room when our friend Phil arrived and we went for a coffee and a good chat. We forgot to take a photo, though…
The evening’s activity was a lecture about masquerade balls in the 18th century, with some fascinating slides. A short walk back to the hotel and drop exhausted into bed!
This morning the weather was beautiful. Lucy stayed in and spent time in the garden while Gemma and I went for a walk. There was a vague plan, but it changed as the mood took us. We paused for a swift half at The Navigation…
No pork scratchings, so we had to make do with crisps.
Then a stroll along the canal, and return via King’s Norton – on foot since the buses didn’t want to play!
We had another quiet morning and early afternoon. A game of Carcassonne and some more art…
After a late lunch/ early supper in the Chinese quarter, we went to the Crescent Theatre to see an excellent production of “Pride and Prejudice”. Back home for a nice cup of Horlicks…
Today there was a yellow weather warning, so we stayed indoors and did Art…
I had my first go at lino printing since secondary school:
