Hiking
Varied and rewarding walk along the Thames Estuary starting and returning to Abbey Wood rail station on a circular route comprising paths of the Green Chain and the Thames Path routes. We were surprised and impressed by the quiet grandeur of the river Thames, here fully tidal in the estuary downstream of the Thames Barrier. And there really is a ruined Augustinian abbey in the woods at Abbey Wood!
Col de la Tour, from col de Bergu, 801 m. A brilliant view of the Montagne du Glandasse in the Vercors, rewarding a winter afternoon's long hike up from Die on the banks of the river Drôme plus some rather arcane train and bus connections.
Eagles found me having my picnic and circled above. The rest of the Vercors plateau was clear of mist and dramatic enough but monochromatic without direct sunshine. Interesting and different to see the col de Rousset from afar rather than on a motorbike. And great to spend time with my friends in the Drôme département.
The Oxford and Cambridge rowers race each year on the Thames in the Varsity Boat Race from Putney up river to Mortlake. Their crews just over a quarter of an hour to row the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) course: Cambridge hold the course record since 1998 (16 min 19 sec; average speed 24.9 kilometres per hour - 15.5 mph).
The South Downs take some familiarity to appreciate their particular natural beauty. The scoops and curves of chalk hills and valleys contrast with the linear landscape of a ridge walk along a line of hills. The subtle colours are no less engaging for their softness. The underlying chalk, whiter than almost anything else in the landscape, sticks readily, its mud loading the boots almost immediately.
My photos are of a hike to Black Cap (206 m.) from the rail station at Falmer near Brighton.
Great Chalk Wood and Hartslock Wood sit on the Chiltern Hills adjoining the Thames Valley near Pangbourne in Berkshire. Views as pretty as any in the hazy sunshine of late autumn, maybe a bit reminiscent of the valley of the Dordogne and Vézère in Perigord. Contrasts between the fine tracery of the trees and the geometric regularity of the man's interventions.
The Great Western Railway bridge over the river Thames was completed in 1840 and now looks part of the landscape. Railway electrification will reach this line shortly, with centenary wires and posts strutting above the metal rails.
The pill-box in Hartslock Wood was on the GHQ Line - Red (General Headquarters Line - Red) which was part of a system of defensible positions intended to resist progress of an enemy invasion in the 1940s. Fortunately it was never tested; it’s easy to imagine the well-intentioned Home Guard of this affluent area feeling that they were doing their bit by standing guard in this attractive location in the woods alongside the river.
