Squeezing in one last walk...

Julia and I went for the last walk of 2008 - Hassocks to Upper Beeding. 10 miles, graded 8/10 in terms of difficulty.

It was a great walk! We're having VERY cold weather at the mo, and the day was perfect - clear blue sky (although a bit misty), and very cold. Grass crackling under out feet as we walked through the frost - brilliant. And it was along the South Downs which is one of my favourite places, and we haven't walked there for ages, so it was just great to get back down there, walk up a few hills and stride along the Downs. It would have been a lot harder if it hadn't been so cold as a few stretches of it were quite muddy, but as the mud was frozen it didn't impact on us at all.

It was really quiet as well - aside from around the lunch spot, we didn't really see many people at all. And we finished just as the sun was going down, so we weren't walking in the freezing cold - cos when the sun goes down at the mo the temperature seems to drop about 5 deg :-). There are a couple of photos below, but also more on Flickr.

We have many plans for doing more walking in 2009 as well...

Me and frost - Hassocks to Upper Beeding, Dec 2008

Me and frost - Hassocks to Upper Beeding, Dec 2008
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Top of the first hill...

Julia with the valley below - Hassocks to Upper Beeding, Dec 2008

Julia with the valley below - Hassocks to Upper Beeding, Dec 2008
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Working our way up to the top of Devils Dyke - and lunch!

Wendover Circular - a lot of walking and a bit of getting lost...

Branching out from our usual destinations of the South Downs and Kent, Julia and I headed off to north of London to do the Wendover Circular - apparently 11.6 miles, but by the time we finished we had probably done closer to 13!

The description said this walk was particularly pretty in autumn and they were right - it was lovely. The weather was ok (started raining just as we finished) and the colours of the trees were gorgeous. The description of the route could have been a bit better though it has to be said - it is normally pretty hard to get lost doing a Time Out walk, but this one just didn't make sense. We worked out where we went wrong, went back, but just couldn't see the path as they described it. So we took another try, walked to a pub which was mentioned in the instructions and tried retracing our steps. That still didn't work :-(. So we ended up walking up the road for a while until we could pick the path back up.

So at that point we thought it was all fine and dandy... But no! Then we were wandering around a forest (with a howling gale, and dark clouds scudding over so it seemed very menacing and all very 'horror movie-ish') looking for a tree with a white cross painted on it. Quarter of an hour later we managed to stumble across it and picked up the path again... We did eventually finish without further incidents, but it just added to our general 'We don't like North London' view point! A couple of photos below and more on Flickr...

Woods in the sun - Wendover Circular, Oct 2008

Woods in the sun - Wendover Circular, Oct 2008
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Windy with a view! Wendover Circular, Oct 2008

Windy with a view! Wendover Circular, Oct 2008
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Really? Do dogs on lead please sheep? - Wendover Circular, Oct 2008

Really? Do dogs on lead please sheep? - Wendover Circular, Oct 2008
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I loved this sign!

Walking during 'Monsoon Weekend'

Julia and I had hoped to go for a 'proper' walk this weekend, but the weather was bad at the end of the week, and the headlines on the paper were talking about the 'Monsoon Weekend'.

So instead of heading out into the country we did a wee stroll locally instead. Walked up to Wimbledon Common (didn't see the Wombles - they must have been hiding...), through the common to Richmond Park, through Richmond Park (past the deer), into Richmond for lunch, then along the river past Kingston and back to Surbiton. So we reckon it was probably around 6-8 miles anyhow, so not a bad stretch.

And in between the rain it was really rather pleasant!

Deer at Richmond Park

More deer at Richmond Park
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

This was one of the smaller groups we passed. There was a fantastic large group (herd?), with some pretty full on antler action going on, but the camera on my phone wasn't good enough to get a pic of it from that distance.

First walk of 2008

Was undertaken by me, Julia, Craig and Kevin on February 2nd. Borough Green to Sevenoaks - 9.5miles.

Not a particularly outstanding walk scenery wise - we never really felt like we were that far away from anyone else, but it was a lovely day weatherwise, we had a great lunch at yet another fantastic country pub, and as it was quite short we were home quite early!

Although we did pass some quite fantastically posh houses and stables - oh how the other half live....

There are some photos on Flickr - which seems to be down at the mo so I can't blog them. Do take a look tho.

Pretty Thames view, Jan 2008

Thames, Jan 2008
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Photo from my stroll last Sunday from Surbiton to Richmond via the Tow Path - making the most of the rarely seen sun!

Looking towards Richmond, Jan 2008

Looking towards Richmond, Jan 2008
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

And another one...