Category: UK Walking
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It took four months for us to return to Cuxton, this time to attempt the majority of the leg from there to Detling, some 12.5 miles distant. I knew we would be unable to complete the full distance, especially since we had a further mile from Cuxton Station to the beginning of the walk proper.…
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In September we made it a hat-trick of Coast Path visits during 2022. This time we began at Helford Passage, on the opposite side of the Helford ferry crossing from where we’d left off in June, and finished beside the industrial wasteland abutting Par Docks. Our base on this occasion was the splendid harbour town…
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Since we arrived in Oxford in the first week of August 2021, it has taken us just over a year to return to the Thames Path. On this occasion we based ourselves in Abingdon, travelling out on Wednesday and returning on Saturday. On the Thursday we walked the nine miles or so from Oxford to…
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By mid-June of 2022 we were already back in Cornwall, having completed St Ives to Marazion only three months beforehand. We devoted our week to the Lizard Peninsula, restarting at Marazion, continuing down the western side and rounding Lizard Point before ascending the eastern side to reach the Helford Estuary. Our base was a small…
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Six weeks after reaching Wrotham, we were back at Borough Green Station, ready to walk the eleven miles or so to Cuxton. We had travelled via Clapham Junction and London Victoria, catching the Ramsgate train, which reached Cuxton shortly after 10AM. It was a Saturday in mid-May and perfect for walking. There were blue skies…
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It wasn’t until early April that we managed to resume the North Downs Way. The Guide had suggested that the previous leg, starting in Oxted, should conclude in Otford. But we had fallen slightly short, finishing instead at Dunton Green. It now proposed that the subsequent stage should stretch all the way from Otford to…
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Almost six months after our last visit – when we walked from Holywell Bay to St Ives – we found ourselves back on the train down to Cornwall. It was late March: we had timed this trip to help us get ‘walking fit’ for our impending Channel Islands holiday. This time our destination and base…
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We resumed the North Downs Way towards the end of October, travelling to Oxted on the East Grinstead train from Clapham Junction, where we met Jacqui. On our way we breakfasted on coffee and pastries bought from the platform cafe. This leg crosses the Surrey-Kent border. The official guide suggests one finishes at Otford but,…
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We returned to Cornwall towards the end of September 2021. The omens weren’t good, as I’d been struggling with a prolonged (but thankfully rare) bout of exercise-induced asthma. Unfortunately this didn’t respond brilliantly to extended mask-wearing or GWR’s aircon. We’d opted to base ourselves in St Ives, at the end of the section we planned…
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We completed this 8-mile leg on August Bank Holiday Monday, meeting Jacqui at Clapham Junction where she was already breakfasting on a bacon roll. We bought pastries which we saved for the Merstham train. Leaving Merstham Station half an hour later, we quickly found our way back to Quality Street, which was named after J…
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We returned to the Thames Path just two months after completing the Lechlade to Newbridge leg. This time we based ourselves in Oxford, travelling there on Wednesday and back home on Saturday. We devoted Thursday to the Path and Friday to Oxford. This leg, from Newbridge to Oxford, is 14 miles long. That’s close to…
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. Only three weeks after completing Shalford to Westhumble, we were back at Box Hill and Westhumble Station to start the next 10-mile leg to Merstham. We arrived by the same route, changing at Wimbledon on to the SWR Dorking service, arriving soon after nine in the morning. . Morning Light rain was falling as…
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. In June 2021, after almost 18 months away, we finally managed to renew our acquaintance with the Thames Path. Back in January 2020 we had completed the second leg, from Cricklade to Lechlade, though with a substantial diversion to avoid flooding. On that occasion we were celebrating Tracy’s 50th. This time round we had…
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. The second stage of the North Downs Way is roughly 13 miles. We began with the intention of completing the stage in one go, but gave ourselves the option of finishing early at Gomshall and completing the walk at a later date. In the event, this is what happened. We walked from Shalford to…
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. Covid restrictions meant another eight months had elapsed since we were last able to walk the Coast Path, so this trip was eagerly anticipated. We based ourselves in Padstow this time round, intending to walk at least to Newquay and ideally beyond. We had a full week, from Friday to Friday, though both Fridays…
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. We decided to adopt the North Downs Way as a walking project in winter 2020. Given lockdown conditions, we knew it might be some time before we could return to the South West Coast Path, or even to the farther reaches of the Thames Path. But the earlier stages of the North Downs Way…
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. We were last on the Coast Path in March 2020, just prior to lockdown, when we walked from Clovelly to Bude. This trip also felt as though it had been completed just in time. We were fortunate to catch Summer’s last hurrah – and more stringent lockdown restrictions seemed imminent. Cornwall was busy with…
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. Our previous segment of the Coast Path – from Barnstaple to Clovelly – had been completed back in June 2019 so, by March 2020, this next visit was more than overdue. We only just managed to squeeze it in before the Coronavirus clampdown on non-essential travel. That will delay our next trip too. If…
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Five months on from our first engagement with the Thames Path – completing the trek from the source to Cricklade – we decided it was high time to undertake the second leg, taking us from Cricklade to Lechlade. We were killing two birds with one stone since it was also my companion Tracy’s 50th birthday,…
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. We have decided to walk the 184 miles of the Thames Path, alongside our parallel and much longer project: the South-West Coast Path. Our journey began on a cloudy August morning, travelling by train and tube into Paddington to catch the 12:45 GWR departure for Swansea – and alighting at Swindon less than an hour…
Eponymous 