On one of the first days after the lockdown here in England was eased, Ellie & I did the Rye to Hastings walk for the third or fourth time. It’s one of our favourite walks and this time around we did it without a guide. How to get lost on a coastal walk I hear what you’re saying: why would anyone need a guide for a coastal walk? You simply walk along the coast. Water to your left, land to your right, right? What’s the challenge? Oh well… there are plenty of more talented navigation experts out there, but it’s not that we are the only people that sometimes get lost on coastal walks. You will, of course, usually have a pretty good idea of which direction your destination is, broadly speaking. However, you might not always have a clear view of the sea and there are many cases where […]
Hiking from Glynde to Seaford with ‘Go London’: ‘The sunny South Downs and seaside walk’
Ellie & I have been doing walks with Gary Bebb’s fabulous ‘Go London’ (usually spelled GO London) hiking group for more than two years now. Soon after the last lockdown ended we booked ourselves on another walk with them. However, when we checked the weather forecast the night before the walk, we froze: temperatures around 3C / 37F and constant rain all day. I’ll be frank, I thought about bailing out, and Ms B made up her mind quickly: this was not for her. In the end I went on my own. 15 hikers bailed out from the ‘Sunny Walk’ When I arrived in Glynde after about an hour on the train just before the agreed time of 10:30am, only 10 of the 25 persons who had booked had actually shown up. Neil (Neil Froggitt), with whom Ellie & I had done another walk before, was our guide for the […]
Hadleigh Castle and the Saffron Trail – Hiking with ‘Go London’
Ellie & I have been doing walks with Gary Bebb’s fabulous ‘GO London’ hiking group for more than two years now. Ten days ago we joined Gary and 16 other hikers on the “Coastal Hike – Hadleigh Castle and the Saffron Trail.” The 16km (10 mile) walk involves 230m of ascent (all added up). It takes about 4 hours to complete and is classified as “beginners hike.” This was fine with us. Lockdown had just ended and our bones were still a bit rusty. Why ‘Saffron Trail’? Part of this hike is along the Saffron Trail. An Essex hiking group devised this route only 20 years ago. They wanted to have a major north-south long-distance walk in the county of Essex. Until then there had only been two long-distance walks which both went from west to east: The Essex Way and St Peter’s Way. The Saffron Trail starts in nearby […]