On a lovely sunny day, today’s walk took me through Nonsuch Park, into Ewell Village and then along the muddy path by the Hogsmill River. Three hours walking, with no sustenance, I was glad to get home to lunch.
Along the Hogsmill River
The big city in the distance
A sunny morning and a routine 5 mile hike to the coffee and KitKat café resulted in just this image of London, some 13 miles or so in the distance.
Just a walk
What better in these miserable times than a hike in familiar countryside. It was just short of 8 miles and there was the usual coffee and KitKat of course. The sun was out for a while though walking south into the low-lying winter sun often meant looking at the ground rather than the surrounds. It was cold but not very cold. A chat with my son in Berlin is always a pleasure. It felt good to be out.
Oh to be in Berlin
My son says there was snow in Berlin, today. Lucky him!
But here in the UK it was a lovely, sunny day.
The first cold walk
It seems fitting that the first cold walk of late autumn should be illustrated with grim, black and white images. Taken with my rubbish phone, I had to introduce a bit of drama using Photoshop.
Woods, a park, a Mars bar, poo
How can a café run out of Kit Kat?! So a Mars bar it had to be, though at my age it has to be torn into pieces rather than bitten into. Contrary to the cloudy weather prediction, late morning / early afternoon was gloriously sunny, enough to produce some slight redness to my fair skin.
I’ve been thinking about how best to go about picking up the odd piece of countryside litter. A picking-up device seems overkill and a nuisance to carry around on a hike. Perhaps all I need is a bag (plastic?) and maybe a rubber glove. But where do you keep the bag during the walk – hanging from the rucksack? I’d refuse to pick up those small plastic bags favoured by dog owners – quite why some go to the trouble of collecting their pet’s poo only to discard it or even hang it from a tree branch.
Epsom & Ashtead Commons
On a lovely summer day (still!), an easy, level walk through two commons. though the elevation image might give one the impression that it was up and down all the way.
It’s blackberry time!
It’s great to see that it’s blackberry time again. Here a four images from a 5-mile local walk, the second one having been taken accidentally – I’m not sure how I managed that.
I owe an apology to a lady golfer. On witnessing her somewhat embarrassing 20-yard drive towards the very distant green, I shouldn’t have remarked “There’s plenty of room for improvement”. Inexcusable!
On a bitterly cold walk
The day after the snow came
A day after the snow came the predicted thaw began to take effect. The crisp layer of snow had become crunchy snow or worse still mud so that a walk along the Hogsmill River was at times a quagmire. Collapsed and demolished snowmen were much in evidence in Nonsuch Park.
An early morning walk
An early start on a sunny morning for my often walked 6 miles. Through the woods, past the prison, around or over the golf course, through the park with its many dog walkers, and then more paths on the edge of the woods.
Early morning sunshine at the start of the walk 
The way ahead 
I had to step off the path for the slow moving horses 
Onwards 
The golf course is closed except for walkers 
Winter is coming 
The usual, please 
In the near distance 
In the far distance, Wembley Stadium
A walk along the river
It wasn’t as sunny as I’d hoped on this 8 mile walk to and through Nonsuch Park and along the Hogsmill River in Ewell.
things change 