Walks You Have Done.

luka

Well-known member
me and the boy craner ( http://cittaviolenta.blogspot.com ) inaugerated the 2005 walking season by going
plaistow-beckton
scaling the beckton alp and admiring the view. this was pretty exhilerating. better in fact than the view from stratford's multi-storey carpark. a black patch with charred wood and ashes showed someone had had a fire on the summit. that seemed like a good thing to do. i hope they did it at night. driving past and seeing the alp aflame in the middle of the night would be an eerie sight.
i might lead an expedition up beckton alp later in the year.
come down
wandered about
got hungry
ate crisps
found our way to the lighthouse on the thames
it was open
went inside
the sun was setting
the sunset was reflected on the water and the windows of the office blocks.
three herons were fishing on the mudbanks.
that was good.
went to canary wharf. drank coffee. read paper. came home.
the end.
(the picture at the top of citta violenta is the view from the lighthouse)
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
anyone fancy doing a walk outside of london one day? i quite fancy going somewhere on a train, getting some real fresh air and winding up in a pub with a fire and pies
 

luka

Well-known member
i've got leigh-on-sea in mind, but i'm probably going on a tuesday. some sea breeze to blow the cobwebs away. but i'm sure i'd be up for anything else.
 

Backjob

Well-known member
I'm going to go walking in Tokyo on friday. It's bitterly cold and a bit damp and grey, so perfect walking weather. It's very flat so you can walk for miles, and it's good because no two bits of it are really the same so there's lots to look at. The downside is there aren't many places with views because all the buildings are too tall. I want to find an industrial area, but failing that will just wander around Shinjuku.
 

Pearsall

Prodigal Son
I really enjoyed walking around Tokyo the one time I went there.

Yesterday I walked from where I live (Astoria, Queens) to Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Took about an hour and a half. Quite a fun walk, although pretty grimy (especially through Long Island City...filthy).
 

Jim Daze

Well-known member
Me and my brother Jim Jnr went to the Bird Hide by the Walthamstow reservoirs on Sunday.
We saw a couple of herons, some cormorants obviously, shellduck, teal, white swans and a large rat.
There was hardly anyone about and the sky was clear and crisp.
My brother is going through some stress at the moment and reckoned that the walk and a spot of birdwatching had "proper chilled him out".

I want to know where the Greenway ends, does it just go into the Thames Esturary ?
 

luka

Well-known member
oi jim come up beckton alp bruv, we can keep following the greenway afterwards, how about sunday? it'll be like following the nile to its source...
 

Jim Daze

Well-known member
sounds like a plan, did you go to Leigh in the end ?
Essex has got some top past it resort towns that take on almost magical hues in the winter, Walton On The Naze, Clacton, Brightlingsea, ........
 

luka

Well-known member
i'm going southend tommorow but i haven't go to leigh-on-sea yet, probably go next week. walton-on-the-naze sounds good. i've never been to that one.
 

Randy Watson

Well-known member
One of my earliest memories was watching the end of Southend Pier burning down from my bedroom window. Go easy on the arcades, Luka. :)

BTW, there are 4 pubs in Old Leigh (Crooked Billet, Peter Boat, Smack & Ship). The billet is not too touristy and the Ship is a locals pub. They all do food and there's a couple of little cafe's down there too. Try and stick around 'til dusk cos we get some lovely sunsets down here.
 

jenks

thread death
would heartily concur with randy watson - no wonder pauline fowler is always nipping down here!
i wooed my wife in the ship, oh heady days!!
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Just got back from Southend with Vandross. Feel healthy. Have a sea-glow.

Southend pier is amazing...it goes on for miles!

We took a rickety old train to the end of it. We caught the last one which had old hits from the '40s blasting out of a cheap tannoy system. The sun was setting as we hurtled out into the channel.

We saw a bunch of brent geese mucking about in seaweed at the end of a boat ramp. We had turnstones whizzing about our heads in the breeze. Some very smart, if dour, winter plumage on display. We saw some small, white, fat birds racing along the shoreline, little legs going like crazy across shingle and foam. (They were sanderlings. I had to consult a field guide when I got home on that one. Also, I mistook barnacle for brent geese at the time. So sue me.)

At the end of the pier we watched three turnstones attack a large fish head and spine: the fish head had big, gawping empty eye-sockets.

Late afternoon had us walking into our shadows. A big cargo ship lumbered along the horizon.

In the shallows of the shore there are poles stuck at intervals in the sand. They wear green pointy caps. What are they for?

It was a bit like the Venice lido, in conclusion.

...with a grand old hotel crumbling into the wind. It has a most ornate turret tacked onto the end.
 

adam

Member
Stuggling to think of the best walk I've done.

Maybe when I spent two days on my own walking around Norway's Lofoten Islands, above the Arctic Circle.
 

mms

sometimes
down the road to st clements from my mums, from maybe across to malpas, where on the way you can see the river from the hills, then herons in the trees and with a bit of luck some seals.
from malpas down the road into town, past all the boats. this is all on the outskirts of truro.
also along the old railway track from finsbury park, near where i live now, all muddy and smelly in the middle of the city.
 
Backjob said:
I'm going to go walking in Tokyo on friday. It's bitterly cold and a bit damp and grey, so perfect walking weather. It's very flat so you can walk for miles, and it's good because no two bits of it are really the same so there's lots to look at. The downside is there aren't many places with views because all the buildings are too tall. I want to find an industrial area, but failing that will just wander around Shinjuku.

Recommendation: do the river boat from that area north of Ginza, east of Akihabara - can't remember what it's called - all the way down to the harbour. Then get off and walk around. Very easy to get lost and out of your depth.

I once walked from Minato-ku to shibuya along the main road and I'm not sure my lungs will ever recover.

However, my favourite walks are along the coast in cornwall.

Last Sunday we walked from our house to a wood packed with natural springs that feed Hobsons Brook in Cambridge. It was a bit bleak and the springs had been scraped out by mechanical diggers recently - but still better than a wintry wood should be.
 
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originaldrum

from start till done
if any of you ever end up New Zealand ways, you have to check out these walks

Tongariro trail - 10 hours
Rakiura trail - 3 days
Queen Charlotte trail - 4 days

they are all awsome, pack out what you pack in type walks, some have bunkers (tongariro) which i spose are like fancy bothy's (sp)
 

polystyle

Well-known member
Backjob said:
I I want to find an industrial area, but failing that will just wander around Shinjuku.

Hi B
Looking for industrial Tokyo - depends on how much time you have .
South of Tokyo in Kawasaki you wil find that ,
Oil , gas refineries with puffs of flame pluming

* even monorail from Hamamatsucho to Haneda Airport (1 hour or less),
on the rail you are above and can see what's there .

While even 'ol Haneda's been redone and looking spiffy,
some of the areas around Tokyo Bay are pretty gritty and strange.
Touring the area by van years ago we saw the buildings there that were some inspiration for the
Tyrell buildings in Bladerunner .

Really depends on how much time you have , above RT could be 2-3 hours

Tokyo Bay's Odaiba used to be wild, weed filled landfill industrial artificial island but by now it's Venus Port
but that's another fun
 

henrymiller

Well-known member
that's weird, my flat backs on to the finsbury park-e finchley walk. it's an old railway line, and it clips crouch end and the bottom end of highgate before it gets to finchley. kind of between muswell hill and highgate hill.
 
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