PHOTO UPDATE: LONDON-NORFOLK WALK

Did we mention that we have a long-distance walking project or two? One of them is a walk from D's parents' place in London to their holiday cottage in Norfolk. In December we did our first multi-day walk as part of this project. We walked from Cuffley to Bishops Stortford, stopping overnight in Hertford and Green Tye. The most exciting part of it, for me, was the snow! Here's a (large!) selection of photos from that walk.

TWO VIEWS OF LONDON

Scrolling through my Twitter feed this evening, I read these two pieces back to back. First, a blog post by a young woman whose experience of London continue to be tainted by the bizarre lack of wheelchair access on the tube and in major venues: Wheelchair Access: The WHEEL DEAL by Bunnyaimee. Second, an article in the Guardian about four women who walked the Capital Ring, camping out in green spaces and in strangers' back yards: London Walks: the Capital Ring by Kate Fenhalls. While both stories contain their moments of human kindness, it's pretty shitty that the walking group had an easy time of an unusual experiment, while the ridiculous set-up of the tube means wheelchair users are often unable to even get into town.

MELBOURNE WALKING GROUP

Hello peeps! I hadn't heard of this group before I left Melbourne, but it looks like it could be of interest to some of you: Two Legged Adventures: Melbourne and Beyond. It seems like it could be fun, so long as they don't dwell IRL on all the anti-fat stuff they mention on the website. Anyone want to check them out and report back to me?!

SHORTCUT TO MUSHROOMS

Here are some mushrooms, toadstools and fungi that we saw on our walk from High Barnet to Cuffley on the 17th of November.



You can see more photos of fungus here.

I'll post an update about that walk at some point in the not too distant future!

AROUND NORTH LONDON

We've uploaded some more photos to Flickr for your enjoyment.

On the 2nd of November, we went for a little local walk to check out some parks we hadn't visited before: Brent Park and Hendon Park.


At Brent Park, Dollis Brook feeds into a pond - formerly part of a lake that possibly acted as a duck decoy (hence the nearby Decoy Avenue, I suppose).


At the southern end of Brent Park, Dollis Brook/River Brent flows between these two structures. Not entirely sure what they are.


I liked this street sign.


Lovely autumn colours in Hendon Park.

On the 13th of November, we went for an impromptu trip to Moat Mount Open Space and wandered around the fields and woods for a couple of hours.


The morning light was gorgeous!


There were so many inviting paths... This one led down between horse paddocks.


Waymarker and permissive path sign. They close these paths one day a year so there can't be a future claim of continuous use.


The wonderfully named Leg of Mutton Pond.

On the 15th of November, we went for a walk with a Ramblers group around Hampstead Heath:


We were a bit overdressed in comparison - one of the group did say they were happy to see the serious hikers were joining them!


Golders Hill Park.


At the top of Parliament Hill. We had a good time checking out the view and watching someone try to fly a kite in the wind. We saw The Shard for the first time.


Others went for a pub lunch in Hampstead, but one of the reasons we did this walk was to have an excuse to re-visit our old favourite: La Creperie de Hampstead!

We've done several other walks and trips around the area, too. Stay tuned for further updates!

AUTUMN & FUNDRAISING FOR A FILM

When we got back to London after WWOOFing, autumn had well and truly arrived. We went for a couple of lovely strolls in the days before we headed up to Norfolk. Here are a few photos.


A serene moment in Highgate Wood.


The skyline and sky above some local playing fields.


Autumn leaves.


More autumn leaves.

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Please also consider donating to this fundraiser:

LESS THAN ACCESSIBLE

Here is a picture of what the tube looks like to people who can't use the stairs:



Read more here.

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We have been given some free tickets to the Degas exhibition at the Royal Academy today. It'll be our first art outing in London since we got here!

A WEEKEND IN BRIGHTON

After our last day of planting, D and M dropped us off in Brighton, where we went to the cinema to see Tintin (really just to fill in a couple of hours without dragging our packs around) then headed up to our next accommodation: our friend G's place. G and her partner A showed us around, taking us to a number of good eateries and purveyors of coffee, pointing out some of the tucked-away shops, waiting while we rummaged through the stalls lining the lanes and letting us tag along with them as they did some of their real-life errands.







As well as to see friends, we were in Brighton on a bit of a reconnaissance to see if we still liked the place (we'd been there once before) and if we still thought we could live there (DB is applying for a Masters at the University of Brighton). One of the things we hoped was that we'd be able to find some nice food and (for me) good coffee. We found some delicious food and the best coffee I've had in England on this trip, so we'll count that as a win!







By the end of the weekend, we'd been WWOOFing and travelling for 15 days, and we were looking forward to getting back to home base, washing our clothes and minding our own business for a bit! It was lovely to see how the leaves had turned in the time we'd been away. Even in the week since we'd first taken the train down to Brighton, the countryside had taken on a kind of misty, autumnal feeling and most of the trees had at least some yellow, orange, red or brown leaves.



Goodbye, Brighton! We'll be back!