Rawdon Colliery trail

Sunday 3rd July
I apologise for not having written in the blog for a long time. I will post about a few walks but they will be out of date order.
This weekend we had been quite busy installing wardrobes and so didn't have much time for walking but we did have just a short stroll to find a few geocaches.
We parked in Conkers and then walked across the road and joined the Rawdon Colliery trail. We had a pleasant walk around the fishing lake and then followed the trail through the new plantation. The colliery here had been closed in 1990 and is has since been turned into a nature reserve - there were loads of wildflowers growing beside the path. After finding a few caches we then crossed some fields, the first had ripe barley, the second had wheat and then after walking through a small woodland we reached the fields where the farmers were baling hay. We found another cache and walked through to Blackfordby, we then had to return the way we had come. It had been a pleasant Sunday afternoon stroll. We had found 5 caches and not found 1.

Rawdon Colliery Trail

EveryTrail - Find trail maps for California and beyond

A geocaching walk from Chartwell, Kent

Saturday 23 April 2011
Another beautiful day and so we decided on a trip to Westerham with Dad to enjoy the bluebells. We parked at Chartwell, Winston Churchill's home and then set off up the steep hill towards French Street. Halfway up we headed off through the woods and then after getting a bit lost on the trails in the woods and finding a few geocaches we finally emerged on Hosey Hill lane and crossed the A25 into more woodland. We were very grateful of the shade today as it was so warm. We followed a forestry trail past a derelict tower which was so covered with ivy that at first we thought it was a large tree and then emerged onto a large grassy bank which we climbed to get good views across Westerham and the Downs.
Having walked through the very pretty town of Westerham, we stopped to have an ice-cream. We were surprised that among all the tea-shops and Antique shops there were no nice icecream parlours, so we had to make do with an ice-cream from the newsagents. We left westerham by walking up Mill lane, where we passed a lady who was cooling herself with the waters from the clear stream we were walking beside. There was a choice of footpaths here, a nice flat one beside the stream, or a steep uphill section. Our route followed the steep section! We climbed through the grounds of Squerryes Court but could not see the house as it was behind the trees.
As we walked through the woodland of Goodley Stock we were treated to carpets of bluebells with amazing scent.
We emerged onto the A25 but only had to walk a short distance before taking another footpath back into the woods. The woods were criss-crossed with footpaths and it was quite difficult to work out which path we needed but after a bit of back tracking we emerged at the top of the hill leading down towards Chartwell. We had been finding caches throughout and started to hunt for the last one when thunder started to rumble around. So as the cache was appearing elusive we decided to head back to the car before we got soaked.
We enjoyed a welcome cup of tea in the NT teashop ad then headed back home to dad's. As we left Westerham the rain started and was very heavy for a while, but as we got towards Maidstone the skies cleared and there was no sign of rain, so it had just been an isolated heavy shower.

Westerham and Chartwell circular walk

EveryTrail - Find trail maps for California and beyond

Sutton Cheyney to Market Bosworth

Oh dear, I realise I have been very remiss in updating my blog. We have been out for walks but I never seemed to have the time to write anything or I had forgotten the camera so there were no pictures to post.
John now has a new GPS with camera o hopefully we will be able to record our walks as we go.
Sunday 17 April 2011
It was another lovely day and so we set off for a walk at Market Bosworth. We parked at Sutton Cheyney and walked down the road to the gated lane that led to Market Bosworth. We were following a caching trail that had been set out with several caches on a circular walk. It was very pleasant walking along the gated lane with views across the fields to the surrounding villages, and after about 2 miles we arrived in the town. A cache had been hidden near to a tea shop so as we sat on the bench wondering where it was hidden, we decided a cup of tea and ice-cream was in order. A couple were looking at us a bit strangely and then came over and said “We know what you are looking for but we won't spoil it”. We then had quite a chat about GPS as they were about to buy a new one and wanted to see what John thought about his new toy. We enjoyed our cup of tea and then after finding the cache under the eyes of all the other teashop patrons set off on our walk again. We arrived at Bosworth country park where we found some more caches in the butterfly garden, the bird feeding area and the arboretum – where some of the trees had eyes painted on which was quite unusual. We met the other cachers a few more times before heading off along the Leicestershire Round and back towards Sutton Cheyney. The walk was just over 6 miles and 12 caches were found, one not found and had been very pleasant in the sunshine.
To see our route and the photos taken along the way click on the following link.

The Wells Wander

EveryTrail - Find hiking trails in California and beyond

Click here to see John's Everytrail in Full Screen Mode

Repton, Derbyshire

Tuesday 4 January 2011
It snowed again this morning and so we had a lazy morning before deciding to go out for a walk. We drove to Repton and parked near the centre and then walked through the village. Repton turned out to be a lovely place; the ancient capitol of Mercia and home of Repton public school, whose lovely buildings were scattered around the village. We headed off along the edge of the school playing field and then up onto Parsons Hills.
We had lovely views across the Trent and although the path was narrow and on a slope, it was frozen so was not as slippery as it could have been.


We crossed some fields towards Newton Solney, again, luckily the field was frozen as the cows had churned it up quite a bit. Having arrived in Newton Solney we walked through the village and then onto a footpath heading back through the fields back towards Repton. We had been finding caches along the way and having found the last of a series we had to do some complicated maths to find the bonus cache. We had not really left early enough and so by the time we were searching for the bonus it was dark. We could not find it so decided to return to the car and come back tomorrow for the bonus. When we got to the car we spotted a mistake in our sums and realised the cache was only 100m away so headed back with torches to get the last cache. It had been a lovely walk in an area we had not visited before.

Working trip to Greece

7th to 14th November
I had to travel to Thessaloniki for an annual meeting for our research project and so we decided to extend the trip and take a few days holiday.
After collecting the hire car which had been delivered to the wrong house, we left for Gatwick at 3am. We arrived at the airport at 6:30 and there were no delays at the airport. We left England in the cold and wet and arrived in Greece in 21 degree sunshine.
We were staying in the centre of the city and so our exploring was mainly just walking around the streets and shops and walking around in the sunshine and along the harbour walls. We were amazed at the number of coffee bars in the city, for a country in economic strife everyone seemed very happy to sit around all day drinking coffee.
There was some very interesting archeology around the city and we enjoyed watching the archeologists on the dig beneath our hotel window.
Even though 3 days were spent working the rest of the time was very enjoyable.
Our overall opinion of the part of Greece that we visited was very noisy;cars hooting their horns at every opportunity and all times of the day and night, mopeds whizzing up and down the pavements. There was also an incredible number of churches - mostly byzantine, and alcoves for burning candles and prayer all over the city - unfortunately we didn't have opportunity to go inside the churches but I suspect they would have been impressive. Finally we had some difficulty finding places to eat. The city was filled with the Greek equivalent of Greggs - OK for lunch but an evening meal was more difficult to find. When we did find a restaurant we generally had it to ourselves as the Greeks do not tend to eat until about 9 or 10 o'clock, but the service was fantastic, with extra drinks and deserts being provided without being ordered.





Oh -they had some fantastic cake shops as well!

Brailsford, Derbyshire

Sunday, October 17, 2010
Another beautiful day, although frosty when we got up. We thought we couldn't waste it and so rather tan sitting and getting stiff after yesterdays walk we set out for another walk – but a bit shorter this time.
We drove to Brailsford in Derbyshire and parked near Hazlehurst. There were several large dogs caged in the house opposite where we parked the car and so as we were getting ready and putting our boots on we had to put up with barking dogs disturbing the peace.
We headed down towards Kings Grove where we stopped to find a cache and then walked across the fields towards Commonside. We had to walk down a narrow lane and passed a small Market garden shop which had a lovely display of Autumn vegetables.


Then back up the field at Commonside but as the path was not marked we were at the wrong place to exit onto the A52. After a short diversion we found the way out and after a short walk down the main road and through a short bit of woodland we headed towards Brailsford Green. We left the footpath by going through a primary school playground and then headed across fields to a lane. We again had problems finding the footpath but got there in the end. More unmarked footpaths followed but we managed to stay on route and later passed through a field where sheep dog trials were being carried out.
We exited on a lane and again couldn't find the footpath but I finally noticed the footpath sign, covered by ivy on a post next to a tied up gate.
We went through the gate and struggled through a field of sugar beet, eventually reaching the other side of the field and our way onto the road where the car was parked. We had done a mere 8.75 km today but despite the difficulty finding footpaths was a pleasant walk.

Eastwood, Nottingham

Saturday, October 16, 2010
It seemed like the first weekend we had had for ages when we hadn't had things to do, and as it was forecast to be fine we took advantage to go for a walk. We headed to Eastwood in Nottinghamshire and after a bit of a navigation problem around the town we manged to find a carpark next to an old coal mine.
We walked along the road and then headed along a footpath beside Moorgreen Reservoir. Eastwood was the home of D H Lawrence and there were notice boards along the way telling us about the area and his life.


When we reached the end of the reservoir we followed the edge of Morning Springs woods heading towards the M1. As we passed under the motorway we stopped to hunt for a cache called “Whistle for it”. We started whistling in the underpass and soon the cache replyed to us by beeping – a very clever cache. Having passed under the motorway we headed into a forest along some wide tracks. We diverted into the pine trees to find a cache and then continued along the track. As we sat on a concrete block having a cup of coffee the gamekeeper came along and told us we were on private property and politely pointed us to the footpath. As we left we noticed the sign saying “Forestry Commission land” - open to all! However, as they were apparently shooting today we decided to head back towards the footpath. This took us on quite a long detour and we ended up near to Hucknall. We finally found a bridleway pointing back towards our planned route, but were surprised to see notices proclaiming that there were guard dogs, security cameras and toxic herbicide and chemicals, right next to the bridleway sign! Very welcoming landowners in these parts.
We followed the footpath around Wythburn House farm where we stopped to find a cache. We were a bit wary about hunting around some farm equipment and when I saw we were being watched we decided to abandon the hunt. However, as we left the man said “You're very close”. It turned out to be the farmer and he knew about the cache so we were free to continue our hunt.
Our next part of the walk took us over Misk hills, across the motorway again and then back into Morning Springs woods. The walk was pleasant until the bridleway disappeared again and the path was blocked off. We managed to divert and head back to the path we had walked on at the beginning of the walk, but as we got to the path we realised it was fenced off. We managed to clamber through the fence and retrace our steps back beside the reservoir.
It had been a walk of many diversions and blocked paths but had been a very pleasant Autumn walk. Our planned walk had been 13km but we ended up having walked 19.5km!