Rochester Sweep's Festival, Sunday 4th May

Seven EFOG members met at London Bridge Station to catch the 09.47 to Rochester. London Bridge Station is itself a complication, so those of us in the know got there early. Travel on a Bank Holiday is also a complication. We found that the rail-replacement bus to Rochester from Strood was un-necessary; we could just as well have walked over the Medway (by way of a bridge), which we did on the way back. The other complication – avoidable to some extent if you can get together on this – is that some of us paid about £9 for the return journey, others £17!

The SweepsHowever, to the event. The annual Rochester Sweep's Festival is a modern-day revival of the fun that working-class people had on one of their few days off in the year, and at one of the best times of the year, the 1st of May. Things happen on May Day, including the arrival of Summer (whatever the weather), 'Obby 'Osses and Green Men. In Rochester it tends to be black-faced men – and women – but there is a Jack-in-the-Green paraded through the streets on the Monday.

The main street of Rochester was crowded with people strolling and watching no-end of dancers and musicians. Bacca PipesMany of the dancers of course were dancing in Morris styles, but these included stick-dances, bacca-pipe dances, clog dances and styles which I don't know the names of. One group of young girls with their hair all done-up the same one-sided way danced Irish-style to drums, which was a new one on me. A Morris side – with male musicians and female dancers - were from Basildon, so when they'd finished I said to them how nice it was to see Essex Girls dancing properly.

Nearer the castle, the music-noise increased with sound-amplified performers and a crush round the ale-houses. The cathedral was a welcome relief for all of us, I think, and we wandered round looking (as one does) at some of the holy stuff. There were plenty of Green-men effigies in there if you knew where to look to satisfy my take, but the west wall added a tinge of sadness to an otherwise joyous day: it is covered with the names of people killed in the First World War.

Tea on the lawnWe had lunch in the church gardens, some of us glorying in the sunshine by sitting or laying on the grass in the cathedral gardens, and others – peculiarly – sitting in the shade of a tree.

Following lunch, and perhaps feeling a bit Morrised-out, we had a go in the fun fair. At least, Louise, Lynne and I did, on the big-wheel. The noise around there was a bit too much, though, so we made for a quieter part of the High Street where a loan musician was singing sad songs in Welsh. We were just about to move away when he began a even sadder one in Gaelic, which I recognised as a favourite. If you've seen the spectacles advertisement in which the shepherd shears his collie, you will know the tune.

A stroll across the Medway (by way of the bridge) a pause to look back at Rochester castle and Cathedral, and then back to Strood station to return to London Bridge.

Paul Ferris    6th May 2014

The Essex Challenge Walk - Sunday 13th April

The Essex Challenge walk was put on by the Essex and Herts Long Distance Walkers Association and has either a 26 or 14.7 mile option. The distances are clearly measured with some degree of accuracy! These challenge walks are well arranged with excellent clear directions, refreshments half way round and at the end.

Seven EFOG members took part - Clive, Jim, Julie, Ken, Lynne, Sue U. and myself. It was a beautiful day and the ground was baked hard: the torrential rain of the winter seemed a long time ago. Six of us chose the 14.7 mile option, opting for a walk rather than a run. We passed through a vineyard, glorious yellow fields and onto a very short section of river. With no map on the day (it's really not needed) we had to wait till later to figure that this was in fact the River Crouch. Downstream we could have got as far as Burnham on Crouch but this was not on our route. We all made good time and the sun was still shining when we returned to Purleigh villlage hall for 'lunch'.

Jenefer S., April 2014

North Downs Way - Otford to Wrotham

Seven of us turned out on Saturday 19th April to walk the next leg of The North Downs Way from Otford to Wrotham (about 6 miles).

Not being renowned for my sense of direction it took me a good 20 minutes to negotiate my way from London Underground through the maze of tunnels and upgrading works at London Bridge to the main line area where I was to meet the others 'upstairs where we met last time'. Now, I did not do the last leg so I had no idea where 'upstairs where we met last time' was.

Ken had left his mobile on the table indoors so I was fortunate to bump in to Susan who had done the last leg and did know where to find him and we then made our way to Platform 1 for the train to Otford via Sevenoaks with 10 minutes to spare.

It was a lovely warm sunny day (despite the prediction of possible showers) and within minutes of exiting the station at Otford we set off at a goodly pace and were quickly faced with a really steep climb up to the start of the walk. I am not sure if it was my super warm walking jacket or altitude sickness but it took me 5 minutes at the top to get myself back to something like normal breathing.

From then on it was just a wonderful walk along the paths passing what seemed to be miles of bluebell woods - I have to say that I have not seen that many bluebells in such lovely surroundings for years - it must just be an exceptionally good year for them.

Somewhere around halfway through the walk Ken announced that there was a pub shown on the map and that perhaps we could make a comfort stop there. There were no objections to that suggestion and we duly made a short detour to said pub entering same through an old wooden gate to an outside garden area with some pretty trees/shrubs etc and a comfortable looking seating area. It would be honest to say that the place looked a little jaded, but we were a bit off the beaten track. What initially looked promising then proved to be a very odd affair altogether. There was the normal pub sign swinging outside reading 'The Rising Sun', all these table and chairs to sit on but no obvious door to enter the pub or loos to be found despite all of us walking round the gardens looking for a way to get in.The owner's dog was going nuts inside the pub with all the action that was going on outside. Eventually we gave up looking because by then it was after 1pm and nobody appeared from inside to investigate the noise or open up so we just sat outside at the tables and had our own drinks and fed tit-bits to the very pregnant cat that seemed to be part of the establishment. I think the pub had long since closed for trade and that we had gate-crashed what was now someone's private residence. Half an hour later we resumed our walk all of us just a little bemused by the whole affair.

On reaching our destination at Wrotham we caught a local bus to Sevenoaks and were of course hungry and thirsty so set about finding somewhere to eat. Some of us ate at the local Fish and Chip shop and others in a pub just further down the road.

All tastes having been catered for, we caught the train from Sevenoaks back to London Bridge and home.

Participants: Ken (leader), Bernie, Clive, Paul, Sue U., Trevor, Val.           Distance: 6 miles

Val Shepherd, April 24th 2014

Paul's Popular Poplar Perambulation - Part Two - Sunday 30th March

Luck was once again with us on the second leg of the tour round the borough Poplar and the sun shone as we made our way back to Limehouse to resume our journey thought part of the East End. Close by Westferry Station on the DLR is the Dragon's Gate, a nice piece of modern artwork, located at the corner of Mandarin Street and reflecting the area's Chinese connection as do many of the immediate street names.

Proceeding up the West India Dock Road we were reminded of the area's nautical past by a number of the buildings still clinging on gamely in an area of much change in recent years. A sail-makers and chandlers building , four storeys high to accommodate the sail making, bears testament to an old art. Built in 1860, the building may not have had a long working life, as steam ships were already taking over from sail. At the junction of West India and East India Docks Road stand the old Eastern Hotel - or so you would think! The shell of the building remains, surrounded by hoardings painted with an image of the building as it was - very much a 'ghost' of the past . The area is also dominated by what were once seamen's hostels, the Sailor's Palace, headquarters of the British and Foreign Sailor's Society and the Sailor's Mission, the latter now having been restored and like many of the large warehouses in the docks, converted into luxury flats. There are also two surviving operational gas lamps outside the Star of India public house, though the 200 year old funeral parlour next door has sadly disappeared.

After a brief encounter with one of the locals in need of an audience, we went down the steps onto the towpath of the Limehouse Cut (built to allow shipping between the Thames and the Lea to avoid having to go around the Isle of Dogs) and popped up to street level in Newell Street , a nice row of houses in front of St Anne's Church. Designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, St Anne's became the parish church of Limehouse on completion in 1729 and was named after Queen Anne. Because of its location, the church became a Trinity House 'seamark', a place put on navigational charts to guide ships pilots, and is one of the very few buildings allowed to fly the White Ensign - a red cross on a white background with the Union Jack in the upper corner. The ball on the spire of the church is designed to replicate the one at Greenwich and the clock is synchronised with Greenwich as it is in a direct line of sight. There is also a mysterious pyramid in the churchyard, possible designed to have been placed on the roof of the church at the opposite end to the tower. Many stories have been suggested of why Hawksmoor chose a pyramid shape, from devil worship to the masons, but no one really knows!

As we discovered at the end of the last walk, the DLR now occupies the line of the old London and Blackwall Railway, and by a small shop that is now the only remains of Limehouse Station it was a good time to learn about the fact that the original line was powered by a cable, attached to the carriages and with winders at both ends, Blackwall and the Minories respectively, known as the 'four penny rope'.

At the point where we reached Narrow Street it was possible to see how the docks and the warehouses dominated the area in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Even though the Thames was barely a stone's throw away, access was severely limited by the warehouses and docking areas. A row of Georgian terrace houses on Narrow Street is a rare survivor in London, particularly considering that the other side of the street was heavily damaged during the Second World War, so much so that only one building - a public house - was left standing. This is now known as "The House They Left Behind"!

After a quick lunch stop in the Ropemaker's Field park (another remnant of the area's nautical past) we made our way to Limehouse Basin, still populated with boats of many shapes and sizes, and from which stems the Regent's Canal. The canal was another useful link, this time to take goods through Camden and thence to the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal and on to Brentford, saving considerable time and money in freight shipping. We met a group of people here using canoes to clear litter from the canal, and thought that we might try to establish a link with them, perhaps to help out sometime. They were the Lower Regents Coalition and for more informatin click here.

We followed the canal up past Salmon's Lane lock, then up to Ben Johnson Road, where we left the canal to cross into Mile End Park. Here still stands the Ragged School, opened by Dr Barnado in 1877 to give the poor children of the area a basic education. The building is now a museum and is open on some weekday and weekend afternoons.

Mile End Park was originally planned as a green space to link Limehouse with Victoria Park in Hackney during Queen Victoria's reign. Most of the plans were abandoned, but the part with the 'broad road with tree lined avenues' did come to pass after a fashion. Burdett Road - named after another Victorian philanthropist, Angela Burdett Coutts - does indeed run all the way up to Hackney. It took until 1996 for the rest of the plan to catch up; the industrial land that had been heavily bombed during WWII was cleared, and the the park - including a green bridge crossing the Mile End Road - finally made it to link with Victoria Park.

We didn't follow that route though, but went sideways, to stay in Poplar. After all it is still a Poplar perambulation! That manoeuvre led us to Bow Common Lane which, as the name suggests, was once common land for farming and some small industries such as rope making. The original Victorian houses there, although small, are nowadays considered highly desirable and are now priced way beyond the working class families who once lived there. A dog-leg led us into Tower Hamlets Cemetery, one of the 'Magnificent Seven' cemeteries in London (the others being Highgate, Kensal Green, Brompton, Abney Park, Nunhead and West Norwood). It is a lovely space and a pleasant walking place for the locals and, although less that 100 yards or so from the Mile End Road, is remarkably quiet! That distance is marked by the back of the St Clements Hospital - formerly a workhouse, then a psychiatric hospital, and soon to become - like many of the more attractive large buildings in the area - housing. In this case, though, the Trust which is developing the site wants to make the housing affordable.

Leaving the cemetery we continued along a lane called Hamlets Way and, crossing to Wellington Way, we passed the Wellington Buildings which were built to house people displaced by the construction of the railway. Our route now took us over the District and Metropolitan Underground line and then under another railway arch past some nicely designed new houses, including a converted electricity substation. We turned into Campbell Road, with its mix of terraced and more widely spaced but all very nice houses, and ultimately reached the Bow Road.

Well it had to happen - not only because you have to touch Bow Road at some point but because a short distance to the right of Campbell Road stands Bow Church DLR station where we started our journey at the beginning of the month. We are very much better informed about some of the local urban history now - who knew that Poplar could be so Popular?!

Leader and Group: Paul Ferris, with Amina, Duncan, Fozi, Fred, Jill V., Lynne, Sue U.   Distance 3 miles

Sue Ullersperger, April 2014