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Choir walking group
Be prepared for mud
“Be prepared for mud” warned navigator Dave in his pre-outing text for the walk on 26 February. So it proved. The valiant six (all blokes) who set out from the Red Lion in Bletchingley encountered the worst conditions underfoot any could remember for a very long time.
Navigator Dave, watched by Neil, searches for a route past the mud
Sunny Winter Ups and Downs
Banners writes: Seven walkers gathered at The Feathers, Merstham on a gloriously crisp and sunny winter's day (February 12). We thought it would be eight as Roger Parkinson strode by the pub window in his walking togs, but coincidentally he was joining a rival walking group starting from the same place.
Walkers enjoy winter sun (Photo John Parker)
The coldest walk
The lack of real ale at Wallington’s Rose and Crown, the planned starting pub on 8 January 2024, forced some beer-loving walkers to divert to the nearby Dukes Head instead. They then collected their more abstemious colleagues from The Rose and eleven set off towards the Wandle Trail.
Crossing the wetlands (Photo Banners)
Solstice four honour Polly
The choir walkers undertook their most celebrated annual outing on December 18, namely the Polly Ankle Memorial Winter Solstice Walk. It marks the fabled day in December 2016 when choir stalwart Martin “Polly” Perkins slipped and fractured an ankle on the Greensand Way near Bletchingley.
The fab solstice four
A multi-function rescue task force was dispatched to rescue Martin and transport him to hospital, but at the same time leaving him sitting waiting for so long that he contracted hypothermia.
The 99 steps
The first section taken by the ten walkers from the Sir Julian Huxley on November 20 followed an urban setting down Farley Road and Upper Selsdon Road, then turned into Croham Hurst, one of Croydon's Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to its rare geology.
Banners shows the way through Croham Hurst
Youthful memories and double custards
A select group of six walkers left the Woodman in Woodmansterne on October 23 and headed west across flat horse-grazing land towards Banstead. Former cricketers in the group remembered their youth as we crossed Banstead Cricket Club before passing the ancient Banstead church.
Five of the select six stride out