Professors in Fletching

Tuesday 13 November 2007 was a grey day weather-wise, as William lead 15 of us on a 9 miles "Nutley Circular" walk from Fletching.

The style of leadership was sparkling however, as Professor William Coleman managed to weave in snippets of information ranging from the recent and medieval history of the Fletching area, to its geology and ecology.

Daniel Hattrell served in the battle of Waterloo, as you can read if you click on the picture to the right.

Interesting enough, you might think.

However, this day was the last one that visitors to London arriving on Eurostar trains would be reminded of this great battle. The Eurostar terminal was moving from Waterloo to St Pancras.
We also stopped to remember Professor Jimmy Edwards, who is buried here, which caused a chuckle or two as we remembered his hilarious antics on TV.

The Harvey's ale went down well at lunchtime. And then we headed off through some further delightful countryside.

It was too dark to properly capture the colours remaining on these Larch trees and the beeches below. That took nothing away from the enjoyment of the day though.

It was another great walk.

Thanks William.

Remembrance Day walk in Ashdown Forest

It was grey and drizzling as we were lead by Tony Osmand to the Remembrance Day ceremony at "The Airman's Grave".

Hundreds of other people also converged on the memorial for the brief and very moving ceremony of remembrance for the 6 man crew of the Wellington Bomber, which crashed here on return from a raid on Koeln on 31st July 1941. Click on the pictures to expand them.

A lot of people were already gathered around the memorial on the other side of the valley as we approached.
As you can see, they came in droves.

The panorama picture, above left? depending on your monitor, is more than 180 degrees. You need to click on it to appreciate it. And all the other pic's too!

Don't do this at home!

Deer shooting; Tuesday 30 Oct 2007, 9 miles, Bolney to Cowfold and back.

Les Campbell lead us on a beautiful walk from Bolney to Cowfold. The return leg was lead by Sue when we spotted this group of deer, which are spectacular to look at if you expand the pictures.

When I was zooming in and pressing the shutter on my newish toy (a Panasonic Lumix camera) I had no idea how the pictures might turn out. As it happens, they capture more than the naked eye can see on the day.

The shooting was only by digital camera.

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More Mid Sussex Ramblers walks; 6 November 2007

Here is our charismatic Chairman of MSR, Leslie Campbell, who lead us past THREE water mills from Hassocks to Sayers Common.

Is this the biggest overflow that you ever did see from a mill race in Sussex?
Les declined to wade the water and stand on the edge of the overflow hole!

A BIG THANK YOU to Mr H V Harvey of Harvey Farms for his friendship towards walkers as shown in this notice.

Francis lead the return to Hassocks with fine views combining Hurstpierpoint church and Jack and Jill.

Our beloved Wolstonbury Down in panoramic view.

More great Mid Sussex Ramblers walks; Francis & Aliens

This was a figure of eight walk; 5miles plus 5 miles lead by Francis. Right is the panoramic view from near the Jack and Jill windmills. Click to expand the panorama. (Autostitch software seems to have "stitched up" the central figure; perhaps they moved from one shot to the next!)
What a horror!

To me, it looks like this dew pond is full of Parrot's feather -- an alien invader, which is doing to Sussex eutrophic waters what Japanese knot weed and Rhododendrons are doing to other habitats. Ugh!
See www.nerc-wallingford.ac.uk/research/capm/pdf%20files/24%20Myriophyllum%20aquaticum.pdf for the full horror story

The second, afternoon 5 miles sounded great. Yet walking with ex-colleague Mark Howarth and putting the business-world to rights in The Hassocks Hotel had a greater draw for us after lunch. Thanks to Francis for a great walk, even if we only did half.

Loder Valley

This was one of my own walks through the enchanting Loder valley. Access is limited to 50 persons per day, which is perhaps why the wild life is so prolific. The deer watched us from across the water with almost a mutual interest until it ran off. The number of bird species cheek by jowl is rare to see outside of an RSPB reserve. We made no attempt to hide and the birds ignored us. One Lapwing flew off from this group as we watched.

It would be magical to lead a MSRA walk through here in Spring.

I'll see if it can be arranged.