Weirdos, Royal Weirdos and TMS

Last week I visited Glastonbury for the first time in my life, a town famous for its history, folklore, legend and of course hippies.  No visit is complete without a walk up the Tor, tor being an old word for hill.

At the top of the Tor is a stone tower of the former St Michaels Church, which itself was a replacement for another church which stood here in the middle ages.  As you can see, there is not much left of even the tower now.

It was a beautifully bright day, although bitterly cold with a strong buffeting wind, and you could see a long way.  Apparently you can see three counties from up here.

There is said to be a leyline passing over Glastonbury Tor, running all the way from St Michaels Mount in Cornwall and going on up to Stonehenge, not only this but the contours of nearby hills and countryside are also supposed to represent signs of the zodiac.  If that wasn't enough there is the legend of King Arthur and of Joseph of Arimathea connected to the place.
Not that you see much evidence referring to the legends as you walk through the town; Here instead are plenty of bookshops and cafe's with names referencing faeries, virgins and the green man.  One cafe asked hippies to use the side entrance! Scattered about are also plenty of people offering healing skills and fortune telling, while long beards, wild clothes and wooden staffs are commonplace. A strange, ethereal place indeed.

Changing tack completely, there was a news story out today proving once and for all why Prince Charles should not in any way become King.  I have spoken before about my dislike of the Royal Family, nothing to do with their probable personalities since they are probably somewhat nice people in general, but more because of what they stand for. This news story did nothing more for me than confirm my instincts.
It seems that the Duchy of Cornwall (the Prince's main source of income) has rights to mine for minerals which stretches back over hundreds of years.  However, some sort of law required all such rights to be formally claimed via the land registry in order for such rights to be kept, and this is just what the Duchy have done.  Fine in principle, except for the fact that this land under which the Prince has rights has houses built on it and people living in them.
Despite the fact that the Duchy has claimed that it does not have any intention of using these rights, they will still appear upon the deeds of the properties and in all likelihood will reduce their value.  When the present owners bought their houses, no register search brought up the possibility of such rights.
Now, you may argue that the since the Prince has these rights then it be fair that he registers them, but if the Duchy has no intention of using them, why bother? It doesn't benefit him or anybody else, conversely it hurts the owners of these properties.  In this way Prince Charles has shown that he has absolutely no empathy for the subjects that he will one day rule and in all likelihood sees it as normal to Lord himself over us all.

Once more I change tack completely, this time to something a little nicer, the subject of Test Match Special. Recently I mentioned having bought a book by Jonathan Agnew, called 'Thanks Johnners', and I have just finished reading it.  What a delight it was to read! Wonderful anecdotes about the various characters who have appeared on TMS, along with Aggers former playing days and early broadcasting days, pranks and practical jokes and all.  Along with that unforgetable 'leg over' incident.  I have to say 'Thanks Aggers' for bringing a cricket themed smile to my face so soon after Englands travesties in the middle east.

London Loop - Upminster Bridge to Harold Wood

We walked the next section of the loop today, albeit a much shorter one than before in order to break up a too long section; in total it was roughly four and a half miles.

We started back at Upminster Bridge, in sight of the windmill that is in Upminster itself, and after a short walk through a nice housing estate we came across it again while crossing a railway bridge.  It is about two hundred years old and was still being used up until the 1930’s.

From here we passed through three frosty fields, although the sun was surprisingly warm.  It was good that the fields were frosty since they would otherwise have been quite muddy.  In one of them sat two old leather sofas, on which sat some teenagers.  It’s a situation I only ever imagined happening in American films, but maybe that’s where they got the idea from.

 

At the far edge of another field was a pony having either a late breakfast or an early lunch.  He took very little notice of us since his food was obviously far more interesting.

 

A nice stroll across the Ingrebourne again and through some lovely damp smelling woods before we hit upon what we both hope will be the nastiest part of the whole loop; roughly one mile of walking alongside a busy road, only half of it with actual pavement, the rest with grassed verge.  Not nice.

However, we were rewarded by getting to Pages Wood, a lovely area with paths going all over the place, trees and this very cute ‘Duck’ bench.  It would be lovely to have somewhere like it very close by in which you could spend an hour just strolling. 

 

The woods fed into Harold Wood Park, which was very large and would be a great place to play and spend time.  I have to admit that the cricket ground and pavilion looked lovely and I could imagine it being a great place to play.  From here it was just another short walk to Harold Wood station and the end of this walk.

London Loop - Purfleet to Upminster Bridge

Back in January 2009 I started walking the LOOP, the circular route of about 140 miles that runs around the whole of London.  I started in Erith and got as far as Berrylands in June; and that was as far as I got.  It was just after then that I met my now fiancee and she literally stopped me in my tracks!

However a new year has started and we have decided to complete the LOOP together, going in the opposite direction, and yesterday walked the route from Purfleet to Upminster Bridge.

It started with a stroll along the Thames estuary to our left, with RSPB marshland and birdwatchers to our right.  It was a sunny day but there was still somehow a sense of desolation to the area, probably down to the lack of anything growing other than grass, thistles and the odd bush or tree.

Nearby to Purfleet was the remaining Magazine, the last of five, that used to sit here full of gunpowder received from Waltham, standing ready for use in wars gone by.  Nothing now but a long brick house, it seems a sense of waste for something that could be turned into a community hall or craft hut. 

Continuing on, with Erith on the opposite bank, we first passed a huge landfill site and waste management centre, before coming across jetties and factories.  Beyond Coldharbour Point, and just before the Tilda Rice factory, were a group of concrete barges slowly dying and sinking into the mud.

These were originally towed across the channel and used in the D-Day landings before subsequently becoming part of the estuary flood defences.  Now they simply sit, retired and unused, apart from a possible resting point for birds.

Across more grassland from here, running alongside drainage ditches, as far as Rainham where a new footbridge was being built.  Rainham village itself was an attractive looking place, with tudor style pubs and a complete late-Norman church.

After Rainham we came into to Ingrebourne hill, and as part of a slight diversion climbed to the top where a kind of pyramid gave fantastic views to the surrounding area.  Heading back down we followed the path towards Hornchurch Country Park with paths through trees and grassland, with several cycleways, a lake and the River Ingrebourne.

The river stayed a constant companion from here on in to Upminster, next to small grassed areas perfect for local dog walkers and children, as well as an outdoor gym.  There was plenty going on at Hornchurch FC, while the surrounding houses still covered in Christmas lights were quiet, before finally, unfit and exhausted, we made it to Upminster Bridge station just in time for sunset.