Well, LDWA London did it - we celebrated our 25th Anniversary pandemic-style. Seven walks all went on at once, three out of town - led by Ron, Andy and Jerome - and four London-based ones, the townees converging in St James's Park where Gavin photographed each group of walkers as we arrived. Then we all said cheers with prosecco in paper cups, properly distanced from each other, as duly noted by the parks police as they swept past, eyeing us beadily.

Adam's group

Godfrey's group

Lonica's group

Paul's group

Cheers!

Meanwhile, in Southend...

[Above and below]: Ron's group says it with Pimm's

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In St James's Park, even the pelicans were complying with the rule of six

Know your history

I joined Paul's walk, which started at North Greenwich station (the one beside the O2 Dome) and included locations and routes that have been part of the history of London Group. Some of it, as far as the Limehouse Basin, was used in the 2012 Games 100 in the reverse direction, with a minor checkpoint at the O2 by one of the towers to foil any short-cuts across the Peninsula.

After a picnic lunch in Greenwich Park we put on our masks (obligatory now) to go through the foot tunnel. This, too, was part of the Games 100, which thus became the only LDWA 100 route to go below sea level. Once the other side of the Thames, our route took in the riverfront at Island Gardens, with the famous Canaletto view, named after the artist's 1752 oil painting. From there our crossing of the Isle of Dogs included  Millwall Park, location of CP1 on the Games 100, Mudchute where we smelt the slightly bucolic air of the city farm, and the Canary Wharf estate. There were plenty more goodies to come - Tobacco Dock, the Ornamental Canal which provided a location for a scene in the James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough, the Dickens Inn at St Katharine's Dock, Tower Bridge and City Hall. It was a relief, after the crowded south bank where alarmingly few people bothered to wear masks, to cross to the north bank to Embankment Gardens and  pass through a deserted Whitehall to St James's Park. Many thanks, Paul, for a wonderfully researched walk and its accompanying document. This included an extract from December1995 Strider, 'FOCUS ON... London Group', written by Colin Saunders, Newsletter Editor:

On 10th September 1995, almost exactly one year from our first walk, the London Group was formally constituted at a meeting in Tanners Hatch Youth Hostel, Our chairman is Ken Fancett, Sylvia Nagarkar has done a splendid job as acting secretary and could not get out of formalising her position, Paul Lawrence is our treasurer and I (in my absence - something went wrong there) found myself appointed newsletter editor.

Fittingly, it's Colin who has written the 'FOCUS ON... London Group' which will appear in the Strider of December 2020. 

On our way to lunch in Greenwich Park

The Canaletto view at Island Gardens

We walked past this socially distanced art class on our way from Canary Wharf

Lunch in the park: Ian took this photo during Lonica's walk from Stratford

You can find more of Ian's photos on London LDWA Facebook, and here's a link to all the photos Paul took on his recce and during the walks

Paul's London Group 25th Anniversary Walk

And in Paul's words: 

'To the next 25 Years! See you again then!'