Julie's Jabber - This week with London LDWA


Julie's Jabber - This week with London LDWA
https://ldwa.org.uk/lgt/new/logos/london.png

London LDWA

Hooray for the great photo below, which at a time of year when paths are mud-clogged and skies are grey manages to find a scrap of blue and a nice bit of glowing lamplight. It's from Corinne and Barry's weekend 13-miler from Crystal Palace Park to Dulwich Park with a return along the Grain Chain ring.

 

barry corinne at cpalace

Crystal Palace Park, Dulwich Park and Green Chain walk
PHOTO Barry Arnold

 

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A huge thank you to everyone for all the comments/responses/anecdotes - they're a great help in providing a lively Jabber while we're not able to walk and talk together. To which end, a continuation of the thread about cows with this contribution from Rod:

 

'More cows - on the Dorset 100 in 2016, I was following a couple where the lady had joined the man for the last few miles, and had brought along a dog ... sure enough a herd of cows on the far side of a ridge charged up over the ridge, and pinned them against the hedge. Eventually the couple left the field by the stile in the left-hand corner, but there was no way I could pass as the cattle were packed densely at the approach to the stile ! I had to be very cautious and quietly find an alternative route!

Yes, cows can be very unpredictable, and I was glad when the farmer met us at my request to escort our London / Kent group through his two fields above Dover 18 months ago - the fact that the ladies in our party found him attractive added to the event - he was a sort of smouldering Gabriel Oak in the Julie Christie Far from the Madding Crowd film !!! When I did the recce, I had to escape over a barbed wire fence after being pinned against a hedge, and the cattle wouldn't let me into the other field blocking the kissing gate completely!'

 

gavin photo of cows

Grumpy cow
PHOTO Gavin Fuller

 

 

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This is something intriguing I happened on (inevitably on Twitter) - I don't know whether the saying is genuine or something made up, but since Friday Street is a familiar name to London Group-ers, I thought I'd share it:

'A Friday-Street is a small isolated row of houses on the outskirts of a small town or village. To get into Friday-Street is to fall behind in your work.'

Yes, as a writer/journalist prone to distractions I know that situation all too well...

 

friday street definition

A Friday-Street

 

 

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Another name and location familiar to London LDWA: Judith Griffiths sent me a scan of this from a 1994 Strider. It's an article about the naming of Steer's Field which you'll know if you've done the Founders Challenge. Chris Steer was, of course, the co-founder of the LDWA along with Alan Blatchford. Judith writes: 

 

'My sister is a friend of Judith Steer - one of Chris Steer's daughters. Judith used to live in Cornwall and helped my sister clean her house when she left Cornwall and moved to Sussex. Judith now lives in Northumberland as I am sure most of you know... Maybe some of the London Group will recognise themselves in the photo in Steer's Field? I liked the description of Chris walking "effortlessly and elegantly." '

 

old strider chris steer

 

 

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Something to look forward to - maybe. Capital Challenge organiser Jean O'Reilly has been working on plans to offer the 2021 Capital Challenge as an Anytime, on the same lines as the Flower of Suffolk event mentioned in Jabber recently. The new route, originally planned for last April (sob!) would be the one used. More info when there's something definite to announce but in the meantime here's one of the sights to be encountered en route.

 

capital challenge brixton

Brixton Windmill

 

 

London LDWA - http://www.ldwa.org.uk/London