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Whoo-hoo, I've been for a walk with actual people in a part of London that wasn't Greenwich (although if truth be told we did finish up there). Ron Williamson's A-Z Walk Part 1 was a non-LDWA tour that began in Beckton, world-famous home of Beckton Sewage Treatment Works but also location of the first road in the London A-Z (see the photo below). In spite of a couple of traverses of the mighty A13 it was full of variety and surprisingly peaceful. The object of the exercise is to link that first road in the A-Z with the last, and I'm looking forward to Part 2, which will propel us through Deptford, Lewisham, Brockley, Dulwich Brixton, Clapham Common before finishing near Clapham Junction with (consults A-Z) the intriguingly named Zulu M., which I'm guessing could be Mews.
Meanwhile, on Saturday Paul Lawrence shepherded a larger group around more glamorous parts featuring Windsor Great Park, in places carefully dividing into smaller following groups of six. Nice gaff in the back ground, eh?
If all this has whetted your appetite, prospective walks are now on the London LDWA website, with details of how to book a place. There are already some takers so don't leave it too late if you plan to join any of them.
The Capital Challenge 2021 Anytime Event
It’s highly unlikely that we will be able to offer the Capital Challenge this year in its traditional form (200 people needing a pee crowded into a church basement on an early Saturday morning), so we’re offering it as an anytime event over the summer. For a £5 fee, some of which will be donated to the LDWA IT fund, LDWA members will have access to the route description and GPX file and can do the walk on their own or in small COVID-compliant groups anytime between 1 June and 1 August 2021, inclusive. The route will be the new ‘Windmill Walk’ that we had hoped to inaugurate in 2020, which is just a shade over 26 miles. Further details are available at SiEntries https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?elid=Y&event_id=8257
Registration opens on 15 May via SiEntries and there is no limit on the number of participants. Participants who complete the walk and post their time on the leaderboard will receive a personalised certificate of completion (PDF) by email. Because of insurance limitations, this event is only open to LDWA members.
Please direct any questions to the organiser, Jean O’Reilly, via capitalchallenge@ldwa.org.uk.
There are plans underway to offer the Founders Challenge as an anytime walk later in the summer, with a special certificate awarded to walkers who complete both events. More on that later!
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And finally...
A rare sighting of a tree sneaking back into the forest after an illegal paddle
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