Escape London - Wilderness Adventure Hiking Near London
Just a short distance from London in the northwest suburbs, you can go on an amazing, short hike within the Merry Hill Woodlands. An absolutely superb natural area within a short distance from London between the historic town of Watford and Stanmore, Oxhey and Bushey Village. SUBSCRIBE! ►
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Find out more about the location in this video on my blog. Trails, amenities, location and more! ►
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My mission is to hike, mountain bike or whatever it takes to find the hidden gems of the British Isles so that I can bring you on my journey with the most beautiful photographs! ►
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By supporting my cause, I will be able to story-tell through photographs, video, and detailed blogs all about these hidden gems on a monthly basis. My aim is to help protect our nature and wilderness by actually getting people to visit and enjoy these stunning places, so they too are motivated to respect and teach others about our natural environment! ►
»» ABOUT ME ««
My name is Shameer, I am a photographer and I live in London. My mission is to hike, mountain bike or whatever it takes to find the hidden gems of the British Isles so that I can bring you on my journey with the most beautiful photographs.
Why? I want to inspire you and the younger generation to appreciate our natural environment, to protect it and to venture out and live a little. Go explore, make new friends and see new places. Make a difference to your life and wellbeing.
My recent lightbulb moment answered one of the biggest questions of my life, “what could I do to inspire others to protect our natural environment that is so crucial for our mental health and wellbeing?” – It was a simple answer… I would explore the wilderness, story-tell through photographs and video, and tell everyone about it. Especially, to empower the next generation to protect our wilderness by actually visiting these stunning places.
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Kent Life Museum (KTVarchive) (KTVarchive)
Tucked away on the outskirts of Maidstone, Kents premier heritage farm attraction offers a great day out for kids and grown-ups alike.
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SWC Free Walk 70, Part 3, Wells-Next-The-Sea to Cley-Next-The-Sea. 7/2/12.
Another bracing 10 miles in the snow and fantastic scenery of North Norfolk. Unfortunately though, this is only a short snapshot of this section as said weather drained my camera battery quicker than anticipated!
Leaving Wells, the walker is soon in familiar marshland surroundings; delightfully remote and tranquil today! After a short respite for a hot drink in the hostelry at Stiffkey, there's more marshland walking through to Morston and then on to Blakeney. Intensely bitter Easterly winds killed this walker's camera battery somewhere around Blakeney Eye, meaning no windmill at Cley in this video. Next time!
Another lovely day's walking, despite the chill, providing some less frequently seen snowy views of the coastline here.
Time Out Walks, Book 2, Walk 30, Dover to Deal. 30/8/09.
Almost 10 miles of walking along the 'White Cliffs'. Very straightforward, following the coast, which affords delightful views on a clear day. It's a fairly level walk, with a couple of climbs out of Dover and St Margaret's Bay. The final section, passing castles towards Deal is flat, walking next to the pebble beach.
(Mobile phone quality).
COUNTRYSIDE WALK IN KENT 2017 | MARDEN
A brand new series of Countryside Walks in Kent for 2017.
10:26 Go past the container at turn RIGHT before the river footbridge
Canterbury East
Basic Video, a bit misty
SWC Free Walks 151/152, Lenham to Ashford.1/7/12
Another 'two-for-the-price-of-one' here as the walker combines two 'Greensand Way' walks into one of around 15.5 miles. Starting out from Lenham station, there's a fair bit of road walking initially, albeit on a quiet road, but the walker soon reaches Boughton Malherbe and The Greensand Way. This provides for some delightful walking through 'Darling Buds' scenery of orchards and meadows right through to Pluckley (duplicating some of the 'Pluckley Circular' walk) and beyond. The path is joined by The Stour Valley Walk shortly after Little Chart before arriving at the 'New Forestesque' Hothfield Common; there's even wild ponies to add to the resemblance.
At Great Chart, the walker leaves The Greensand Way to follow The Stour Valley Walk through urban Ashford and on to its station.
A lovely walk along one of this walker's favourite paths, The Greensand Way. The beginning and ending of the walk are quite hard on the joints, but the rest of the walk more than compensates!
Tornado at 60mph passes West Ealing on a dark cold night. 23-Mar-2013
A1 Locomotive Trust Ltd A1 Class No: 60163 Tornado, in BR Blue livery, speeds at 60mph running on green signals, past West Ealing (WEA) on a bitterly cold, damp, dark early-Spring night as it heads the Up Steam Dreams (SD) Cathedral's Express from Kingswear to London-Paddington (PAD) on the Up Main Line of the Great Western Main-Line (GWML) on the last leg of its journey from Slough to London.
It's Saturday 23rd March 2013 and the time was 23:05, Tornado was right on time. Tornado was following the 22:46 First Great Western (FGW) Main-Line service from Slough to PAD (ex-Oxford). As you can see the shot is very dark as the Up Main platform was removed some years ago and the station lights point at the Relief Lines.
Trivia time. This was the 12th Up main-line steam excursion of 2013 in the London area. By this stage last year (23-Mar-2012) there had been 11 Up specials, so we've had 1 more than at 23-Mar-2012. This is Tornado's 4th Up London run of 2013. Last year 60163 had only made 1 Up London run by 23-Mar-2012. This is the 5th Up Steam Dreams special to London, 2 more than 23-Mar-2012. This is the 4th steam special of 2013 to run from West Drayton towards PAD past West Ealing in 2013. That's 1 less than last year.
WEA is an interchange hub on the London rail system as the station enables commuters to interchange between First Great Western trains to/from the Greenford branch and Heathrow Connect service from PAD to Heathrow Airport. Service frequencies outside of rush hour are 2 FGW trains per hour to Greenford and 2 HC trains per hour to Heathrow Airport. There are 2 FGW trains and 2 HC trains to PAD per hour.
A variety of main line FGW trains pass WEA on their way to destinations in South-West England, South Wales, the northern Home Counties and the West Midlands from PAD. There is also a 4 trains per hour Heathrow Express service from PAD to Heathrow Airport.
WEA was opened by the Great Western Railway in March 1871 and was named Castle Hill & Ealing Dean. In 1877 the GWML was widened to 4 tracks. Unusually the Down and Up Relief Platforms were staggered with the Up Platform, No: 4 placed on the East/Up side of the road overbridge. In 1892 the GWR abandoned the Broad Gauge system. In 1899 the GWR re-named the station West Ealing. Then, in 1903, WEA became a junction station when the GWR opened the branch to Greenford. In 1948 WEA was taken over by British Railways. Steam was abolished by 1965. In 1971 the Down Main Platform number 1 was demolished. In 1991 the station was re-modelled. Platform 2 (facing the Up Main) was fenced off and is why Platform 3 is now so wide and is where I stood. A new Platform 4 on the West/Down side of the overbridge was opened. In 1996 the metro trains became Thames Trains. In 1998 the line was electrified for the Heathrow Express trains. In 2003 the metro trains calling at WEA were taken over by FGW. In 2005 FGW and Heathrow Express launched the Heathrow Connect metro service. The first electric metro service on the GWML.
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SWC Free Walk 108, Burgess Hill to Hassocks. 18/9/11.
Nearly 17 miles of walking through the West Sussex countryside incorporating both the Sussex Border Path and The South Downs Way.
The walker initially follows a path next to the railway line towards Hassocks before branching off across a local park. Thereafter, there's a climb past a water tower before joining the Sussex Border Path for the walk to Ditchling for lunch.
The afternoon section begins with an ascent to Ditchling Beacon for a walk along the South Downs way before the descent into Pyecombe; there's a further climb from there up to Wolstonbury Hill before another descent down to Hurstpierpoint and the journey back to Hassocks.
A delightful day's walking that is full of variety.
(Some wind interference on the commentary).
34067 Tangmere powers through Clapham Junction Down Xmas Sussex Belle 12 Dec 2012
Southern Railway Battle of Britain Class No: 34067 Tangmere passes Clapham Junction (CLJ) on a cold, bright, late-Autumn morning as it heads the Down Railway Touring Company (RTC) Christmas Sussex Belle from London-Victoria (VIC) to Eastbourne on the Southern (SN) Main-Line between London and Redhill (RDH). It's Wednesday 12th December 2012 and the time was 11:03. Tornado was on time on the Down-Fast and running behind the 10:53 SN Main-Line service from VIC to East Grinstead (EGR) which departed CLJ dead on time at 09:59. Note a down South Western Metro standing at Platform 11 awaiting the right away. I think the train was the 10:54 from London-Waterloo to Dorking. Also, on the right you can just see what I think is the 10:43 Southern Metro from Crystal Palace to London-Victoria. Tangmere puts on a great show with lots of smoke and steam. Notice the change of style on the footbridge which shows where the London, Brighton & South Coast barrel-roof style meets the London & South Western style.
From CLJ Tornado will continue South on the SN main-line to Keymer Junction where the Southern line to Eastbourne divides from the Brighton line. From Keymer Junction Tangmere heads South-East straight into Eastbourne. Tangmere was scheduled to arrive at Eastbourne at 13:01.
Trivia time. This was the 90th down main-line steam excursion of 2012 in the London area. By this stage last year (12-Dec-2011) 60163 had run the 99th. The difference in 2012 largely due to the Olympics. This was the 16th Down main-line run of 2012 by Tangmere in London. Last year, on 26-Nov-2011, Tangmere made its 19th Down run on a Steams Dreams special. It's the 29th Down RTC steam special in the London area in 2012. On 03-Dec-2011 RTC put on its 31st Down special from London to Lincoln. Today's train was the 4th Down steam special to pass CLJ-SN in 2012. Last year, on 26-May-2011 4492 hauled the 2nd and last Down Special to pass CLJ-SN in 2011.
CLJ-SN has 6 of the 17 Platforms at CLJ. Going from right to left through the camera. Out of sight is Platform 17 is the Down West London Line (WLL) and Platform 16 the UP WLL. Platform 15, faces the Down Relief, Platform 14 faces the Up Relief. Platform 13, where I stood and used by Tangmere, faces the Down Fast and Platform 12 faces the Up-Fast. From 10:03 to 11:03 CLJ-SN was passed or called at by 30 Down trains and 28 Up trains all operated by SN. Of the 30 Down trains only 5 pass and these are all bound for Gatwick Airport bar one which goes to Brighton. Of the 25 that call 9 are main line trains of which 4 divide serving 2 destinations. The 9 head for Pourtsmouth Harbour/Bognor Regis (BOG), Brighton (2), Eastbourne/Littlehampton (LIT), Southampton-Central/BOG, Horsham, Ore/LIT and EGR (2). The 16 metro services head for Caterham (2), Crystal Palace (2), Dorking, Epsom (2), Epsom Downs, London Bridge (2), South Croydon and Sutton (5). Of the 28 Up trains all but 1 head for VIC. The 1 not going to VIC calls at CLJ-SN and heads for Milton Keynes-Central. 4 of the remaining 27 are through Main-Line trains and 10 are calling Main-Line trains. There are 13 Metro trains going to VIC.
Interesting to note, especially for enthusiasts who complain that the Diesel helps Tangmere. Track conditions in Southern England were so bad that the Southern line to Horsham, Bognor, Southampton and Portsmouth was closed.
The London, Brighton & South Coast Railway (LBSCR) opened a line from Wandsworth Common to a Thames-side teminus called Pimlico on 29-Mar-1858. This was a three track main line but there was no station at CLJ. Five years later, on 01-Mar-1863 the LBSCR opened a 4 platform station 5-track station with 3 tracks running to VIC which opened on 01-Oct-1860. The 2 tracks leading to the West London Line were also opened on 01-Mar-1863. Nothing much changed then for the rest of the 19th Century then early in the 20th Century the LB&SCR widened their main-line to 4 tracks and the staion was re-developed and starting to look as it does today.
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Tangmere coming back this afternoon is the next film.