Many thanks to all of you who have sent messages of condolence, I've passed these on to his close friends and family.
They have decided that Stephen should be buried at GreeAcres (https://www.greenacresgroup.co.uk/epping-burial-services/ - a Natural Death Centre near Epping)
As soon as his family have a date and time, I'll be sure to forward the details onto those of you who have said that they wish to attend. (I'll also pop the details here too.)
Stephen Backes's Funeral CORRECTION. You may now find all the details at https://www.quitenear.me/SB/ Please ignore my previous comment (unfortunately blogger won't let me delete it)
"Hills and valleys are unchanging: the lane still follows the ancient track that men have walked for a thousand years. And each year the seasons return. We may lose faith in mankind but we can never lose faith in the opening bud or the falling leaf." ~C.R.Milne
Apple recently brought Dark Sky, our weather supplier. Good: they will still give 10 days of hourly data for the weather chart Bad: it looks like they'll charge £80 a year for it (they are for the beta period of their new version of it). Non-profits can get it for free, but they have to be verifiable, i.e. have a legal status
If going via Liverpool Street, you can use the Jubilee line to change at Stratford instead. https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/Travelling-to-london.aspx
GpsBabel This may have been mentioned before, however if not https://www.gpsbabel.org/ provides a great way to manipulate gps files and apparently can be downloaded for most OS - could be useful if your plotting ...
I saw a poster for this at Epsom station and I thought it would be of interest. They offer a packages with a map and a written guide. All their walks use trains.
The Quick Escapes are free, so being slightly intrigued, I downloaded "A Hackney Hike" being as it is my neck of the woods, You can take a look at what you get at https://www.quitenear.me/HW/ (Click the A-Hackney-Hike.pdf) You may also download others at https://vespucciadventures.com/product-category/quick-escapes/ (but patience is required)
Proposed developments at Bewl Water If you're not aware of this, may I suggest you take a look at impact this will have at https://www.change.org/p/save-bewl-water-local-wildlife-site-from-development-protect-wildlife-and-natural-beauty ?
There have been incidents of people using e-train tickets (or e-railcards), and not being able to show them due to a technical issue (e.g. no battery, unable to unlock phone, no signal, etc.), and then getting a penalty fare, which was upheld on appeal to the train company.
Consider paper copies, or a writing down the ticket number.
Massive landslip near Hook over the weekend, reducing SWR's long-distance network to the Portsmouth line only, ie no trains west of Hook to Basingstoke and beyond for the foreseeable: Soton/Weymouth and Salisbury/Exeter... https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/video-major-disruption-expected-after-landslip-at-hook-hampshire-damages-main-line-from-waterloo-to-basingstoke-southampton-and-the-west
I've come across an app called Trundl, which claims to turn one's walking into charitable donations. https://trundl.co.uk/
Does anyone here - use it - understand how it works, and in particular, where it gets its money from - know whether it has relevance to our activities?
@David, it appears it costs subscribers just shy of four quid a month and they say they give "at least 10% of our total income to the charities" (I assume that's mostly from these subscriptions). Presumably that percentage is weighted depending on how much you walk. They don't mention what percentage the "brands"?? top that up with, so I suspect it may be better for charities if you sent your £3.99 directly to them (a charity of your choice of course) rather than subscribe (if I've understood their business model) 😕 ... unless you've got a Camino de Santiago Package booked 🙂
In the past month, with poor weather... 1,600 people looked at "This Weeks Walks" an average of 6 times each 1,500 people - walks index page - 2 times 220 people - recent comments - 6 times
Individual walks were looked at by 50 - 700 people (most was the 7 Sisters)
South Downs National Park astrophotography competition Midhurst and Beachy Head shots win first and second prizes ... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-64495089
I use an app called Treekly, which turns footsteps into trees. I opted for the free plan. More details can be found at https://www.treekly.org/ I set up a group within the app for the SWC to track the number of trees planted; the Group Code is T-20157
The club is slowly aging. What, if anything should we do?
I used to cross-post the walks on Meetup (~ £20 per month), but stopped during covid.
Another option is posting them on our Facebook Page as 'events', but because of the way Facebook works, they would have to be posted there, and copied to Blogger, rather than the other way round. Or maybe we could do 1 a week manually as a newcomers walk.
Walk planners who have (or are planning) walks passing the West Reservoir in East London might like to take a peek at the proposed improvements by Hackney Council ... https://consultation.hackney.gov.uk/leisure-parks-green-spaces/west-reservoir-improvement/
What3Words If you have this App on your phone, you might like to look at this feature ... https://www.youtube.com/shorts/37hJq65T7yk Could be useful if you want to let friends know the location of where you took a picture.
Olympic Park Wetlands I was walking over a Stratford to Canary Wharf route I'd just revised and if you have an interest in flora and wildfowl, I can recommend a visit to these Wetlands particularly at this time of year. A cheeky little wren (I think) posed and sang and I was able to capture a few moments at https://photos.app.goo.gl/2oR3iheAxaZzkMgJ6 should you wish to take a look. There was plenty of other pleasing vistas en route too: In the Old English Gardens of Victoria Park and the Ecology Centre Wetlands adjacent to the Regents Canal just before Mile End
I only just noticed that the England Coast Path has quietly become the King Charles III England Coast Path (or short: KC3ECP)! On the online OS maps and on the signage as well.
Go Jauntly I've just had a peek at the Go Jauntly App (https://www.gojauntly.com/) The "Walk the Green Chain" section caught my eye and I was impressed by the pictorial route instructions offered. To get all routes subscribers need to subscribe to the Premium Service but that's a couple of quid a month ... I am tempted though ...
Public rights of way blockages You may like to look at the article/investigation on the Beeb at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67937253
Walk posters, start your web browsers! The Great British Rail Sale is all Advance single tickets, booked at least 7 days in advance, with no railcard discount. Couldn't find much for us. Only (worthwhile) bargains I could find were on long distance trains from Liverpool Street or (slower, non Inter City) trains from Euston. Singles to the south coast are £3 and NW Kent Coast £7, but if it rains or your plans change, there's no refund.
Interesting long read, although the SWC is not mentioned: Nicholas + Nicholas + Paul McCartney: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/jan/23/nicholas-saunders-forgotten-genius-changed-british-food?ref=se1.news
The Connection at St Martin's in the Field I've just received this email from Emily Elvin which may be of interest to you, she writes ... I hope this email finds you well and you are having a good start to the week. I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself, I am the Events and Community Manager at The Connection at St Martin’s. We are one of the UK’s biggest homelessness centres, based in Westminster, just off of Trafalgar Square. We have been supporting people sleeping rough in this area, to move away from the streets for over 100 years. London has the highest proportion of rough sleepers, with the area of Westminster having the highest rates of rough sleeping in the country. We get to know each person we work with. Many have been pushed to the edge, and they all have their own challenges to overcome. On Friday 22nd March, we will be walking with dozens of other homeless charities to raise vital funds and show people sleeping rough that we are by their side for every step of their journey home. I am therefore wanting to reach out to enquire if you, or any of your members would be interested in supporting The Connection and taking part in this walking event?
I have provided the event details below for reference for you: When: Friday 22nd March 2024 Start: 20:00 Where: Starts and finishes at The Connection by Trafalgar Square Distances: Choose your distance; 10km, half marathon or push yourself to do the marathon distance in this night time walk Cost: £25 registration, with minimum fundraising targets
If you have any questions, would like to sign up or have any on the above, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
With support such as yours we will have the opportunity to help even more people move off the streets in London to a place that they can call home. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards, Emily Emily Elvin (she/her) Events & Community Manager
Full details at https://www.connection-at-stmartins.org.uk/upcoming-events/the-london-walk-2024/
Ashdown Forest Some of you may be interested to know that this weeks Countryfile celebrated the 100 year anniversary of A.A. Milnes creation, Winnie-the-Poo. They visited the Ashdown Forest (aka 100 Aker Wood) in East Sussex to explore the history and rich diversity of plant and wild life there and saw how many volunteers help to retain the status quo. No Heffalumps were found, however this episode is on Iplayer at https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001w9yp/countryfile-ashdown-forest and did involve Poohsticks at the appropriate bridge.
April 1st As technology evolves in leaps and bounds, I was fascinated to see that a Gruniad April Fools Video at https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/apr/01/guardian-goggles-augmented-reality-specs some 10+ years ago is likely to become reality in the near future. How times have changed!
Every so often, one of us looks at Meetup and says, OMG, ... Mostly doing our walks, a few doing their own, and a few you can't tell. More free groups now. Many have attendances we can only dream of, e.g. one that charges £10 (cash only) and has 149 attendees.
248 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 248 of 248Stephen Backes
Many thanks to all of you who have sent messages of condolence, I've passed these on to his close friends and family.
They have decided that Stephen should be buried at GreeAcres (https://www.greenacresgroup.co.uk/epping-burial-services/ - a Natural Death Centre near Epping)
As soon as his family have a date and time, I'll be sure to forward the details onto those of you who have said that they wish to attend. (I'll also pop the details here too.)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Walks-Each-Season-countryside-London/dp/1739986709
A London country walks book.
Stephen Backes's Funeral CORRECTION.
You may now find all the details at https://www.quitenear.me/SB/
Please ignore my previous comment (unfortunately blogger won't let me delete it)
"Hills and valleys are unchanging: the lane still follows the ancient track that men have walked for a thousand years. And each year the seasons return. We may lose faith in mankind but we can never lose faith in the opening bud or the falling leaf." ~C.R.Milne
https://www.cyclosm.org/#map=14/51.2553/-0.2993/cyclosm
a possible alternative to opentopomap, which seems a bit slow nowadays
Apple recently brought Dark Sky, our weather supplier.
Good: they will still give 10 days of hourly data for the weather chart
Bad: it looks like they'll charge £80 a year for it (they are for the beta period of their new version of it). Non-profits can get it for free, but they have to be verifiable, i.e. have a legal status
Crossing London with tickets marked '+'
If going via Liverpool Street, you can use the Jubilee line to change at Stratford instead. https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/Travelling-to-london.aspx
GpsBabel
This may have been mentioned before, however if not https://www.gpsbabel.org/ provides a great way to manipulate gps files and apparently can be downloaded for most OS - could be useful if your plotting ...
There is a plan for a £2 max fare on buses starting in October - but it needs to be signed off by the new prime minister
It seems the £2 max bus fare plan is confirmed, but for Jan-Mar '23.
I saw a poster for this at Epsom station and I thought it would be of interest.
They offer a packages with a map and a written guide. All their walks use trains.
https://vespucciadventures.com/
... and charge money for lame versions of what we have for free on our website...
Yes I did notice that.
https://www.bluestarbus.co.uk/south-downs-rambler-0
a ramblers bus to West Meon (on the South Downs Way). sadly summer sundays only, with just 1 to go. a shame it wasnt better advertised
https://cuckmerebuses.org.uk/index.htm
buses around alfresdon (in the south downs) - a community bus company - the drivers are volunteers!
Re:MoonBrain's post on Sat 03-Sep
https://vespucciadventures.com/
The Quick Escapes are free, so being slightly intrigued, I downloaded "A Hackney Hike" being as it is my neck of the woods, You can take a look at what you get at https://www.quitenear.me/HW/ (Click the A-Hackney-Hike.pdf)
You may also download others at https://vespucciadventures.com/product-category/quick-escapes/ (but patience is required)
Proposed developments at Bewl Water
If you're not aware of this, may I suggest you take a look at impact this will have at https://www.change.org/p/save-bewl-water-local-wildlife-site-from-development-protect-wildlife-and-natural-beauty ?
There have been incidents of people using e-train tickets (or e-railcards), and not being able to show them due to a technical issue (e.g. no battery, unable to unlock phone, no signal, etc.), and then getting a penalty fare, which was upheld on appeal to the train company.
Consider paper copies, or a writing down the ticket number.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/escape-into-autumn
free visit to an NT property
Looks like all the free tickets have been snapped up. The NT page says "This offer has now come to an end..."
really really sorry to hear about Sylvia ..so sad..
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/2-bus-fare-cap#south-east
List of bus companies routes taking part in the £2 flat fare scheme. Some fun research for walk posters :)
Massive landslip near Hook over the weekend, reducing SWR's long-distance network to the Portsmouth line only, ie no trains west of Hook to Basingstoke and beyond for the foreseeable: Soton/Weymouth and Salisbury/Exeter... https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/video-major-disruption-expected-after-landslip-at-hook-hampshire-damages-main-line-from-waterloo-to-basingstoke-southampton-and-the-west
impressing/depressing video: 1 track is hanging in the air, with the 10m high embankment underneath it having 'moved'...
I've come across an app called Trundl, which claims to turn one's walking into charitable donations. https://trundl.co.uk/
Does anyone here
- use it
- understand how it works, and in particular, where it gets its money from
- know whether it has relevance to our activities?
@David, it appears it costs subscribers just shy of four quid a month and they say they give "at least 10% of our total income to the charities" (I assume that's mostly from these subscriptions). Presumably that percentage is weighted depending on how much you walk. They don't mention what percentage the "brands"?? top that up with, so I suspect it may be better for charities if you sent your £3.99 directly to them (a charity of your choice of course) rather than subscribe (if I've understood their business model) 😕 ... unless you've got a Camino de Santiago Package booked 🙂
In the past month, with poor weather...
1,600 people looked at "This Weeks Walks" an average of 6 times each
1,500 people - walks index page - 2 times
220 people - recent comments - 6 times
Individual walks were looked at by 50 - 700 people (most was the 7 Sisters)
Progress on the Hook landslip. https://youtu.be/e3HMhmEz2hE
South Downs National Park astrophotography competition
Midhurst and Beachy Head shots win first and second prizes ...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-64495089
@David
I use an app called Treekly, which turns footsteps into trees. I opted for the free plan. More details can be found at https://www.treekly.org/
I set up a group within the app for the SWC to track the number of trees planted; the Group Code is T-20157
The club is slowly aging. What, if anything should we do?
I used to cross-post the walks on Meetup (~ £20 per month), but stopped during covid.
Another option is posting them on our Facebook Page as 'events', but because of the way Facebook works, they would have to be posted there, and copied to Blogger, rather than the other way round. Or maybe we could do 1 a week manually as a newcomers walk.
Walk planners who have (or are planning) walks passing the West Reservoir in East London might like to take a peek at the proposed improvements by Hackney Council ...
https://consultation.hackney.gov.uk/leisure-parks-green-spaces/west-reservoir-improvement/
What3Words
If you have this App on your phone, you might like to look at this feature ... https://www.youtube.com/shorts/37hJq65T7yk
Could be useful if you want to let friends know the location of where you took a picture.
Covert Wood Appeal
https://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/appeals/covert-wood
Please help Kent Wildlife Trust to save this massive piece of lovely ancient woodland
Olympic Park Wetlands
I was walking over a Stratford to Canary Wharf route I'd just revised and if you have an interest in flora and wildfowl, I can recommend a visit to these Wetlands particularly at this time of year. A cheeky little wren (I think) posed and sang and I was able to capture a few moments at https://photos.app.goo.gl/2oR3iheAxaZzkMgJ6 should you wish to take a look.
There was plenty of other pleasing vistas en route too: In the Old English Gardens of Victoria Park and the Ecology Centre Wetlands adjacent to the Regents Canal just before Mile End
Hello
I am trying to download a .kml file for our area so I can plan my walks. I was wondering why non of the .kml links work?
thanks
A STAGGERING 50+ HECTARES OF IRREPLACEABLE ANCIENT WOODLAND COULD BE IN DANGER IF KENT COUNTY COUNCIL ALLOWS THE EXPANSION OF HERMITAGE QUARRY !!
https://campaigns.woodlandtrust.org.uk/page/130168/action/1?locale=en-GB
I only just noticed that the England Coast Path has quietly become the King Charles III England Coast Path (or short: KC3ECP)! On the online OS maps and on the signage as well.
Go Jauntly
I've just had a peek at the Go Jauntly App (https://www.gojauntly.com/) The "Walk the Green Chain" section caught my eye and I was impressed by the pictorial route instructions offered.
To get all routes subscribers need to subscribe to the Premium Service but that's a couple of quid a month ... I am tempted though ...
Public rights of way blockages
You may like to look at the article/investigation on the Beeb at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67937253
There's a "Great British Rail Sale" coming up, mainly for 'Advance' tickets, betails in a few days.
Walk posters, start your web browsers! The Great British Rail Sale is all Advance single tickets, booked at least 7 days in advance, with no railcard discount. Couldn't find much for us. Only (worthwhile) bargains I could find were on long distance trains from Liverpool Street or (slower, non Inter City) trains from Euston. Singles to the south coast are £3 and NW Kent Coast £7, but if it rains or your plans change, there's no refund.
Interesting long read,
although the SWC is not mentioned: Nicholas + Nicholas + Paul McCartney: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/jan/23/nicholas-saunders-forgotten-genius-changed-british-food?ref=se1.news
The Connection at St Martin's in the Field
I've just received this email from Emily Elvin which may be of interest to you, she writes ...
I hope this email finds you well and you are having a good start to the week.
I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself, I am the Events and Community Manager at The Connection at St Martin’s.
We are one of the UK’s biggest homelessness centres, based in Westminster, just off of Trafalgar Square. We have been supporting people sleeping rough in this area, to move away from the streets for over 100 years. London has the highest proportion of rough sleepers, with the area of Westminster having the highest rates of rough sleeping in the country.
We get to know each person we work with. Many have been pushed to the edge, and they all have their own challenges to overcome.
On Friday 22nd March, we will be walking with dozens of other homeless charities to raise vital funds and show people sleeping rough that we are by their side for every step of their journey home.
I am therefore wanting to reach out to enquire if you, or any of your members would be interested in supporting The Connection and taking part in this walking event?
I have provided the event details below for reference for you:
When: Friday 22nd March 2024
Start: 20:00
Where: Starts and finishes at The Connection by Trafalgar Square
Distances: Choose your distance; 10km, half marathon or push yourself to do the marathon distance in this night time walk
Cost: £25 registration, with minimum fundraising targets
If you have any questions, would like to sign up or have any on the above, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
With support such as yours we will have the opportunity to help even more people move off the streets in London to a place that they can call home.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
Emily
Emily Elvin (she/her)
Events & Community Manager
Full details at https://www.connection-at-stmartins.org.uk/upcoming-events/the-london-walk-2024/
Ashdown Forest
Some of you may be interested to know that this weeks Countryfile celebrated the 100 year anniversary of A.A. Milnes creation, Winnie-the-Poo. They visited the Ashdown Forest (aka 100 Aker Wood) in East Sussex to explore the history and rich diversity of plant and wild life there and saw how many volunteers help to retain the status quo.
No Heffalumps were found, however this episode is on Iplayer at https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001w9yp/countryfile-ashdown-forest and did involve Poohsticks at the appropriate bridge.
April 1st
As technology evolves in leaps and bounds, I was fascinated to see that a Gruniad April Fools Video at https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/apr/01/guardian-goggles-augmented-reality-specs some 10+ years ago is likely to become reality in the near future. How times have changed!
Every so often, one of us looks at Meetup and says, OMG, ...
Mostly doing our walks, a few doing their own, and a few you can't tell. More free groups now. Many have attendances we can only dream of, e.g. one that charges £10 (cash only) and has 149 attendees.
All our walks on 1 map
May be slow to load and navigate, but once you zoom in should be fine
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