Hiking
A walk to Osterley today via the Piccadilly Line with my friend Duncan. We first met for hiking weekends in The Lake District when he lived in Penrith and worked for Border TV and I for LWT, then known as London Weekend Television.
A bit of the Grand Union canal near the M4 motorway and Osterley House (National Trust property so open to the public).
All close to Heathrow airport and within sight of the arches of Wembley stadium but surprisingly rural. And good value for a £1.50 tube fare and less than 20 minutes each way from home!
Postcard from a walk last weekend with GOC to celebrate the club's fortieth birthday. Whilst I have been a member for, I think 35 years, I have not been a regular participant in recent years. This was not an energetic walk and there were a number of stops for various cakes contributed by us all, mine was a small Dundee cake. You'll see that the weather was kind at least during the walk. A number of similar walks have been organised by the different groups within GOC celebrating the birthday.
I'm not a founder member of GOC and no I wasn't the longest standing member there today. Several people were from the original East Kent group which was organising walks even before the founding meeting of GOC at 1974 Gay Pride in London. We shared several moments of recollection of another world!
I’ve been up in the mountains these past few days and reached the summit of Mt. Thabor (3178 m.) in the High Alps of Provence, not far from Briancon and the road to the Col du Galibier. This was the biggest hike I’ve attempted since the 1990s when Arlen and I backpacked and hiked up Square Top mountain (13,794 ft. / 4204 m.) above the Green River in the Wind River mountains in Wyoming.
I took four nights out: one night in a CAF hut up and a night on the way down, plus staying in the Refuge Mont Thabor hut at 2520 m. to be sure to get to the summit of Mt. Thabor early enough in the day before the clouds gather around the high peaks.
Fine granite underneath crumbling limestone. The arrows show the summit of Mt. Thabor and the views are of the Écrins: the Meije (3,984 m.) and the Barre des Écrins (4,102 m.), which need ropes and ice equipment so I won't be up those any time soon.
This area has changed nationality several times between Savoy (Savoie), Italy and now France. The varied culture in the CAF (Club Alpin Français) huts and a number of antique frontier boundary posts reflect the many changes.
Not the South Downs and not East Kent either. Nor Belgium: Cuges-les-Pins to Gémenos, Provence - July 2014
The Calanques that I wanted to hike are shut due to fire risk. Entirely reasonable but a disappointment. So I spent ages online yesterday sussing buses for an alternative. The big advantage of buses is that you don't have to do a circle walk. In this case that's enabled me to walk over a medium sized hill from one valley to another. Cuges les Pins to Gémenos; 400m up and 400m down with a ridge walk along the cusp of the col that I passed over. That was walking through a herb garden of rosemary, thyme and lemon balm at the edge of Mont Ste. Baume.
Cicadas everywhere as a constant background chime, louder than even the gusty wind. Lower down, the cicadas were joined by the chirps of individual crickets. No water high up so not a good place for overnight camping though it would be a good place to view the sunrise and the stars.
I think this and the Calanques are pretty much how Corsica is, but without the Corsican bandits and with the convenience of a bus ride home
There was a convenient bar near the bus stop which served a suitable cold "pression" Amstel beer whilst the bus arrived.
Quieter day tomorrow and also not to overdo the sun thing.
