WFP: Wormshead,Rhossilli,Gower Penisula Walk 7th October 2016

Myself and Dan left Romford for the 236 mile trip to Pitton Cross Campsite at 5am hoping to miss any traffic. We arrived on site at 945am after a 30 minute stop off at some services for coffee.

The site were very helpful and let us on our pitch early as the site wasn't too busy this time of year.

The site was clean and the shower/toilet block was clean although cold when stepping out of the shower.

Anyway we set up our tents, had a quick cuppa before heading into Rhossilli.

View to the sea at Mewlade Bay from the Campsite

Rhossili Bay has been voted into the top four of Britain's Best Beach by TripAdvisors Travellers’ Choice for four years running AND was the first beach to be awarded Britain's Best Beach for two years in succession!

We parked up paid the daily £4 parking fee (Free if you are NT members). We walked through into The Bay Bistro for a cup of tea. We were still early for The Walking For Pleasure Meet up today.

Next to the Bistro, is Sams Surf Shack. Visitors can hire surf boards, wetsuits and buy accessories.

We stepped outside to get our first proper look at the amazing stretch of beach here in the bay, I forgot how gorgeous it was, its been 7 years since I was here last!

The Times nominated Rhossili as ‘The UK's No.1 dog-friendly beach’. So, it’s pretty much universally agreed that you won’t find a more beautiful spot in the UK.

It was still going to be a while before everyone turnt up so we headed down onto the beach.

View to Wormshead

Down on the beach, we stopped by the Helvetia shipwreck with amazing views to Wormshead beyond.

The wrecking of the Helvetia

The gales around the Gower coast on the morning of 1st November 1887 caused two ships, heavily laden with timber, to be stranded off Mumbles' Head. Unable to navigate the stormy seas to dock at Swansea Harbour, the struggling ships found themselves being blown down the Bristol Channel by the increasingly strong south-easterly winds. One ship luckily managed to reach the shelter of Lundy Island, but the oak-constructed barque of the Helvetia, struck the dangerous sandbank of Helwick Sands. With the next turbulent swell, the ship gained freedom from the shallow waters but was swept precariously around Worm's Head into the shallow waters of Rhossili Bay.

The captain of the Helvetia dropped anchor here and was taken ashore by the coastguard. However, he refused to abandon his ship altogether, leaving the crew aboard the barque, afraid that given the chance, someone might steal her. Unfortunately, the wind refused to die down and when it changed direction suddenly, it forced the ship to drag her anchor. With nightfall rapidly approaching, the decision was finally made for the crew to abandon ship. The tortured wreck of the Helvetia was discovered the next morning, laid to rest upon the sands and surrounded by her cargo of 500 tons of wood.

During the following weeks the timber was systematically collected from the beach and gathered for auction sale, where South Wales timber merchants purchased the cargo at a bargain price. Arrangements were made for the timber to be taken by ship during the summer months. It was during this phase of the wood clearance operation that the sea brought a second disaster to the area.

The steamboat Cambria, from Llanelli, and a small Mumbles sailing vessel, having loaded the Helvetia's timber from the bay, were both caught short by the tide. The captain of the sailing vessel carried his anchor out to low water to assist in leaving the bay later, but the propeller driven Cambrian needed to wait for high tide.

As the tide came in, the wind picked up pace causing the waves to intensify and swell. As the Cambria started to float with the rising water, it unfortunately turned sideways onto the strengthening waves, and looked as if it would surely be wrecked. However, with the help from the coastguard, the ship was stabilized and the crew managed to sail away safely later the same day. The ship's anchor had been left behind, however, and so some local men were hired to carry the anchor over the sands at low water, to the nearby area of the bay known as Kitchen Corner. There they attached a buoy to the anchor, making it ready for collection when the ship returned later.

When the ship returned to the bay several months later, the Cambria's master sent a boat ashore with some day-tripping landlubbers. After spending the day at the Rhossili public house 'The Ship Inn', these men finally recovered the anchor. Unfortunately, the weight of the anchor, accompanied by the weight of the six rescuers, proved too much for the boat, eventually causing it to capsize. All six men were thrown into the ocean. Only one of the men made it to the shore alive.

The wreck of the Helvetia itself was sold cheaply to a local man, but before he had a chance to strip the precious copper keel from the vessel, she had started to settle in the sand. Nevertheless, he made good salvage of the ship's deckboards by flooring his kitchen with its wood.

The rest of the WFP group arrive after being stuck in Traffic for a while travelling from North Wales. So myself,Dan,Max,Julie,Heather,Steve and Clive set off to walk across onto Wormshead.

Worm's Head

Historically named 'Wurm' meaning 'dragon' by Viking invaders, the promontory, Worm's Head, is shaped like a giant sea-serpent and marks the most westerly tip of Gower. The island is joined to the mainland by a rocky causeway and features an large flat-topped 'Inner Head', towards a natural rock bridge called 'Devil's Bridge', a 'Low Neck' leading further out to the 'Outer Head'. The headland is one mile long and the highest point is approximately 150 feet.

The rocky, jagged causeway leading out to the 'Worm' is only exposed for two and a half hours before and after low tide, so walkers should always carefully check the tide times before they set off over the causeway. Being trapped on Worm's Head for half the day, waiting for low tide again, is both inconvenient and desolate to say the least, but so easily done by the inexperienced. Even the young Dylan Thomas made the mistake of falling asleep on the Inner Head and missing his tide:

I stayed on that Worm from dusk to midnight, sitting on that top grass, frightened to go further in because of the rats and because of things I am ashamed to be frightened of. Then the tips of the reef began to poke out of the water and, perilously, I climbed along them to the shore.

- Dylan Thomas.

Dylan Thomas used to regularly visit Worm's Head and in his short story, 'Who Do You Wish Was With Us?', he wrote:

... Laughing on the cliff above the very long golden beach, we pointed out to each other, as though the other were blind, the great rock of the Worm's Head. The sea was out. We crossed over on slipping stones and stood, at last, triumphantly on the windy top. There was montrous, thick grass there that made us spring-heeled and we laughed and bounced on it, scaring the sheep who ran up and down the battered sides like goats. Even on this calmest day a wind blew on the Worm.

- Dylan Thomas

View down to the old Lifeboat house that's now disused, myself and Max will visit this later.

Outside the coastguard office are the tide times, there's a mere 2 and a half hour window to walk across the causeway. We were good to go!

Here a few stayed back as the crossing across the causeway isn't easy going, I just think it was an excuse to get to the pub early  !

Worms Head itself is shown on the OS map divided into three sections - the Inner, Middle and Outer Heads. In fact they are all joined though the rough tooth like low, rocky section linking the Inner and Middle Heads can be swamped with storm waves at high tide. Seals are resident on the Worm but to see them you must keep quiet and keep a low profile if peering over the cliffs to see them because they'll take fright if they see your profile silhouetted on the skyline. The top of the Inner Head can again be seen to be perfectly flat showing that it was once a beach level the same as that on the shore.

So myself,Max,Dan and Steve battled on towards the headland.

The bell here is used if you become trapped by a rising tide, you ring continuously for help from the coastguard.

Breeding Seabirds

The Outer Head is a breeding ground for birds such as Herring Gulls, Guillemots, Razorbills, and Kittiwakes, with the occasional appearance of Puffins.

At the end of the humped and serpentine body, more gulls than I had ever seen before cried over their new dead and the droppings of ages.

- Dylan Thomas

Walkers are requested not to climb to the top of Outer Head between 1 March and 31 August, to avoid disturbing these nesting birds.

Here Dan and I split ways with Max and Steve, we went up and over the headland whilst Max and Steve stayed on the low path.

Coming down the steep incline , Dans knee started to hurt so he decided this was as far as he was going today, to save his knee for tomorrows walk.

Now another rocky outcrop to cross, much harder than the first, Myself,max and Steve battle on across.

Crossing onto the Middle Head you are at once confronted by the Devils Bridge. This is all that remains of a collapsed sea cave and this arch will eventually collapse too, dividing the Middle Head in two.

Now we cross the impressive Devils Bridge, a superb sight !

Myself and Max walk on and up to the head, where we have a grade 1 scramble up to the top.

Ever since 2009 when I was last here, I look back and wish I'd walked the Worm and here I am at last. Another bucketlist wish ticked off!

It was a tad windy up there !

Now we walk back and meet back up with Steve, and we continue back.

Towards the end of this middle section, another truncated cave gives a window through which you can look along the north wall of the worm.

Just down past the cave we see a seal in the sea and another basking on the rocks in the sun.

We walk on and back onto the causeway, that is much more exposed now that the tide has receded.

A dead dogfish we found.

Here on the causeway we found the anchor belonging to The Samuel Shipwreck. The Samuel was a Norwegian coal ship.

The ship ran ashore at 7pm on Tuesday 12th February 1884, along with several hundred tonnes of black gold (coal) whilst on a routine trip from Cardiff to Santos. The alarm was first raised by the local coastguard at Rhossili who saw the ships lights close inshore. Fortunately the coastguard was able to get a line aboard and rescue all eleven crew members. Samuel however was already badly damaged and eventually broke up on the rocks.

As always the locals were available to take advantage of these unfortunate events. After the coal cargo had been sold to local farmers a rough track was cut down the cliffs at Rhossili to allow the transportation of the coal back up to the village. This was then sold on to the locals who were able to keep themselves warm through winters for years to come. The only evidence now left is the anchor, providing a stark reminder of the perils of these waters.

Dan and Steve walk on to The Coastguard Station whilst Max and I divert off to our left to have a look at the Disused Lifeboat Station.

After a brief look about we headed back up to the Coastguard station and back to Rhossilli where we met the rest in The Helvetia Bar in The Wwormshead Hotel for a debrief and a pint of Wormshead Ale.

After a short while Dan and I said goodbye to Max,Julie,Heather,Steve and Clive and headed back to the campsite and got our Fish and chip supper. A great walk indeed !

Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge to Lippits Hill Circular 8th September 2016

 

So I decided a quick local walk is what was needed today, so a short 25 minute drive saw me parking up in the free car park opposite the Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge on Rangers Road,Chingford E4 7QH.

Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge is a Grade II* listed former hunting lodge, on the edge of Epping Forest.

In 1542, Henry VIII commissioned the building, then known as Great Standing, from which to view the deer chase at Chingford; it was completed in 1543. The building was renovated in 1589 for Queen Elizabeth I. The former lodge, now a th

ree-storey building, has been extensively restoredand is now a museum, which has been managed by the City of London Corporation since 1960. Admission is free.

This is a Tudor hunting stand, built for King Henry VIII (the staircase is so wide as he had to be carried up it) so he could watch the hunting in the forest and shoot the odd arrow. Later the sides were covered and it became the building that we see now. It was massively and quite erroneously 'restored' by Victorians, who turned it into a black and white striped chocolate box picture. These 'improvements' were removed a few years back, and the exterior covered in thick authentic lime wash making it look white and ordinary,next to its fabulously mock-Tudor neighbour the Royal Forest. Now the beams are starting to show again like ghosts from the past.

The lodge has a various exhibits, including dressing up for the kids, and a mock-up of an Elizabethan feast complete with boars head. You can't eat it, but the pub next door does food. It's free to enter but only open weekends in winter.

View from the Hunting Lodge looking over the Chingford Plain

I walk along the road passing Butlers Retreat. A beautifully restored Essex Barn serving a mixture of hearty dishes and healthy salads alongside the wonderful coffee and cakes.

An old Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough

I walk across the plain passing a small unnamed pond, that offers free fishing though  this is a little shallow for any proper fishing I suspect.

After a short while I enter some trees before emerging by Connaught Water.

Connaught Water is one of the most popular lakes to walk around in Epping Forest, largely because of the range of wildlife that lives here.

Connaught Water is also popular with anglers and bird watchers, as large numbers of ducks and geese winter on the lake, and swans, geese, great crested grebes and ducks all breed here.

I head off along a path after a short walk around Connaught Water towards Fairmead Bottom. En-route they were doing some tree pollarding, amazing the work involved in looking after Epping Forest.

 Dick Turpin's first kill was probably a man named Thomas Morris whom he killed on May 4, 1735. Morris was a servant of Henry Thomson, one of the keepers of Epping Forest, and during a routine walkabout of the forest Morris accidentally came across Turpin at Fairmead Bottom, near Loughton. Morris tried to apprehend him (there was a big reward for Turpin's capture at the time) but was immediately shot by Turpin.

Once again Turpin took to his heels, only this time with a far greater crime on his hands than theft. Despite the high risk of capture, Turpin visited his estranged wife who was now living in Hertford, possibly suspecting (accurately, as it turned out) that he would never see her again. Turpin was indeed nearly caught and only very narrowly avoided capture at this point.

I now reach the Original Teahut at the top of Fairmead Bottom. Where I stopped for a cup of coffee, not the best I've tasted but a nice rest all the same.

In the early 1930’s Speedway was a big attraction at High Beech in Epping Forest with tens of thousands of people all turning out to watch the fearless speedway riders ride the track near the Kings Oak Pub.  For many people especially those from inner London this was a brief break away from the city to the countryside and actually seen as a holiday destination for many before cars became more affordable and coastal resorts became the place to head for.

During these massive speedway events people wanted refreshments and this is where the tea hut or “bikers hut” started, there was a good business in serving tea and cakes to be made and the current owners Great Uncle Ernie saw this opportunity and so the business began. The original tea hut is still run by a member of the same family all these decades on and is still a great attraction if you are visiting Epping Forest.

There has been a longstanding legacy left with motorcycling in the area with this being a focal point an attraction for thousands of people from famous writers and artists to local forest users and even people visiting from abroad to catch up with old friends however the original Tea hut doesn’t just focus on Bikers it is open to anyone and everyone who wants to enjoy being out in Epping Forest and wishes to be served some good honest food with a decent cuppa!

During the decades the Hut has had to be replaced, from its humble beginnings it has been upgraded to a shipping container still in the same recognisable green paint that it always has been and once again now in 2016 it has had a third upgrade to a larger container, this time purpose made and constructed to specifically cater for the business’s unique requirements yet still in keeping with the history and tradition of the business.

Here were dog walkers, bikers and an old Humber. All enjoying the sun and food and a cuppa!

I walked on through the forest opposite.

I took a path leading up to Lippits Hill, where I emerged by the Suntrap Forest education Centre on Church Road, that offers environmental education and adventurous activities for schools and other groups.

Just then My dog Ben and I was almost ran down by 6 Police horses flying around the corner, they apologised as they rode by.

I could then hear India 99 ,The Metropolitan Police Helicopter starting up its engines and it flew off shortly afterwards from its base at Lippits Hill.

I now walk up Lippits Hill passing some lovely buildings.

I reach Lippits Hill Lodge.

Few people today have heard of the once famous High Beach Asylum in the heart of Epping Forest - where countless wealthy patients came to be treated during the early 19th century.

Novelist Adam Foulds recently brought the history of the mysterious institution to life in his Man Booker Prize shortlisted work 'The Quickening Maze' about the poet John Clare, who was one of a number of well-known residents there from 1837 to 41.

 Most people think of asylums at that time as being oppressive places where people were locked away, but this place was quite different to that.

"Matthew Allen (who opened the institution in Lippitts Hill, in 1825) was a progressive thinker in his field.

"He had learned his trade at an asylum in York. The High Beach asylum used a kind of treatment that would be more familiar to people today.

"It was a sort of behavioural therapy which encouraged patients to work and socialise."

Patients had to pay for treatment at the asylum, and were generally wealthy, with several coming from London's 'fashionable' set.

Many were given their own keys, and were able to come and go, exploring the forest around them, which inspired some of Clare's writing.

Perhaps the asylum's most glamorous association is with the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, who is thought to have stayed there for a number of weeks while suffering from depression.

The institution was made up of three separate houses, Fairmead, Leopard's (or Lippitts) Hill Lodge and Springfield, with one of the buildings reserved for men, one for women (which was run by Allen's wife) and one for patients with more serious conditions.

When Allen died in the mid 1840s, his wife shared the running of the asylum with another specialist called Dr Forest.

The institution eventually closed in 1850 with Fairmead House being demolished in the 1870s.

Clare is thought to have written the following verse while staying at the asylum.

It read: "I love the Forest and its airy bounds Where friendly Campbell takes his daily rounds I love the breakneck hills - that headlong go And leave me high - and half the world below I love to see the Beech Hill mounting high The brook without a bridge and nearly dry There’s Bucket’s Hill (Buckhurst Hill) - a place of furze and clouds Which evening in a golden blaze enshrouds.

Lippits Hill Lodge

I reach The Owl PH on Lippits Hill. This superb woodland tavern has been a McMullen pub since 1898 and was rebuilt in 1975.

There are still signs referring to a ‘Water Otter’ in the garden. This was reference to a long standing joke where there was a large water butt with a 'Don't tease the water otter' sign above. When you pulled the chain you found a kettle on the end. It amused the kids…

Opposite is The Metropolitans Police Air Support Unit where the Helicopters are based.

Metropolitan Police Airs Support, Lippits Hill

I take the path next to the helicopter base and follow it down.

I take a path next to the golf course and walk across a common before entering the woods again.

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I emerge back on the Chingford Plain after some walking.

Chingford Plin, is the large open plain that stretches from Connaught Water Westwards behind the Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge to Pole Hill, Henry VIII probably created it when he formed his Deer Park briefly in the middle of the sixteenth century, but of course it may have existed previously.

In The nineteenth century about 1860 it was ploughed and farmed. The ridges can still be seen on the Golf Course and the Eastern part of the plain.

In 1940 deep ditches and piles of earth were formed across the plain to counter the threat of landings by German Gliders. Also during The War a barbed wire compound was made in the NorthEast corner of the plain to create a dump for unexploded bombs. The fuses were removed of course.

Ahead on the path are some cattle grazing (Long Horn Cows to be precise), so I get my dog under control before passing. They were very jittery and I didn't want to scare them.

More than 1,000 years of grazing by domestic animals has shaped the landscape of the Forest today.

The Conservators have re-introduced the traditional management technique of cattle grazing to restore historical semi-natural wood pasture in some areas of the Forest and to ensure that the veteran trees and their associated flora and fauna survive for future generations to enjoy.

 Longhorns are one of the rarer breeds of British cattle, known for their docile nature and ability to thrive on rough grazing. Despite their sometimes scary appearance, they are very friendly.

I am now back at The Hunting Lodge and here ends my walk. A lovely 6.5 miles in beautiful sunshine and surroundings!

Not all the walk was recorded by viewranger, so I estimate it at 6.5 miles.