McGresty
as it happens
An off chance day out
Back in mid September, England's weather was getting colder quite quickly. The forecast for a couple of villages northwest of London was to be about 75 degrees. How could I resist, so tossed my camera into my small backpack along with a couple of other things. Getting train prices proved to be a bit of a hassle because the train site called it by a different name. I finally got a price and noted it down on my J5. I set out to Liverpool Street Station to grab a train to Stanstead St. Margarets.
I thought it would be different to use grayscale images in this article.
The River Lee passes through the Stanstead St. Margarets area, barges used to go down it so it's a bit like a canal with locks and the old horse path. The horses are no longer used so you can walk along it through some nice countryside. Stanstead Abbots appears to be the main place.
After asking, I was told that to cross the river involved a good mile or so walk. Proceeding along this trail I ran across several people and stopped to chat for a while. One was repainting his narrowboat (people live in these things) and nearly finished the first coat. During the trek I removed my cover shirt and shoved it into my backpack, the temperature had risen to the high seventies so all I needed was my T-shirt. It was a no rush amble and quite pleasant. My destination was Amwell Nature Reserve.
Across the water is another section of the place and the wooded hill grabbed my attention. Apparently there are deer and other animals in the area, getting to it is another problem and my time was running out because I wanted to beat London's crazy Friday rush hour.
Heading back to the train station, a mistake was made and I went down a kind of road. Trouble is it was the wrong one and a mile later progress was blocked by a big gate, so I had to return, cross back over the bridge and continue on. I ran across the guy who was painting his boat, he'd finished the first coat and would do the second one tomorrow. On the trail back my legs began to hurt, the kind of pain that said I'd walked enough, but I ignored that and carried on. A couple of minutes later the pain ceased, I knew it would be good for me. I must have walked about 7-8 miles on this trip and that did me good.
The train was actually on the platform, so I quickly boarded it as the doors closed. My plan was to take the tube to Farringdon Street station then get a train back to East Croydon avoiding the center of London, trouble is there was trouble on the track so tried another route. Near Liverpool Street Station, across the street, is a bus stop where I could catch a bus to London Bridge Station and did. That saved me time and I was home 40 minutes later. This was probably the last hot day until next year, winter is on the way.
Shortly after I got home I saw this in the sky, Never before have I seen such a thing. I just may play around with the color version of this and have some fun....
Low bridge, everybody down...
I thought it would be different to use grayscale images in this article.
The River Lee passes through the Stanstead St. Margarets area, barges used to go down it so it's a bit like a canal with locks and the old horse path. The horses are no longer used so you can walk along it through some nice countryside. Stanstead Abbots appears to be the main place.
Stanstead Lock Number 4
After asking, I was told that to cross the river involved a good mile or so walk. Proceeding along this trail I ran across several people and stopped to chat for a while. One was repainting his narrowboat (people live in these things) and nearly finished the first coat. During the trek I removed my cover shirt and shoved it into my backpack, the temperature had risen to the high seventies so all I needed was my T-shirt. It was a no rush amble and quite pleasant. My destination was Amwell Nature Reserve.
About 45 minutes later I reached the bridge and crossed over.
Amwell Nature Reserve
Once at the nature reserve, I noticed a guy doing some photographs. We had a short chat then I did some camera work. Returning, the guy was gone and young woman named Christina was setting up her camera. She is a travel blogger so we had a few minutes of talking about this and that.Across the water is another section of the place and the wooded hill grabbed my attention. Apparently there are deer and other animals in the area, getting to it is another problem and my time was running out because I wanted to beat London's crazy Friday rush hour.
Another section of the large lake.
Heading back to the train station, a mistake was made and I went down a kind of road. Trouble is it was the wrong one and a mile later progress was blocked by a big gate, so I had to return, cross back over the bridge and continue on. I ran across the guy who was painting his boat, he'd finished the first coat and would do the second one tomorrow. On the trail back my legs began to hurt, the kind of pain that said I'd walked enough, but I ignored that and carried on. A couple of minutes later the pain ceased, I knew it would be good for me. I must have walked about 7-8 miles on this trip and that did me good.
The train was actually on the platform, so I quickly boarded it as the doors closed. My plan was to take the tube to Farringdon Street station then get a train back to East Croydon avoiding the center of London, trouble is there was trouble on the track so tried another route. Near Liverpool Street Station, across the street, is a bus stop where I could catch a bus to London Bridge Station and did. That saved me time and I was home 40 minutes later. This was probably the last hot day until next year, winter is on the way.
Shortly after I got home I saw this in the sky, Never before have I seen such a thing. I just may play around with the color version of this and have some fun....
Nice day out.
Oct 01, 2025
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