Ertblog

Back to snowy Hodgemoor Wood

I've got the mountain biking bug again. So while sensible people were indoors next to the fire, I set off this afternoon on my ancient mountain bike for my new haunt, Hodgemoor Wood near Chalfont St Giles. I wanted to explore the woods while the snow still lay very crisp and not so even. Last weekend's snow was lingering, with a fresh coating on Thursday night.

Botterills Lane was easy going (a contrast to last Sunday's treacherous ice) but the wood was again a fun challenge. I missed my way at first but my sense of direction helped me gain the bridleway (The Mount) that runs westwards. 

I had stuffed my Canon SLR in my Camelbak Mule so I could take some proper photos. I was lucky: the sun bathed parts of the wood even after 4pm on this bitterly cold February afternoon. In the deep of the wood, I propped the bike against the route sign and started capturing the scene. As last weekend, I barely saw a soul - although a friendly dog took a mild interest as I took a few photos. 

This was almost certainly my last outing on the Diamondback Ascent bike I bought at Roylan Cycles in Cheltenham in April 1994. The gearshift has failed and I could only use the bottom 4 (out of 21) gears. It made me even slower than normal! I can't wait to get its replacement later this month. 

PS: last night was bitterly, bitterly cold. The photo below shows the temperature reading on my Mini as I drove Owen to his football class at 8.45 this morning. (I thought last Saturday's minus 6.5C was cold enough!)

 

Snow Sunday

Winter is here. The snow arrived on Saturday night, at the end of a day that began with a bitterly cold night. (It was minus 6.5C when I drove Owen to his football class at 8.40am.) The mild winter had turned real.

We enjoyed an unforgettable day. Owen is now big enough to relish snow, especially five inches of the white stuff. (Proof above in the shape of Karen's old school ruler.) He joined friends Martha and Betrys (aka Betty) on the sleds, and built an interestingly shaped snowman. 

I also turned intrepid explorer, venturing through Hodgemoor Wood on my 18 year ol mountain bike. It was an exhilarating experience, slipsliding on road and trail. There was barely a soul in the deep dark wood, and I was the only cyclist to pedal the route since the snows fell. My Garmin shows that the ride took 45 minutes compared with 23 the previous, snow-free day. (But my average heart rate was almost the same.) The ride whet my appetite for adventures on my new mountain bike, which should arrive later this month. But it's probably just as well that my ancient Diamond Back Ascent took the icy punishment today...

Is this the last of 2012's snow? Time will tell...

PS: here's my blogpost about February 2009's snowday, Simply Snow... And my praise for my Mini's winter driving abilities 10 months later.

High speed ahead for HS2

The government has given the go ahead to a new high speed rail line from London to Birmingham: HS2.

It's a hugely symbolic act. It marks a new era for the country's railways. At last, Britain won't be the poor relation to its continental cousins, who have been building high speed lines for the past 30 years. We'll have our first new domestic intercity railway since 1899, the year Great Central trains started running from the north to London Marylebone.

But HS2 has been hugely controversial, especially in the Chilterns. As I blogged when Labour announced the original HS2 plan, our own village, Chalfont St Giles, is on the route. As you'd expect, few people here are in favour of a railway that won't benefit us (there won't be any local stations) but whose construction will blight the area for many years. The anti HS2 campaign has been witty and well organised - with posters on the road to Chequers asking prime minister David Cameron if he's on the right track. Local MP Cheryl Gillan has supposedly threatened to resign as Wales Secretary if the government gave the green light. We'll see if she's still in the Cabinet at the end of the week...

I share the many of the misgivings of the protesters. I find it hard to justify the massive price when public spending is a being slashed to cut the deficit. (It seems a strange priority to splash out on an expensive rail line when youth clubs for deprived inner city teenagers are being closed.) If we're going to invest in rail, wouldn't it be better to improve existing rail lines?

But that kind of make do and mend approach isn't good enough. Britain's intercity rail network was born just before Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837. It was the wonder of the world. Nearly two centuries later, the world wonders why Britain is so reluctant to build a new railway. HS2 opponents say we should just modernise the west coast mainline. That line was created from a series of 19th century railways. It has been 'modernised' twice in the last fifty years. It's still in essence a Victorian railway. Its London terminus, Euston, is a soulless place. I pity anyone who has any time to kill there. The same is true at Reading, Cardiff Central, Bristol Parkway and countless stations across the country.

So HS2 is the right thing to do. It will transform the experience of train travel in Britain. Our village will suffer during the long construction years, but I'll be able to show Owen the building of our first new domestic railway since his great grandmother was a child in the 1890s. (I never thought I'd have the chance to emulate SWA Newton, who photographed the birth of the Great Central in Buckinghamshire and beyond.)

PS: Other mainlines were build in Britain after the Great Central, notably the Great Western's 'cut-off' lines before the Great War, but none was a complete inter city line.

At last: free parking in Chalfont St Giles

Back in 2008, I blogged about the threat to village shops in Chalfont St Giles from Chiltern District Council's car parking charges. The council dropped plans to charge for on-street parking - the reason for the blogpost. But it still charges an extortionate 60p for anyone using Blizzards Yard car park for a few minutes while they pick up a newspaper or pint of milk. 

Sense has finally prevailed. The Buckinghamshire Advertiser reports that the council is introducing an hour's free parking, matching the very successful arrangement in neighbouring Chalfont St Peter. But it appears that no thanks are due to Chiltern Coumcil - it's the parish council and Chalfonts Local Area Forum who have stumped up the cash to end Chiltern Council's drive to get everyone to shop at Tesco. 

It's great news, as it encourages people to use village shops and the brilliant local deli rather than go to Tesco in nearby Amersham. And it also means that people have no excuse to park illegally to avoid the punitive parking charges. 

Twyford, Finmere and Calvert face high speed rail challenge - again

Above: the Great Central main line being built, 1890s. Photo: SWA Newton

BBC Radio 5 Live's Drive programme tonight featured protests against the proposed high speed rail line HS2 by villagers in Finmere, Calvert and Twyford in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.  

The people interviewed explained how the rail link would spoil their villages and the countryside around them without bringing them any benefits - other than the chance to watch a train tearing through at high speed. 

The comments echoed those of friends and neighbours in Chalfont St Giles, which is also on the route. (See my earlier post on HS2 and Chalfont St Giles.) But I was intrigued because Finmere, Calvert and Twyford lost an earlier battle against a new main line. In the 1890s, the Great Central Railway's London extension cut through this part of the world. It was the vision of Sir Edward Watkin, who dreamt of a mainline from the north of England to the continent via a channel tunnel. Its modest London terminus at Marylebone is one of the few remaining monuments to Watkin's dream - or folly. Most of this magnificent line was closed in 1966.

Now the peaceful countryside that once echoed to Great Central expresses faces another rail invasion. Unlike the Great Central, HS2 will have no local stations or trains. But Watkin would have approved this bold project, regarding protest as a mere inconvenience. It will be interesting to see if the 21st century protesters are more successful than their Victorian predecessors. 

PS: the Great Central's construction created far more destruction in Leicester and Nottingham than in the villages on its route. In the words of LTC Rolt, it 'cut ruthlessly through the heart of the old city' of Nottingham. Photographer SWA Newton recorded the birth of the line in a series of extraordinary photos, including this graphic image of Nottingham, below. 

 

 

In praise of the gritters

We're enjoying or enduring our harshest winter since 1982, and the critics are having a field day. Why can't Britain cope with a bit of snow? Why do our continental cousins do things so much better? Why didn't our councils grit the roads? 

It's easy to cheer the critics. But life isn't so simple. Few of us have any idea of how challenging it is to beat the weather. We don't know what it takes to keep roads, rails and runways clear. And we can't even tell if a road has been gritted. Our neighbour complained that a local side road hadn't been treated - but we thought it had. 

The photo above shows Buckinghamshire County Council workers treating a steep hill and replenishing a roadside grit bin in Chalfont St Giles. These workers will have been out in all hours, helping us keep moving. They earn a pittance, yet their reward will have been abuse from regulars in their local pub about their failure to clear every minor road. 

We should be praising them.

In praise of Chalfont St Giles' community library

 

We love reading and books. We were both brought up to love visits to the library - in my case, the grand old Cardiff central library in The Hayes. 

So we were horrified a few years ago when Buckinghamshire County Council made the crass decision to close the library in our village, Chalfont St Giles. But happily the village refused to accept the loss of this vital service. Good people like Tony Hoare put in long hours to save it as a community library. Tony explained how the village saved the library on BBC 1's One show last Monday. 

We have made a very modest financial contribution as friends of the library and have really appreciated this initiative since Owen was born in 2008. He can take out 15 books at a time, and is currently enjoying Man on the Moon, a vivid story about a man called Bob who goes to work on the Moon every day. The book lending service is supplemented by book readings and other events. 

Above: Owen loves his library

We hope the library continues to flourish. But it's a huge shame that our local council - which should be nurturing reading in its communities - sought to destroy this vital service. Less well off communities may not have been able to save their libraries. Books and libraries may seem old fashioned in the internet age, but nothing is quite as magical as a wonderful book.  

   

A perfect day: Owen enjoys a British summer

This is Owen, age 22 months, experiencing the joy of exploring on a glorious summer's day. (Let's not quibble over the fact it's technically still spring: in Britain, we take summer whenever it appears!) I didn't deliberately let him roam so far - I didn't realise how quickly he can run now!

Karen is still recovering from her operation (she had her gallbladder removed five days ago), so Owen and I spent a lot of time together this weekend. Today, we went on a bike ride to the playground in the neighbouring village of Seer Green after breakfast. (Above.) It was great fun sweeping through Seer Green at 18mph on my bike before we set foot on the swings, slides and roundabouts. In the 25 minutes we were there, we didn't see another soul!

We came home in time to join our friends Jo, Ian, Martha and Baby Betty (as Owen calls her) for a visit to Chalfont St Giles' playgroup's fun day at the village cricket ground. Owen was in an independent mood, despite the presence of his first love, Martha. He simply wouldn't be led. But he liked his hot dog, and the lolly that Jo bought him. (And I enjoyed the beer Jo bought me!) I had no idea the fields beyond the cricket ground stretched so far. No wonder Owen felt like an explorer! And as you can see below, Owen and Martha did enjoy their time together.

 I love these summer evenings. Padding about the house and garden in shorts, t-shirt and bare-feet, while savouring a cold beer. Let's hope the weather holds for our Dorset holiday in two weeks. 

Sensible but sneaky: Buckinghamshire's new speed limits

Driving Owen to nursery yesterday, I noticed a tiny '40' speed limit sign on Longbottom Lane between Seer Green and Beaconsfield. Strange, I thought, I wasn't aware a 40mph limit had been applied to this rural road. But the return journey confirmed that Bucks County Council had done just that. And I noticed that the same 40 signs between Seer Green and Chalfont St Giles. 

I agree with the lower speed limits. These roads are narrow and twisting, making 60 too fast for the conditions. It will make life easier and safer for cyclists and horseriders. But I wasn't impressed by the fact the council hadn't put up the usual large signs telling drivers that the speed limit had changed. Even worse, they've removed the 30 limit sign as you enter Seer Green from Chalfont St Giles, which means that many drivers will enter the village at 40, not 30mph. 

No wonder drivers think they're being victimised - this kind of sneaky action creates the suspicion that Bucks County Council is trying to trap drivers into speeding fines. I doubt they're that clever. This and my previous posts this week about the Narcot Lane cycle route and Amersham's closed zebra crossing suggest they're just incompetent.

PS: my wife Karen tells me that the new speed limits have been widely covered in our local paper. I don't think that lets the council off the hook. Most people don't read the Bucks Advertiser - including me. They certainly don't read the council's website on the off-chance that it might be about to change the speed limits of their local roads. Bucks County Council put up large signs when they changed the speed limit from 40 to 30 on Stanley Hill and London Road West in Amersham a few years ago. It should have done the same now. 

Why I won't object to high speed rail line through Chalfont St Giles

Above: the last mainline built through the Chilterns

The government announced plans yesterday for a new high speed rail line from London to Birmingham – via our village, Chalfont St Giles.

The news has, inevitably, led to an outcry. The Chilterns Conservation Board said it would cause irreversible damage. This highly prosperous area is sure to campaign fiercely against the new line.

I won’t be objecting. Partly because the line will pass Chalfont St Giles in a tunnel, which will minimise the impact on the village once construction is complete. But mainly because I feel strongly that it’s hypocritical to benefit from motorways, rail line and airports but object violently when someone plans one in your own area.

And I don’t accept the idea that rail lines – even high speed ones – blight the countryside. There’s something special about the sight of a train snaking its way through the countryside. The west coast main line didn’t ruin the Lune Gorge in the north of England; the later, parallel M6 did.

As the photo at the top of this post shows, railway lines already cross the Chilterns. This photo shows the Great Western and Great Central joint line being built at Loudwater near High Wycombe at the turn of the last century. The scars of construction are long gone; the railway is now part of the landscape. As the photo below of the same line near Ashendon shows, the railway merges into landscape.

As a boy, I loved lying in bed at night listening to coal trains making their way along the Rhymney valley line in Cardiff. It seemed the most natural thing in the world.

But will it happen?

It may not need a campaign to stop a high speed line through Chalfont St Giles. A Tory victory at the general election is likely to scupper the plans, and although the Tories say they’ll push a similar scheme, it will probably be for a different route.