Walking: Cobham to Addlestone

For the Easter weekend walk, I thought I would pioneer a SlowWays walk, followed by a nice one to verify. I settled upon pioneering a route from Cobham to Woking, and then continuing to Addlestone.

For once, the route did not start at a train station, and instead I had to walk about a mile from Cobham & Stoke D'Abernon station. It was mostly along some fields, where I was being harassed by an annoying ankle biter when trying to put my coat away. It was such a lovely and warm day that I didn't actually ended up needing one. Once I got the dog and coat situation under control it was a short continuation to the start, at Cobham's clock on the High Street.

After leaving Cobham's High Street I walked along a slightly busy road, but only for a short while. Soon after crossing the river Mole (by bridge), the walked turned across pasture which was fairly soggy, but not too much to cause a problem for walking.

After a few stiles and bridges across streams I ended up in a very muddy field with two horses who luckily kept their distance, before emerging on the quiet Pointers Road, with no traffic beyond a runner. There I encountered a sign in Welsh (Gardd Triongl), a little unexpected in Surrey, but it was apt, as it pointed towards a very triangular garden. Not much after that I spotted a brilliantly placed red postbox in fresh new green sprouts in the woods.

My walk then crossed the M25 on a footbridge, before going up steep through some woods. At the top I found a family pick-nicking at Semaphore Tower.

The tower is located on the east side of Chatley Heath, which my walked crossed. The paths here were are all easy going across sandy and chalky paths of the fairly open heath. At the west end, I had to go through some more woods, and ended up at a cleared space around the A3 crossing.

Here lots of paths have now disappeared, requiring me to propose a new version of the SlowWays route: Wokcob three. My walk then continued along the lovely Wisley Common with a pond, and around some fields, before ending up at the little village of Wisley. Here I crossed the river Wey, and ended up at my first golf course of the walk. The route through it was easy going along asphalted paths.

After I crossing the River Way Navigation and its lock I ended up at my second golf course. On this one I couldn't follow the golf cart tracks, but instead I had to walk on the verges of fairways, and cross them sometimes. I was not hit on the head by golf balls luckily.

After leaving the golf course I ended up on open land with power lines above me. Although there was a narrow section with an electric fence on one side, the walk past the fields was easy going, although there was quite a climb up to Church Hill. After I crossed that road, I ended up on the "Sheep Walk" which goes straight to your third golf course — why are there so many golf courses? Although it goes through the golf course, I didn't actually see a lot of it as the path was surrounded by trees and hedges. It ended up being quite a lovely section with lots of yellow Celandine flowers.

After having left the golf course and walked briefly along a road, I enjoyed myself a lot again going along the river Hoe on dirt and grass paths. This was perhaps my most favourite section of this walk. This was then followed with my least favourite bit by going towards, and underneath, Woking station, and then along a shopping "paradise" to end up alongside the Basingstoke Canal. By this time, I also arrived at my second SlowWays route, from Woking to Addlestone.

The second part of my walk was very distinct from the first part. Instead of fields, hills, cows, and mud, it was all along two canals. I have walked the length of the Grand Union Canal a few years ago, but this had quite a distinctive feel to it. Or rather, two distinctive feels, as the section along the Basingstoke Canal was nothing like the River Wey Navigation.

There were a few locks on the Basingstoke Canal, with some lovely overhanging branches.

The reflections in the canal were great here. Once getting to the River Wey Navigation, the canal became much straighter and the paths muddier. This is also where I crossed back into London underneath the M25 — with some fun graffiti.

I left the canal at the Coxes Mill Pond, where lots of people were practising their kayaking/canoeing against the outflow from the lock.

After a short section along some residential streets I finished my walk at Addlestone's train station, where, as you'd expect from me, I just missed the half hourly train.

I have neglected to write about last week's walk from Gomshall to Reigate, but I will make up for that!

Xdebug Update: March 2023

In this monthly update I explain what happened with Xdebug development in this past two months. These are normally published on the first Tuesday on or after the 5th of each month.

Patreon and GitHub supporters will get it earlier, around the first of each month.

You can become a patron or support me through GitHub Sponsors. I am currently 34% (7% less than two months ago) towards my $2,500 per month goal, which is set to allow continued maintenance of Xdebug.

If you are leading a team or company, then it is also possible to support Xdebug through a subscription.

In the last month, I spend 18 hours on Xdebug, with 22 hours funded. Sponsorships through GitHub sponsors have now also drastically declined. Unless this is reversed, I would find it hard to spend the effort in making sure Xdebug continues to be updated for newer PHP versions. It certainly makes me think hard as to where to put my dedication towards.

This is also why I have not been as diligent with these update reports and been as active in resolving issues and bugs.

Walking: St. Albans to Berkhamstead

After two weeks away from the trails, this Saturday I set out for another walk to clear my head. I walked from St. Albans to Berkhamstead via Hemel Hampstead, again following some of the SlowWays UK routes.

Leaving the station at St. Albans I walked along its shopping streets for a while, before going past its magnificent cathedral and into Verulamium Park, named after St. Albans' Roman name. There are still some Roman things to see, such as mosaics and remnants of the old city walls, by which I left the park on the Western side, but not after having admired the many snow drops that lined the path.

On the other side of King Harry Lane sits a newish development which I had to cross through narrowish public footpaths to be able to go up a hill through farmland to the A414, which I crossed with a bridge. On the other side sits Park Wood, with many (incorrect) signs saying "private land, no access". The council recently has established a few new public foot paths in the wood, which would have allowed me to take a little short cut. I did not find out about it after I had already crossed it and ended up on a narrow lane.

I did follow the new footpaths for a bit to avoid the lane, but after not much distance my only option was to actually follow the lane. There wasn't much room in the verge, but there was not a lot of traffic, which could have made walking along here dangerous. A blind summit was a little on the scarier side.

From Potters Crouch to Bedmond my route went along more lanes, and to be honest, this was the least nice part of the walk. Unfortunately the extensive network of public footpaths in England does not always help with the directions you're trying to walk in.

On the other side of Church Hill in Bedmond, my route continued along the edge of a field, followed by a public footpath sign pointing straight across a newly ploughed field. I always feel a little bad about crossing these, but it was my only way through, and I saw other people walking on a different footpath across the same field. By looking through my camera's zoom lens, I found the exit point on the other side of the field, and went for it in a (mostly) straight line. I hope that the next walked can follow in my footsteps.

After crossing a lane, a stile, a field and another stile, my route was suddenly blocked by a field of horses. OpenStreetMap did not actually contain that specific public footpath, and although I have now added it, I did decide to take a small detour around it. I don't like messing with horses.

I followed a path first along the edge of the farmland, where I suddenly came eye to eye with a Muntjac deer. I was too slow to get my camera out to take a photo of this tiny creature, as it trundled through the brambles to a safer space.

After going around Abbot's Hill school's vast estate, I ended up along the Grand Union Canal which I followed until the big Sainsbury's on the other side. For some odd reason, the people who drew the SlowWays route made you leave the tranquil canal for a few busy roads, and up a steep path through a tiny bit of lovely woodland, to end up on a dangerous crossing across the A414 where it joins the A41. There were some great views from here, but I do not think it was worth it, and I would have preferred to follow the Grand Union Canal all the way to Hemel Hempstead's station. I will be proposing an alternative route, which also adds the shortcut through the aforementioned Park Wood, and avoids the field of horses.

The second part of my walk, all the way to Berkhamstead was very straightforward. I just has to follow the canal! I walked the length of the Grand Union Canal, from London to Birmingham, a few years ago, but that was in summer and autumn. Now it is just about spring, with the trees still fairly bare, and no little birds to be seen. The path wasn't very muddy luckily, and although it was lovely to walk along the canal again, it was fairly monotonous. I do always like watching boats go through the locks though, but it was too chilly to linger too much.

I left the canal at the Port of Berkhampsted to take the train home into London, where I enjoyed a lovely pint to celebrate yet another successful walk.