Ad Summa Nitamur Pt.II

This blog will be much shorter, and with far fewer photos (some thanks to Pam, some thanks to stealing them from the Internet), than my standard LbF walk. That's because last Saturday's second walk to celebrate Croydon being this year's London borough of culture was a lot shorter than planned and, to be honest, it was mostly along residential roads.

That's not to say it was a bad day. It certainly wasn't. But, in retrospect, to arrange a walk that takes in a hill called Breakneck Hill on one of the hottest days of the year was possibly not the wisest decision. Some didn't struggle. Others did.

The walk nearly didn't happen. It was only towards the end of the week that anybody confirmed their attendance and so it was I found myself travelling from Honor Oak Park, via Norwood Junction, to Coulsdown Town station that morning. I was in a bit of a rush. I didn't even pick up a Guardian and my phone barely had any charge. One of the reasons I, personally, didn't take any photos.

When I arrived at The Valley Cafe, a venue previously used by Shep and myself on the London LOOP, I found Pam already there and it wasn't long before Mo and Katie joined us. I took beans on toast and a lemonade which I struggled with. I occasionally get this horrid acid reflux thing which makes me gag and sometimes even puke. In retrospect the beans (in tomato sauce) and lemonade (a fizzy drink) was a pretty stupid idea. I'll try and avoid them in the future if I'm suffering with reflux. You live and learn - or at least you're supposed to!

 

Leaving the cafe, we headed along the B2032 which soon became the A23 - lined with mock Tudor family homes - and passed through on a fairly recent TADS walk. Just before Reedham station we turned off, crossed under the railway lines, and eventually made our way to Bencombe Road. Phew, that was a steep one for a hot day.

 

Some nice houses though - as there were on most of the next residential roads we passed through:- Higher Drive, Foxley Hill Road, and - near Purley - Godstone Road. Crossing the A22 and still more roads. There's a lot of greenery in Croydon but it is still part of London and there are some stretches that seem like endless suburbia.

Warren Road, Grasmere Road, Riddlesdown Road, Brancaster Lane, Yew Tree Walk, Purley Downs Road, Norman Avenue, and Florence Road brought us to Sanderstead Road and we'd already covered 6k (poor Mo's step counter wasn't working so she was losing vital steps) and the general consensus was it was time to stop for a drink.

 

With no pubs around we instead repaired to the Coco & Nut Coffee for soft drinks. It was nice to sit in the shade for a while and, in fact, we found ourselves sitting in Little Coconuts Corner. Maybe they could have brought drawing books out for us.

We left the coffee shop and continued up Sanderstead Road before turning up another hill and into Croham Hurst Woods where human occupation goes back thousands of years. A Mesolithic settlement once stood there and Neolithic flint tools have been found. All we found was a very very steep hill. The clue was in the name - Breakneck Hill.

Covered in loose scree, there was also danger of slippage but luckily we all made it to the top in one piece. The ladies took the bench but I just led on my back. I was drenched in sweat by this point but at least we'd reached the top. I didn't feel in the mood to read any history out but if I did I could have told the others that this land was once owned by John Whitgift. the Archbishop of Cantebury from 1583 to 1604 and that Whitgift had been a master of philosopher Francis Bacon at Cambridge.

Instead we headed back down. I'd intended to take us past the Russell School (notable alumni:- Martin Clunes, Elly Jackson (La Roux), and Belouis Some) but instead we headed for the edge of the beautiful and expansive Lloyd Park where such bands as The Damned, The Lightning Seeds, Martha and the Vandellas, and The Proclaimers have played. I'd even seen that Proclaimers gig.

We didn't go into the park but instead went straight to the Coombe Lodge Beefeater to cool down and get a drink. A Beefeater doesn't sound too promising but once we'd crossed a very busy road - thanks to a kind motorist waving us over - we found it to be most agreeable. Pam and I had pints, Mo and Katie soft drinks and we sat inside chatting and putting the world to right as an 80th birthday party kicked off in a pleasant looking, check floored, function room.

After two drinks, Katie shot off (she leads a busy life that one) and me, Pam, and Mo moved to the beer garden for one more before leaving the pub, grabbing a 99 from an ice cream van (one that insisted that 99 was the name of the flake and not the ice cream), and jumping a tram into East Croydon.

From there it was into the BOXPARK for food. To the sounds of Aaliyah and Jay-Z, Pam and I had Pakistani street food and Mo had a pizza and we had a couple more drinks. I'd meant to include different pubs and visit South Norwood Country Park (still never been) but sometimes you have to read the room and, to be honest, I was happy to quit while we were - just - ahead.

It wasn't exactly the Croydon walk I'd planned - but it was (perhaps) the Croydon walk I needed. I'd notched up 18,545 steps by the end of the day which was far from a record but it's not about the numbers and, anyway, it felt a lot more. In some ways, I think spending a couple of hours in the BOXPARK is probably a fairly authentic way to celebrate Croydon and though we didn't get to throw any axes (you're not allowed to if you've been drinking but I'd have not had the energy for it anyway and Pam had recently sated her desire for axe throwing up in Edinburgh) but we'd seen two very different sides to Croydon in one day. Ad Summa Nitamur means 'let us strive after perfection' and we certainly did. We may not have achieved perfection (who does?) but we certainly strived. Normal service will be resumed, hopefully, next time. Thanks to Pam, Mo, and Katie for joining me.