Heathrow Hikers - Outdoor Group for West London

From the Editor
Report - Ice Skating at Somerset House
Update - Heathrow Hikers' Bear
Internet Humour - Great Packaging
Report - Xmas Trip to Bruges
Contact / Submit details

December was a quiet month for the group, our only events being another trip to Bruges and outdoor ice skating at Somerset House.

Looking back at 2006, it has been another great year for the group. Membership continues to grow which is positive but does mean an increased administration burden.

I'm hoping 2007 will see you the members taking more control of the group. I'm hoping we will form a committee to divide the tasks, so this could be my last issue as editor. We have lots of gifted people within the group and if we can make use of these talents the group will continue to improve. Hopefully you will see a greater choice of events in 2007 with more people coming forward to organise an event. You should also see a big increase in the number of social events we organise, giving new people another way of meeting us.

I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year and I look forward to seeing you all in the great outdoors sometime in 2007.

When winter comes around in London there seems to be a tradition of setting up outdoor ice rinks. These are often in interesting locations like Kew Gardens, The Tower of London, The Natural History Museum or as in this case Somerset House.

Kate had organised the evening and many hikers with varying skating ability turned up. Some met at a pub before our alloted time, others went straight to Somerset House.

When our time had arrived we changed into our skates and made our way out onto the ice. The rink was very wet, much more slick that most indoor rinks. Sue had decided not to skate, opting to sit in the bar with a glass of wine, watching some of us make fools of ourselves.

Some of our group were talented skaters, I was not among them, falling over and getting a wet behind quite quickly. I decided not to skate the entire hour and sat in the warm with Sue. The mulled wine seemed to be quite popular with those in the bar.

Ice Skating at Somerset House - Photo by Gary Box

Finally our hour was up and some of our number said their goodbyes, heading home. Most of us decided to revisit the pub for more drinks and chat about plans for Christmas and the New Year.

Article submitted by Gary Box

Nothing to report in December unfortunately, Heathrow Bear remains in Buzzards and Beeches cache.

Article submitted by Gary Box

I'd enjoyed my last visit to Bruges so much that I decided to return in December. A small group of us met in Hammersmith before driving to Dover to catch the ferry to Calais. The ferry crossing and drive to Bruges was uneventful and we found our hotel easily.

We checked into our rooms and then headed into the town centre looking for a bar. One of the first we came to that was still open was an Irish pub. We ordered a bear and sat around a table, sounds of live music drifting through from the next room. It was not long before we were approached by a young man who was demonstrating whisky. He kindly gave us free samples of various whiskeys, some neat and then some with just a few drops of water to compare. The contrast between peaty and smokey whiskeys was quite pronounced, as I was amazed at how different a whiskey tasted with just a few drops of water added. Having visited Scotland many time to hike we ended up discussing Scotland in general and whiskey distillaries like Talisker in particular. We finally returned to our hotel after several free whiskeys and a couple of belgium beers.

On Saturday morning we got up and enjoyed the buffet style breakfast before setting off to explore the city. On my last visit to Bruges I had not managed to get the time to visit the top of the Belfry so we took the opportunity early. After paying the entry fee we began to climb the 366 steps of the narrow, winding staircase. The bell at the top was pretty impressive, alas the views were not, the weather being somewhat overcast.

We continued to explore the city by foot, the canal boats did not seem to be operating. We stopped for lunch where we were served by a waiter who was trying very hard to be Italian. He would have fooled me but Aga, having previously lived in Italy saw through him.

Later in the afternoon we agreed to head towards the station where there was an ice sculpture exhibition. Chris visited the train station to by a ticket to Brussels where he would fly from Sunday morning for Christmas in Austria. We then entered the exhibition. As well as cartoon characters, there were also famous landmarks like Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower. Lights with different coloured gels added to the beauty of ice. There was even an ice slide which we all just had to try.

When we left the exhibition it was dark outside. We decided to catch a taxi back to the hotel to save some time. For the remainder of the evening we decided to visit Bierbrasserie Cambrinus for our evening meal and as many different beers as we could manage. This bar is famous for having close to 400 different beers to choose from. I particularly liked the Westmalle Tripple but would not be drinking too many of them at an ABV of 9.5%. Other popular trappist beers included Chimay and Orval but we sampled the fruit beers too.

Finally it was time to return to the hotel which we found without any problems, I was beginning to know Bruges fairly well.

Sunday morning we said goodbye to Chris who had to leave early in order to begin his trip to Austria. After checking out of the hotel we explored the city some more, shopping for chocolate and beer. Con and I also decided to buy some beer glasses, there are so many different designs, many quite distinctive. Once the shopping was packed away in the car we visited a cafe for a snack and a hot drink before beginning the drive to Calais and our trip home.

Article submitted by Gary Box

If you have any articles or images you wish to contribute to the next issue of Compass please email them to Gary.

Please try and submit articles as early as possible but not later than the 3rd week of the month if you wish it to appear in the subsequent issue.

Thanks.