On Sunday 10 April 2016, some four years after his death, the club dedicated the weekly walk to the memory of Phil Evans who in his lifetime gave many years of dedicated service to the club as a frequent ramble leader, committee member and a very sociable member of the club. For this walk, which was along a route often followed by Phil, John Burbage did the honours of acting as leader. He was joined by 17 ramblers and a further four joined us for lunch at the Pink and Lily pub near Princes Risborough. Lunch was kindly provided at the expense of Phil's family as a special way of remembering him.

  

The walk was announced in the Spring Programme as follows:

  

The announcement in the Spring programme was as follows (not in italics in the printed programme):

  

Sunday 10th April        Leader: John Burbage    OS map 165   

Phil Evans Memorial Walk 

Meet:Marylebone Station 09.20 for the 09.43 train to Princes Risborough (arr. 10.25).  

Lunch:The Pink and Lily, Parslows Hillock. This pub was used on

Phil’s  40th anniversary walk in 2010. Medium to high price but will be

subsidised by the kindness of  Phil’s family in his honour.  Full menu

available including roast lunches, baguettes etc. Please read the

important note below 

Tea:Unlikely 

Distance:9 - 10 ½ miles. 6 hilly miles in the morning with some difficult

conditions underfoot possible. Stunning views and pleasant spring

forest walking follows much of the route taken by Phil. The afternoon

is generally downhill with the option to increase the walk by 1½ miles

by taking the Chiltern Trail to the station.  

Fare Guide:£13.45 day CDR Princes Risborough with NSE discount. (£9.50 from Zone 6).  

 

To join later take the no. 300 bus from Princes Risborough at 28 minutes past the hour from the Wycombe Road stop (across the road from Poppy Road) to Loosely Row (The Whip Inn stop). The pub is a one mile walk along Pink Road beside the stop. Allow 15 minutes to walk from the station to bus stop, following Station Road to access Poppy Road on the right after the bend. The 13 past the hour departures from Marylebone should give you around 20 minutes to get from Princes Risborough Station to the bus stop. 

 

Important Note: As the pub is likely to be very busy and we have been asked to provide numbers in advance together with an idea of your chosen main course, if you are intending to come, please e-mail or telephone the leader by the 4th of April. The pub menu is on the internet and Sundays include a selection of roasts (beef, pork, lamb and chicken). John’s contact details are on the back of the programme. 

  

Among the 17 who started the walk were some camera-handling members including our current most prolific photographer, Antoinette, and another quite frequent proovider of ramble photographs, Roger. Robert Slater also took some and I even took one myself.

  

Antoinette was first off the mark in providing her photographs and I reproduce them below. I will try to insert any photographs I receive later as near as possible to ones that Antoinette took around tthe same time.

After a short walk through the suburban area beyond Princes Risborough we had a stop to peruse thewayside information about the area we were about to walk through.

At this point Robert got good shots (sbove and below) of the ramblers organising their attire for the climb that lay ahead!!

We were about to ascend steps which were the most challenging part of this walk. The above flight was just the beginning and the steps continued for another four or five equally steep flights.

At the top of the steps the leader allowed a short stop for breath catching. Behind the ramblers emerging through the gate I can be seen taking off my coat and putting it away in my rucksack. Unfortunately time for dress adjustment was not as great as time for catching breath so the group moved on and I was not to meet them again until we arrived at the Pink and Lily at about 13 45.

During the intervening time Antoinette took the above view of the Banbury area from a viewing point along the way.

I had taken this similar view from a nearby spot on the walkout for today's walk.

Active ramblers enjoy the fresh air and view from what feels like the top of the world.

At various points there were helpful information boards which also help walkers avoid going too far off course,

Buckinghamshire boasts some beautiful buildings and opulent thatched dwelling houses

Children's playtime in beautiful surroundings with "the flowers that bloom in the spring" in evidence.

Robert managed to get a rare photograph of the ramblers from up front and it is clear that our leader had a happy band of ramblers on this walk

In due course we were all united in one of Phil's favourite pubs "The Pink and Lily"

Before we left one of the staff kindly took several photographs including this one in which a toast was bein drunk to our dear departed Phil. Several of us shared happy memories of stops here on walkouts and rambles led by him.

Near the exit was this salutory reminder to enjoy life of which I felt Phil would have approved.

Getting a photograph of the group in the same position as we took when celebrating the 40th anniversary of Phil joining the club was more difficult but this shot caught some of the ramblers whilst others were rounding up their belongings and making arrangements for the return journey to Princes Risborough.

Back on the trail there were the customary opportunities to photograph our equine friends,

Our route took us past the windmill which is a significant local attraction. We did not visit it but had a group photograph taken with the windmill as background.

Those who had joined for lunch were compensated for the disadvantages of walking down the busy Pink Road by having this much better view of the windmill.

Before leaving the area we met the bus riders at the Whip Inn bus stop and some of us, including the owner of the camera, shared this photo oportunity with them.

And then owards towards Princes Risborough for those taking the pedestrian option.

Near the village of Horsenden, which I mistook for an outskirt of Princes Risborough, we encountered this herd of curious cows, including some of our favourite Belted Galloways.

Approaching Princes Risborough and our train back to London. There we all went our separate ways with no suggestion of a post ramble drink to round off the day. That would never have happened in Phil's time!!!!!