Travel for Autumn workshop

For anyone planning ahead and intending travelling by train to the Autumn workshop which starts on October 21st, LNER tickets to Aberdeen are now on sale here

Aberdeenshire Autumn Intensive

 I’m pleased to confirm the schedule for the Aberdeenshire Autumn Intensive with Mark.

The workshop will be at Fetternear Hall from Saturday 16th to Wednesday 20th October, sessions are 2-5pm and 6:30-9:30pm each day. The price is £22 per session, £12 concession. As usual, come along from the first session and then stay for as many as you like. There may be some limits on numbers of people in the kitchen etc, but I’ll advise everyone of any relevant Covid related requirements nearer the time.

There will also be a Left Side class with Mark on the evening of Thursday 21st October at Monymusk Hall. Time and price to be confirmed.

121s will be scheduled for Friday 22nd through to Sunday 24th October, and will be held at my house. Times are usually 2-4pm, 5-7pm, 8-10pm. If you’ve requested a 121, please let me know when you are/are not available and I’ll put together a timetable to suit.

If anyone needs advice or assistance with travel or accommodation, please get in touch and I'll do what I can to help.  It may be possible to stay with local students, and I also have information on local holiday accommodation.

International travel for Aberdeenshire Autumn Intensive

For any international visitors considering coming to the Aberdeenshire Autumn Intensive in October.

It is now possible to travel to Scotland without quarantine if you're a fully vaccinated EU resident, though some Covid tests are required. Things may change in the next few months so best check for the latest information on the government website HERE.

If anyone needs advice or assistance with travel or accommodation, please get in touch and I'll do what I can to help.

October travel

Train tickets for travel to London and elsewhere after the Aberdeenshire Autumn workshop are now on sale e.g. LNER

October workshop, travel and accommodation

The Autumn workshop in Aberdeenshire with Mark will be held 12th-14th October. More details are on the invites from Caroline, or here on the blog. Trains for travel up to 11th October are now available here. Tickets for the return leg should be available in the next week or so: you can be notified when they're on sale by clicking here.

If anyone needs help with travel plans or arranging accomodation with local students, please get in touch and I'll do what I can to help. Staying in the hall may be possible, but is not recommended - please let me know if you were intending staying there.

Annapurna Pilgrimage

Below is a message from my great friend Kajedo, my first meditation teacher, and second T'ai Chi Teacher (he studied with the Kobayashis who were students of Dr Chi). He has been guiding groups walking in Nepal Himalaya for almost 30 years. I was booked to go with him in 2000, but a back injury prevented this, yet led to me finding The T'ai Chi Centre, which is another story... If you have ever wanted to trek in these high mountains and spend time with people who are also 'on the path', then get in touch and I will pass your email on to Kajedo. He doesn't have a website, and works outdoors managing the hinterland at Findhorn community, which means he manages trees, protects wildlife and land, learns about the hundreds of rare lichens there, takes people out into nature, built a wild camping site to protect other at-risk sites from damage, teaches meditation and T'ai Chi...

'Walking on the roof of the world...

A pilgrimage....

     From Mid February to mid March 2019 I will be walking amongst the highest mountains of the world again- in the Annapurna range of the Nepalese Himalayas... Yes, I have done this so many times before - but it is calling me back again. One of the most beautiful mountain walks on our planet - the constantly changing landscapes - we'll fly from subtropical Pokhara into the mountains - lower Mustang, close to the Tibetan border... and we'll walk through that mountain desert country to Muktinath - a sacred town for Buddhist and Hindus - at over 3000m altitude - a day of stunning close-up views on the white tops of the mountains... We'll descend through pine forests and rice paddies, climb up again through Rhododendron forest - which, with any luck should be flowering by then... Annapurna Sanctuary at over 4000m altitude will be the highest point of our journey.

     Our ups and downs of our trek are the ups and downs of our life... It is as much an inner journey as an outer one... We practice non-attachment as we keep moving from place to place... mindfulness of our body and breath comes naturally when walking those trails for hours... And we allow the mountains to teach us about serenity, and the people of Nepal about what might be important in life.... A journey to get perspective on our lives... I'm putting this out now to see if anybody feels the call to join me. If you are interested, have questions or feel the call be part of this sacred journey - Let me know...'

Annapurna image from mountainkingdoms.com

October workshop - travel & accommodation

It was wonderful to see so many people at this summer's intensive in Kingston and I hope some of you can come up for the Aberdeenshire workshop in October. It's at Fetternear Hall on Saturday 13th to Monday 15th with a weapons session on Friday 12th.

If anyone visiting wants to stay with one of the local students then please get in touch with me and I'll match you up with someone. I know some folk have already made arrangements, but if you still have space available then let me know.

Trains to Aberdeen from London are currently available from £73 return (£128 1st class) if travelling up on Thursday 11th October and returning Tuesday 16th. It's a bit more expensive to travel on Friday 12th. If travelling onwards to Inverurie it's often cheaper to buy an Aberdeen-Inverurie ticket separately. Neither LNER or Scotrail charge booking fees.
LNER search: Lon-Ab Rtn 11Oct-16Oct
Scotrail: https://www.buytickets.scotrail.co.uk/

Flights to Aberdeen are available from various London airports. The current best price for flights on Friday 12th, returning Tuesday 16th is £52 return with Easyjet flying from either Luton or Gatwick. Cheapest return flights from Heathrow are currently £103
Skyscanner search: Lon-Ab Rtn 12Oct-16Oct
Skyscanner search (Heathrow only): LHR-Ab Rtn 12Oct-16Oct

I'm happy to help if you need any advice on travel or other accommodation options.

Cheap(er) trains to Autumn Intensive

If anyone is intending taking the train up to the Autumn Intensive in Aberdeenshire, there's currently a sale (up to 50% off) on Virgin Trains East Coast until midnight 28th August. There is a limited number of tickets still available - current cheapest deal is about £45 for standard-class travel to Aberdeen on Thursday 12th October, returning to London on Tuesday 17th.  Click here to go to the website.

If you liked this then you may also...

These days it seems obligatory to provide online recommendations for further reading, listening or purchases of any kind. Personally I prefer word-of-mouth to software algorithms ;-)

So if you enjoyed the summer Intensive, or couldn't make it to Kingston last month, then you may be interested in coming to the Aberdeenshire Intensive from Saturday 14th to Monday 16th October. There will also be a Weapons workshop 7-10pm on Friday 13th.

The venue is Fetternear Hall (map available here). Note the hall is in a quiet rural location 2 miles from the nearest town / bus-stop (Kemnay), 6 miles from the closest train station (lnverurie) and about 13 miles from Aberdeen Airport.

More details will be posted here in due course. In the meantime if any visiting students need any help with travel or accommodation, including transport to/from the venue please get in touch with me. There will be some rooms available with local students and I can provide info on local B&Bs and hotels. It may be possible to stay at the venue but please note there are limited facilities (i.e. no showers).

If any of the Aberdeenshire students have spaces still available, please let me know so I can help match you with the visitors.

London buses no longer take cash

...for all those who may be visiting the workshop from outside London, get yourselves Oyster cards for the cheapest fares. More details here.

Loads of useful workshop info

The fastest and nicest way to travel to and from Richmond for the workshop is via the air conditioned Overground Network, which has good connections throughout London. The last trains home after class are:
All workshop days except Sunday: 22.38, 22.58, 23.08.
On Sunday there is a reduced service after 21.30.

Regular trains into town to connect with the tube network run at 22.37, 22.56, 23.09 and 23.26.

The bus between Kingston train station via the workshop venue and Richmond station is number 65, running approximately every 8 minutes. Alight at Sandy Lane, or Petersham Fox and Duck for the workshop.

Last tube train north from Waterloo Station is at approximately 00.40.

All details can be found at www.tfl.gov.uk

Kingston is the best place for general shopping with a huge Sainsbury's on the road towards the town, a Waitrose beside the bridge, many good small shops and an excellent daily market in the square, with veg, high quality meat, fresh artisanal bread and much more. Richmond is slightly nearer and has a smaller Tesco, a large Waitrose, many small shops and cafes and a superb specialist cheese shop... The nearest shops of all are at Ham Parade which has many small independent shops and an excellent wine merchant, and Ham village which has a German bakery, Hansel and Pretzel, with delicious rye bread as well as Backhaus German food shop, which I haven't tried yet but looks great.

Call me if you need any help re travel or anything else. My phone number is on my website at www.greatrivertaichi.co.uk

Easiest way to get to weeklong venue

Train, Overground or Tube to Richmond, then no.65 bus from right outside station straight to 'Sandy Lane, Petersham' - 5 mins. 4 Minute walk to venue via German School entrance pathway.

Alternatively get to Kingston Upon Thames via 57 bus from Tooting or by train and take 65 bus the other way, get off at 'Petersham, Fox and Duck', 4 minute walk via German School entrance pathway.

Direct buses go from Heathrow to Richmond and Kingston.

www.tfl.gov.uk has all the travel info you could need.

Feel free to get in touch with me with queries as I am doing all the last admin this and next week in preparation.

Another great oak tree

Just returned from The Cotswolds near Stroud where I visited a dear friend. We walked along a disused rail line that is now a cycle and walking path and saw this lovely very tall oak tree.

Mark's classes resumed yesterday, mine tomorrow. Sabre and Sword sessions will take place next week. Slowly getting back onto the term-time swing of things. Due to a bad cold and things which had to be done, Easter break wasn't really a break. The enforced single-mindedness of my forthcoming Zen retreat now seems appealing. Here are some photos from the last few weeks.

The Tube is 150 years old in 2013, and Mark Wallinger was commissioned to make work for each of the 270 stations. There will be a different labyrinth in everyone. They are being put up at the moment, and I am enjoying spotting them as they are installed in stations along my regular routes. Once they are all up, I may go on a big labyrinth spotting trip. This one is from Clapham Common, I think. Some of you will have noticed that I am often seen sporting a small pewter labyrinth brooch...

The above and following pics are all from Prague, showing just a tiny fraction of the unbelievable, delightful and many-styled ornamentation that covers the surfaces of the city. It was truly inspiring.

 

 

Aberdeenshire workshops

I have now booked my flights for the January and February workshop weekends and look forward to seeing everyone. I can't face the 4am mornings needed to fly up with Easyjet, so I am flying up with BA and back with Easyjet, which makes it all a bit dearer, but not so traumatic! So far it seems I'll be able to leave my outside London class prices the same again for another year. Virgin will start running flights in March or April, so I am hoping that the renewed competition will offer some good prices for the future, as prices have risen since BMI and Flybe dropped out.

Summer Weeklong venue confirmed

I am very happy to announce that we have confirmed our venue for next year's summer workshop (20th-26th July 2013) as Petersham Sea Scout Hut, Petersham, Richmond Upon Thames.The postcode is TW10 7AH, OS grid is TQ 178 733. In the map below, the hut is unmarked, in the centre of the photo in the clearing at the southwest edge of the wood, it is shown in more detail in the picture from their website.

We have had two wonderful years at Kevin's studio in Hampton, and we may well return there, but this place intrigues us, and we wanted to give it a go. It has taken until last night for the committee to get back to me about it, hence the delay.

The setting is as idyllic as can be imagined right by the river Thames, in a glade surrounded by woodlands, near Richmond and Kingston. This bend in the River Thames is famous as 'the View' and 'The Matchless Vale', as painted by Constable, and is the only view protected by an act of Parliament. With Richmond Park, Ham House, Orleans House and Eel Pie Island all within a few minutes walk, there is so much to see and do near by. Students may camp in tents or stay in the hut (Sea Scouts call this 'camping on the main deck'), and there are washrooms, a kitchen and a lounge as well as a great bon-fire site (this is a Scout Hut after all). I will leave a donation pot for the scout hut for camping in or outside, let's say £2 each a night towards water and electricity. Those of us longing for a hot drink by the fireside after class will be very happy. I am hoping to hire a portashower, but at least the washrooms are very nice and modern. I am sure we'll work something out. We are happy to be supporting our local Sea Scouts as they try to raise money for a new hut, as this one is charming but a bit basic for the kids. With the large grassy glade, we can work outside whenever the weather allows, Mark has also suggested we look into marquee hire, which I will do soon. Here is the local website for Petersham Village. It is also possible to stay on the other side of the River, at St Margarets or Twickenham, as there is a river ferry crossing at Ham, as there was at Hampton, until 6.30pm in the summer. I am sure it will also be possible to stay with other students for £5 a night as before, so get in touch if you'd prefer this.

Travel to the venue is easy. From Richmond or Kingston you get on the 65 bus and get off at 'Petersham / Fox and Duck' (a local pub), it's a 4 minute walk down a pathway by the German School and Polo Club. Alternatively walk along the river from Richmond, which takes about 20 minutes, turning left down the path 100 metres after the slipway of River Lane. There is free parking on River Lane, but always check the tides, or ask me first, as River Lane floods up to about half-way during the high tides of spring tides, so you need to park further back up the lane on these days, and use the pathways to the venue from the road, rather than the tow path, as it may be flooded. (Spring tides are 2 days after full or dark moon, moon phases at bottom of this blog.) Overgound Network trains go to Richmond every 15 mins form east London, Hackney, Highbury and Islington, etc. Trains go to Richmond and Kingston from Clapham Junction and Waterloo. We will still be in travel Zone 6.

I will print a flyer, make a blog page, post tides, accommodation details and lots more very soon.

View Untitled in a larger map

October workshop and accommodation

I'm happy to help out with any travel queries & help co-ordinate accommodation requests for folk coming to the workshop with Mark in October. Info on train options is here

Aberdeenshire students: if you've not already, then please let me know if you can put up any visitors or if you've already agreed rooms with your "regulars".

Visitors: let me know how many nights you'll be staying for and I'll try and match you up with someone with space available.

bargain berths Aberdeen to London

There are still some bargain berths available on the Caledonian Sleeper for anyone returning to London after the Aberdeenshire workshops with Mark in October. Prices range from £29 to £49.

Travel for Aberdeenshire Workshop October 26-29

If anyone coming to the 3 day workshop with Mark in October needs any assistance with planning travel or accommodation, please let me know and I'll do what I can to help.

Bargain Berth tickets for the Caledonian Sleeper for travel dates up until the 25th of October will go on sale on Friday 3rd August, and 10th August for dates up until 1st November. The price is typically £39 or £49 each way, but these can sell out quickly so book early to get the best price.
http://www.travelpass.buytickets.scotrail.co.uk/BargainBerths/Default.aspx

The best option for daytime train travel is usually East Coast. Like the sleeper, tickets go on sale 12 weeks in advance. http://www.eastcoast.co.uk Tip: once you've selected your travel dates, click on the lowest fares button at the bottom left of the screen to see the travel times that get you the best price.






Trains from Aberdeen to Inverurie (closest station to the venue) are fairly regular, take about 25 minutes, and cost £4.70 each way.

There are various options if you're coming by air. Let me know if you need any information or help.

Buses to Kemnay (closest town to the venue) are available from Inverurie, Aberdeen and the airport but can be quite dear. It may be possible to arrange pickups from the airport or stations.

Aberdeenshire students: please let me know if you can put up any visitors or if you've already agreed rooms with your "regulars".
Visitors: let me know how many nights you'll be staying for and I'll try and match you up with someone with space available.

All 121 slots with Mark have been booked. I'll confirm the dates & times with you all nearer the time.

workshop travel news

Hampton station is served by replacement buses from Strawberry Hill today due to engineering works. Use Hampton Court station instead and head down on the frequent R68, 111 or 216 for 5 mins to venue. Look for the big boat at 5-17 Thames St, TW12 2EW.

We have parking for 5 cars, please put £2 in the parking pot over the sink for each day you park at the venue.