Capital Ring, Falconwood to Beckenham Hill - Sections 1 (end), 2, and 3 (start).

5th March

A nice sunny day to go and walk Section 2 of the Capital Ring so I went back to Falconwood station. I was last here on the 27th of November2025 and then it was very dark. Too dark to complete the last part of section 1 in fact because stumbling about in the pitch black through Sherpherdleas Wood was too risky. So to avoid being troubled by the possibility of mild OCD I first walked back up Rochester Way and turned onto a sunny woodland path at the Capital Ring signpost to fill in the gap and complete Section 1.

I followed the path around in a big loop through the trees, crossing Eltham Park North and then alongside the railway line which had brought me to Falconwood until I reached the concrete bridge which spans both that railway and the Rochester Way Relief Road.

Capital Ring section 1 ✅ - totally this time.

Updated Flickr Album for Capital Ring Section 1 (opens in a new window) 

Section 2

From the start at the concrete bridge this section is only three and a half miles long, plus another half mile link to Grove Park station. A nice gentle stroll on a sunny afternoon taking in Eltham Park South and Eltham Palace on the way and finishing up alongside the River Quaggy. That was the plan.

I followed the path around the eastern and southern boundaries of Eltham Park before taking the short diversion just before the fenced off games courts to the toilets by the cafe. There were several benches nearby so I decided it was time for my lunch. True I hadn’t walked far but it was one o’clock and the map didn’t suggest that there would be a suitable picnic spot for some distance going forward. Samosas were consumed while the dogs and joggers circumnavigated the park in the warm sunshine. Before setting off again my hoodie went into my backpack as it was nice enough for shirtsleeves only.

Exiting the park a section of suburban road walking followed, brightened by a huge magnolia tree flowering in a front garden before crossing Bexley Road and heading down Butterfly Lane. I didn’t see any butterflies but instead just where the lane curved right there was a big hollowed out tree that appeared like a huge antlered beast standing on four elephant-like legs.

Shortly afterwards I reached Conduit Meadow with the low brick structure called Conduit Head partly sunk into the grassy slope. This was built in the 16th century to provide water for Eltham Palace. Wooden pipes brought water from springs higher up the hill to a tank and sluice within the Conduit Head to provide a controlled supply of fresh water which ran in a pipe beneath the moat to the royal palace.

After crossing Footscray Road and a bit of a slog up North Park I crossed Court Road and walked in the shadow of a tall Tudor brick wall along Tilt Yard Approach. The Tilt Yard referred to - a place for knightly jousting competitions - was added at the Palace of Eltham by Henry VIII who had spent much of his early life here and was keen on such games. Turning left into Court Yard brought me to the gates of Eltham Palace itself. I have previously visited Eltham Palace courtesy of a Christmas Present of a year’s English Heritage membership so had no need to pass through the gates this time, instead turning right alongside the moat and down King John’s Walk.

King John had a very long walk, all the way to Mottingham in fact, first down hill then turning south and climbing up past the Palace Stables to wide fields with a fine vista over London. From a bench near the top I could see landmarks from the Crystal Palace transmitter tower to the west through the cluster of towers in the city, The Shard (of course), and those on the Isle of Dogs. On King John’s Walk itself there is an information board with a diagram showing all the various landmarks to be seen. It faces a high hedge. You have to squeeze through a narrow gateway into Vista Field to actually see anything.

I walked down the other side of the hill to rejoin King John’s Walk at Middle Park Avenue then followed it over the footbridge crossing the Dartford Loop railway line and crossed the busy A20 dual carriageway. Shortly after which i crossed the Little Quaggy and passed from the Royal Borough of Greenwich into the London Borough of Bromley. King John’s walk, now a much narrower path, ended at Mottingham Lane but the Capital Ring carried on, turning right and passing the Mottingham Farm Riding Centre on the right and Eltham College Junior School on the left before turning left onto a footpath with high metal pallisade fences on both sides. They really don’t want anybody getting onto the playing fields of Eltham College.

The fenced off path followed the boundary of the playing fields before eventually reaching the River Quaggy, here in a deep concrete channel and marking the boundaries of the boroughs of Bromley and Lewisham. I started hearing disembodied voices at this point, which was a bit odd until I stepped closer to the river and realised that a couple of welly-clad urban explorers were wading along the river below - it was only a few inches deep - and the concrete channel caused their echoey conversation to travel to where I stood. We exchanged greetings and then headed upstream although I was on the dry route.

I passed through a car park to reach Marvels Lane where Section 2 ends and then crossed over to get a better picture of the River Quaggy flowing from its source further south (where it is known as the Kyd Brook).

Capital Ring Section 2 ✅

Flickr Album for Capital Ring Section 2 (opens in a new window) 

But it was only three o’clock. I had a decision to make. Go to Grove Park station and head for home early or carry on along the Capital Ring? Section 3 goes from Grove Park to Crystal Palace and is quite far at 8.3 miles including links to stations. If I carried on for a bit I could shorten that for next time and although I didn’t have the guide notes printout with me I have the route in Co-Maps on my phone and the Capital Ring is generally well way-marked. I decided to carry on for a while to a point where I could conveniently break at a bus stop or station.

Section 3

I turned right and carried on up Marvels Lane passing a set of fancy copper-domed gate houses at the entrance to Pennington Way with a large house visible behind and at Grove Park Library turned right, crossed the road, and then left into Coopers Lane. Coincidentally something from a barrel would have been quite welcome at this point.

A right and a left at Baring Road took me into Railway Children Walk, a path which runs beside Stratfield House, site of the home of E. Nesbit author of The Railway Children, a great book and a popular film starring Jenny Agutter and Bernard Cribbins. At the end of Railway Children Walk comes the actual railway, though not the one in the film and not at the bottom of the garden. This one is the South Eastern Main Line and has a tall cage-like footbridge to cross the four running lines and three tracks leading into the large commuter train stabling complex at Grove Park Sidings.

Also seen from the top of the footbridge was Hither Green Cemetery. Twenty minutes of wheely bins and other residential street hazards got me to Downham Woodland Walk, a narrow strip of mature trees with a well surfaced path running between playing fields, schools, and houses and with a couple of ninety degree turns, first left then right before reaching the A21 Bromley Road. Not before having to navigate around four Police Officers performing a stop and search on someone with whom they appeared to be well acquainted - he thanked them and wished them a nice day when they’d finished. I was glad it was daylight.

I crossed over at the lights and walked up Old Bromley road to enter Beckenham Place Park, the largest green space in the Borough of Lewisham, so it says on the sign at the entrance. I stopped for a rest on a bench for a drink of squash and checked the map. Beckenham Hill Station lay just west of the park where i could get a Thameslink train back into town so where the Capital Ring turned south across the park (and I don’t recall seeing a sign at that point?) I carried straight on to the station.

While waiting for my train I checked the GPS track I’d started at Falconwood and found that by carrying on to save having to walk 8.3 miles on the next outing I had inadvertently covered 7.8 miles on this one 🙄

Flickr Album for Capital Ring Section 3 - so far (opens in a new window)

 

Tyneside Travels

 February 23rd to 28th 

It had been a long time since I’d last visited Newcastle-upon-Tyne. That was on a Saturday afternoon in July 1981 having just walked most of Hadrian’s Wall and we were only there while waiting for the 10.30 pm coach back to London. A return visit seemed due. I’d stay for five nights this time rather than five hours.

Monday

I wouldn’t be doing with cramped long distance buses but the relative comfort of the 1214 Lumo train from London Kings Cross. I’ve travelled with Lumo before (to Edinburgh). Their one-class service is much cheaper than LNER, the service on board is good, and for a modern UK train the seats and legroom are not bad at all even if you are 6’5”. The train arrived at Newcastle Central at five minutes past three for a convenient check-in at the adjacent Royal Station Hotel. Good job I’d remembered to bring my passport which they insisted on seeing at check-in. Newcastle must have separated from the rest of the UK at some point in the last 45 years 😀

Once settled in I set off for a walk around the city and to get something to eat and drink, heading first down to the Quayside to see the famous bridges.

Later I went into the Victoria Comet pub opposite the railway station for a pint of bitter. In a thin glass. Their web site claims Our pub is well known for appearing in the cult gangster film classic ‘Get Carter’, as the first stop for Michael Caine’s hitman character when he arrives in Newcastle. Sources elsewhere on the internet (so it must be true) suggest that the pub Carter goes to opposite the station when he first arrives in Newcastle was The Long Bar and that that was demolished not long after the 1971 film was made. I don’t know who is right but everyone was certainly drinking from thin glasses, mostly Italian lager. Fortunately they also had a fairly good range of cask ales to ensure that I’d return. Interestingly I did not see one person drinking Newcastle Brown Ale the entire time I was up there. Not even with a bottle and a half-pint glass. What happened to regional stereotypes?

Tuesday

Back in 1981 when we approached the outskirts of Newcastle after a week of walking in hot weather (we were all sunburnt on the right hand side only) our party split in two. The completists would carry on walking through to Wallsend. Those who had had enough caught a train into the city and found a suitable pub in which to wait before reuniting with the others for the bus home. The latter idea appealed more to 18 year-old me so I’d never seen the Eastern end of Hadrian’s Wall. Forty-five years on I still didn’t fancy the walk. Instead having breakfasted on a local delicacy consisting of sausage meat encased in flaky pastry, retailed by a Mr. Gregg, I hopped on the Metro train to Wallsend. I got an Adult Day Saver ticket for £6.70 which would allow me unlimited travel all over the Metro Network plus the Shields Ferry for the day. To put that into context that 90p less than a single 22 minute ride from my local station to Reading.

It’s a short walk from Wallsend railway station to the Segedunum Roman Fort museum which marks the end of Hadrian’s Wall next to the River Tyne. A space age Viewing Tower 35 metres tall overlooks the site of the Roman fort, now visible only as lines where the walls stood, the actual buildings long gone, becoming a convenient quarry for local builders.

The site became the Wallsend Colliery and from the 1880s the fort area was covered by streets of terraced houses for the workers in the shipyards. The museum displays cover two main stories of things that have gone. The Roman occupation and life in the fort is the larger subject. The other story is that of the famous Swan Hunter shipyard which grew up in Wallsend. Between 1842 and 2006 over 1600 ships were built here including RMS Mauretania (1906) and the former flagship of the Royal Navy, HMS Ark Royal (1981), as well as many tankers. I must admit the Swan Hunter side of things was more interesting to me, perhaps because it’s from within my lifetime. Even more so the former shipbuilder who was showing his grandson around the museum and reflecting on the change in the scene since the yards closed.

I did at last get to see the end (or the start) of Hadrian’s Wall where a small part of it remains, poking out toward the river through the railings surrounding the fort site.

I wonder whether the completists from our 1981 group saw much? At the time the shipyards were still here and the houses still covered the fort.  

From Wallsend I took a train to Whitley Bay, the North East’s big seaside resort, now somewhat diminished. But for Dire Straits fans the famous Spanish City is still there and still looking pretty as mentioned in the 1980 song Tunnel of Love although now flanked by a Premier Inn.

I had a coffee on the seafront surrounded by fearless and noisy starlings and then got a train to Tynemouth. As I arrived the sun came out and bathed the Priory and Castle in golden light. I walked up to Admiral Lord Collingwood’s memorial on the headland where it was very, very windy but afforded great views across the mouth of the Tyne to South Shields and back up the river towards Newcastle.

Then I headed back on the train to the city.

36 Flickr Photos of Whitley Bay and Tynemouth (opens in new window) 

Wednesday

Another day, another Metro Day Saver ticket. This one took me back to the coast. It was a nice day for it too. First I went to South Shields. My Nan (paternal grandmother) was born in South Shields although I wasn’t really sure of that fact until a few years ago so I sort of have roots in Tyneside, albeit very shallow ones. Nan was born in 1896, making her an actual Victorian and died when I was still a child. I recall her as a small but formidable woman, quite strict, who had raised four sons and two daughters - probably explains the strict part - and it’s only looking back now that I can recognise that she had retained her North East accent despite moving to Suffolk, Pembrokeshire, West London, and back to Suffolk. Anyway I can at last say that I’ve been to Nan’s birthplace and very nice it is too with sandy beaches and a picturesque red lighthouse.

I joined the small crowd on the pier and watched a giant vehicle carrier ship come in from the North Sea and shepherded by a tugboat make its way between Tynemouth and South Shields and disappear up the Tyne. Then I walked along the seafront and through the town to take the ferry to North Shields. This plan was promptly scuppered because the Shields Ferry was suspended due to the north landing being damaged by a storm. Bugger.

37 Flickr Photos from South Shields (opens in new window)

Plan B. Train to Sunderland. I have a vague recollection of stopping for supplies at Sunderland once on a road trip to the Scottish Borders. This time I walked from the station to the Wearmouth Bridge, crossed the river and saw a sign pointing to “St Peter’s Church AD674” and decided to go there. Only the west wall and tower are Anglo-Saxon, the rest having been rebuilt, added to, and restored over the subsequent centuries. I guess Bede would still recognise some of it though.

I looked at the map and decided to carry on to Seaburn railway station. Then I remembered that a sign on the platform at Seaburn had said it was only 15 minutes walk from the beach so I had the bright idea of walking there via the seafront at Roker. The flag-shaggers had been out to adorn the lamp posts of Monkwearmouth but apart from that it wasn’t too tiresome a walk down to the front at Roker. For a Wednesday afternoon in February it was even quite busy.

Wrong time of year for guided tours of the pier tunnel and lighthouse though unfortunately. I walked along the front, up through Roker Park, and threaded my way through the residential area to Seaburn Station where I was surprised to sea an unexpected windmill sticking up above the houses. With excellent timing a train back to Newcastle showed up almost immediately.

24 Flickr Photos from Sunderland and Roker (opens in new window) 

Later that evening I took a stroll across the High Level Bridge and back via the Swing Bridge just for the opportunity to get photos of the Tyne bridges at night.

Thursday

I couldn’t visit Newcastle without visiting the actual castle really so after breakfast I did just that. I arrived shortly after it opened for the day and it was quiet. Shortly after that the party of (possibly Portuguese) school students arrived and it was… less quiet. On the plus side I could eavesdrop on their guided tour. What remains of the castle is divided into two sites, the Black Gate and The Castle Keep. They are separated by a bloody great railway viaduct carrying the East Coast Main Line above you. This is not immediately obvious when you come out of the Black Gate back into the street. Some signage might help since you can’t see one building from the other.

I was a bit disappointed that the roof level of the Keep was locked off due to “risk of dangerous winds”. Especially since you only found this out after climbing the ninety-ish uneven stairs to the locked gate at the top. The rest of it was still worth it though.

12 Flickr Photos of Newcastle Castle (opens in new window) 

Next stop was St. Nicholas Cathedral which was very cathedral like.

There are a lot of grand old buildings in Newcastle, coal and shipping used to pay well. There are as you’d expect a good many statues too. Behind the cathedral you can find probably the oddest. High on a wall above an ornate doorway into the back of Cathedral Buildings The Vampire Rabbit stares down at you. Totally black save for the staring eyes and red, bloody fangs and claws you might miss it as you walk by. Be sure it will be watching you though. There’s a panel on the wall giving a couple of stories to try to explain this strange apparition, including the idea that it might be a hare with its ears on backwards. Which just raises more questions.

12 Flickr Photos from Newcastle Cathedral (opens in new window) 

I also visited the Laing Art Gallery, the ornate Central Arcade, the large covered Grainger Market, had a general explore of the city centre, and later dined at the Victoria Comet before wandering back down to the castle for a really nice pint in the Bridge Hotel opposite the keep and right alongside the High Level Bridge. I think there was live jazz upstairs which was clearly audible downstairs. Either that or they have a very eclectic jukebox.

Friday

All the walking around over the last three days was beginning to tell on my joints. So I elected for a gentle ride on a train. Durham or Hexham? I flipped a coin, Hexham it was. The better outcome I think in the end. About half an hour on the train and I stepped out into a sunny Hexham. I walked slowly up the hill from the station to the market place, then through a park with masses of crocuses in bloom to Hexham Abbey.

You cannot help but look up when you enter the abbey - it’s designed that way. I think it is an even more impressive space than the Cathedral in Newcastle. So much carving, so much painting, so many stained glass windows, so tall. Also two very worn tomb effigies, almost faceless so that they reminded me of The Auditors in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.

After the abbey I had coffee at a Buster's near the Moot House, wandered the lanes of the town centre and failed to resist the temptation of the delightful smell coming out of Paxton’s Fish and Chip shop on the Market Square. Sat on a bench on the market in the sunshine eating cod and chips. In February.

I went back down the hill, got a cold drink and something for lunch on the train home the next day (I do like hotel rooms with fridges, even if this one only had three of its four feet) and with plenty of time to spare sat next to the River Tyne by the stone many-arched road bridge. It was so nice that I did sweet FA for the next half an hour.

Until it clouded over and sent down a few spots of rain to remind me that this was The North and February. I got the train back to Newcastle. Had an afternoon nap. Watched Top of the Pops. Watched Endeavour. Packed. Slept.

45 Flickr Photos from Hexham (opens in new window) 

Saturday

Train - Tube - Train - Train - Walk - Home. No train dramas for a change.

What a good adventure that was.

The Big Trip To Tyneside Flickr Album, 247 photos (opens in new window) 

Or as a slideshow below if your viewer supports it:

 

Capital Ring Section 9, Greenford to South Kenton

4th February

The promise of a dry day took me back to Greenford to walk another section of the Capital Ring path around London. Delays on the Central Line meant that I didn’t arrive until twenty past eleven in the morning but no matter, it was only about five and a half miles to walk to South Kenton. Leaving Greenford Station I walked under the railway bridge and down past all the bus stops in Rockware Avenue to reach the start of section 9 near the McDonald’s on Westway Shopping Park. I went along the shared use path alongside the shopping park to a set of steel gates at the entrance to an underpass. These were painted green and almost matched the Lime Bike abandoned nearby but the gates also have the silhouette of a large Beaver and the words “Welcome. The Ealing Beaver Project” painted on them.

You (and me) can try to put out of mind any thoughts of the scene from The Naked Gun featuring Priscilla Presley, Leslie Nielsen, and a ladder because this project "was born out of a vision to reintroduce beavers to an urban setting, enhancing biodiversity and engaging the community in wildlife conservation. Our mission is to create a sustainable environment where humans and beavers can thrive together, enriching the local ecosystem."

Though tag lines like “Bringing Beavers Back To London” and “A unique community-led, fully-accessible urban beaver project” are a gift to those of us with a childish sense of humour. The underpass leads to the delightfully named Paradise Fields, the area into which the beavers have been introduced and to which they are restricted by the gates and fences. The path through Paradise Fields led through the trees past a wetland area and over a Beaver Crossing to eventually reach the towpath of the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal. I didn’t see any Beavers though because they only come out at night. Stop sniggering at the back 😀

Heading along the towpath I was worried to see that it appeared to be blocked for works to install fibre optic cabling alongside the canal. On reaching the work site I found that the towpath was indeed blocked but a long floating walkway had been provided for pedestrians. The walkway was constructed on the canal and made from interlocking plastic floating boxes about a foot square. It was like trying to walk on a slightly slippery water bed and I was glad to reach the far end and regain dry land. Having passed a man with a tracked motorised barrow full of tarmac heading back along the towpath to reinstate the trench they’d dug for the cables and been passed by a work boat pushing a barge carrying stuff away from the work site I reached Ballot Box Bridge by which means I crossed the canal. I had a choice here of the main route going steeply up Horsenden Hill or the slightly longer route via Horsenden Farm. I chose the latter because there’s a public toilet at the farm complex but it had the disadvantage of the path above the farm being muddy, slippery, and in places impassable making for a sketchy ascent. I suspect that the main route being stepped might have been easier and safer. Having slipped and slithered upwards I found a bench with a good view west and stopped to remove my outer jacket from its liner because it was too warm for both. Here I had a brief conversation with a couple also walking the Capital Ring before carrying on up the hill. The last section before the path turned east up some steps was particularly treacherous and I almost ended up on my arse in the mud. I suspect this path might be much nicer after a period of dry weather. I also think I might be due new boots before long, I hadn’t realised how many miles I’ve put on them and in places the tread wouldn’t pass an MOT test! The path improved with some steps cut into it and I made it safely to the top of Horsenden Hill.

From the top of the hill a path led down through Horsenden Wood, better than the way up but still occasionally requiring care about where you stepped. It’s a pleasant stroll through a woodland although not quiet thanks to the huge number of Parakeets who have made it their home. With the sun filtering through the branches it was easy to spot the bright green birds and I even managed to get a snap of one at the entrance to its nest hole in a tree trunk.

At the bottom of the hill I turned east along a tarmac path, pausing to wash some of the mud from my boots in a shallow drainage ditch before reaching Horsenden Lane North by The Ballot Box pub. The next bit of the walk was very suburban, passing a row of shops then through residential streets and along Ridding Lane which became a busy, broad tarmac path alongside the Uxbridge Branch of the Piccadilly Line and brought me out opposite the classic Charles Holden designed Sudbury Hill station.

I passed Sudbury Hill station and then the much less impressive Sudbury Hill Harrow station on the Chiltern Main Line then turned left along South Vale to reach Green Lane, a rough footpath that climbed steeply upwards through a belt of trees between the backs of houses on the left and school playing fields on the right. This emerged onto Sudbury Hill at a road junction with joy of joys, a tiny triangular pocket garden with three benches and a bin! Time to break out the picnic lunch and flask of Bovril.

After lunch I carried on up Sudbury Hill, crossing it where it became London Road and carried on steadily upwards to enter Harrow on the Hill.

Harrow on the Hill is most famous for Harrow School, the public school founded in 1572 by local landowner John Lyon and whose houses and other buildings cover much of the hilltop. Those whose parents can afford £21,245 per term can become an Old Harrovian like seven former British Prime Ministers, one Indian Prime Minister, numerous former and current members of both Houses of the UK Parliament, several members of various royal families, and three Nobel Prize winners. John Lyon’s school was originally founded to provide free education for 30 poor boys of the parish.

Harrow on the Hill High Street thus contains a number of interesting buildings and the Capital Ring runs right along it, past numerous signs stating “Private. No Public Access.” It also passes the small village green with its striking King’s Head Gantry and a granite water fountain presented in 1880 to the local board for the use of the public, by Thomas Charles Hudson, a native and life long resident of Harrow.

If you look left and right between the buildings as you walk up High Street you will glimpse far reaching views over London, but no wide vistas because all is private property on both sides. Having passed the Vaughan Library and School Chapel - actually a large Victorian church - on the right and the War Memorial Building and Speech Room on the left I turned right into Football Lane and headed steeply down hill to reach the school playing fields, turning left along the drive then right along a footpath between the sports pitches on the right and Ducker Fields on the left. After about 500 yards I bore diagonally left at a Capital Ring finger post and “followed” some non-existent Capital Ring markers across a slightly squelchy playing field with a distant view of Wembley Stadium arch to reach Watford Road.

It took a minute or two for a gap in the traffic to appear for a dash across Watford Road and into the woods on Ducker Path, apparently named for Harrow School’s swimming pond, which was once located here. The path curved around to run parallel to the south side of the huge Northwick Park Hospital and then to the right of a golf course called “Bigshots”. It emerged into the wide open space of Northwick Park Recreation Ground by the pavilion.

The last stretch of the walk ran around the edge of the recreation ground with many trains seen on the far side going up and down the West Coast Main Line out of Euston. A gate in the corner led out into the street and after a few yards a left turn took me to South Kenton station, with Section 9 officially ending at the far end of the station subway under the tracks by The Windemere pub. Which didn’t appear to be open so I got on the next train for a slightly convoluted journey back to Hounslow.

Capital Ring Section 9 ✅

There are 46 photos taken along the way in this Flickr Album.

 

 

 

Canary Wharf Winter Lights 2026

20th January

London light festivals seem a bit thin on the ground this year. Battersea Power Station is taking a break from theirs and Westfield West London’s “Here We Glow” looks to have been a one off last year. At Canary Wharf however it’s business as usual so I headed up on day one for a look.

Free to visit Winter Lights is on from 20th to 31st of January and runs from 5pm to 10pm each day. Sixteen temporary installations are spread throughout the Canary Wharf estate alongside the nine permanent works which are there year round.

They vary in size and wow factor with some being full-on sound and light shows and others a bit underwhelming. If you look near each there will be an explanatory panel but it’s easy (and advisable) to ignore the Art Bolx and just enjoy the exhibits for themselves. Pick up a free map from the pink-tabard clad stewards on site or download it before you go else you’ll probably miss something. I never found 6b (indoors somewhere and I wasn’t the only person having trouble locating it) and another one, outdoors in this case I could have missed even though I had a map if there hadn’t been a crowd round it.

Stand outs for me were FloWeЯ PoWeЯ by Aerosculpture/Jean-Pierre David and Christian Thellier down near Westferry Circus, Hulahoop by Scale in Union Square, and Manifestation by Marcus Lyall in West Lane. Several others were pretty good too, again mostly the ones with the benefit of movement.

I arrived at about 5pm and by 7.30pm had managed to do the whole circuit (not necessarily in order) and by that time the temperature had begun to drop sharply so I took my frozen fingers indoors to find something to eat before heading back to Waterloo and the train home.

Although it was fairly busy with plenty of “phone zombies” to try and dodge I’d recommend visiting midweek and avoiding the weekends especially if you want to photograph or video anything. That’s because from previous experience the weekends are like someone left the gate to the twat farm open and it’s harder to even get a good look at the installations.

If you can’t get there at all here’s a Flickr Album (69 photos).

And here’s a video (YouTube, 14 minutes).

Capital Ring Section 8, Osterley Lock to Greenford

6th January 2026

Well three different weather apps all agreed there would be no precipitation until late evening so an ideal day to tick off the first new Capital Ring walk of 2026, right? With temperatures set to barely rise above 0° C that should prevent it being muddy too. So I armed myself with a Corned Beef sandwich and a flask of Bovril and set off.

The first few snowflakes fell as I stepped out of Boston Manor Station and made my way back down to the Grand Union Canal at Osterley Lock to walk Section 8 to Greenford. The canal was partly frozen over which seemed to have lifted the litter and detritus up onto the surface making it look particularly grotty.

I carried on along the towpath and crossed Osterley Park Weir at the top of the loop of River Brent which flows to the east of Osterley Island. The Grand Union Canal uses quite a bit of the River Brent in its course but the cut through Osterley Lock bypasses this loop.

A little further along the towpath there was the sad sight of a sunken cabin cruiser frozen into the ice covering the canal and with all its side windows put out. Wrecked boats seem to be common along this stretch of canal, there were a few on Section 7. Of course there are also boats that on first sight appear to be wrecks but are actually someone’s home. It’s a long way from the image of gaily painted narrowboats featured in the Canal and River Trust literature. A long low board on the side of the towpath bore the inscription

“BRITISH WATERWAYS 

KERR CUP PILE DRIVING COMPETITION 

PRIZE LENGTH OF PILING 1959”

I can find little information regarding the Kerr Cup beyond that it was a competition held between work gangs installing the piling that reinforces the banks of the cut.

I passed under Trumpers Way road bridge and past a building on the far side of the cut with a Victorian looking round brick chimney although the building itself looked newer and came to the bottom of the Hanwell Flight of locks. This flight of six locks with another two a bit further up is the largest flight in London and was built in 1794. It carried the Grand Junction Canal (now part of the Grand Union Canal) up and to the west, away from the River Brent which continues Northwards. After the first lock, number 97 - which is actually the last lock in the Hanwell Flight since the Grand Junction ran from Braunston in Northamptonshire to the River Thames at Brentford therefore locks and bridges are numbered from north to south - the Capital Ring leaves the canal to follow the River Brent.

I followed the path alongside the tree lined River Brent until I reached Hanwell Island and then Hanwell Bridge which carries the busy Uxbridge Road over the river. Fortunately the arch taking the path under the road wasn’t flooded as it sometimes is so I had no need to divert to the pedestrian crossing the reach the other side of Uxbridge Road and Brent Meadow. I’ve been to Brent Meadow before because it has a large and obvious interesting feature in it which thousands of people use every day but hardly any of them have ever seen it.

The brick built Wharncliffe Viaduct is 890 ft (270m) long and 66 ft (20m) high and carries the Great Western Main Line and the Elizabeth Line across the Brent Valley between Hanwell and Southall stations on eight arches. You’d not notice it from a train though unless you were specifically looking out for it and even then you can’t really see it, for that you need to visit Hanwell. Then you can admire what was the first major structural design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and the first major engineering work on the GWR project to be completed. It was also the first railway viaduct to be built with hollow piers and later in 1839 carried the world’s first commercial electric telegraph system, installed by Sir Charles Wheatstone and William Fothergill Cooke between Paddington and West Drayton stations and extended four years later to Slough at which time it became Britain’s first public telegraph system, to the delight of the Royal Household at Windsor Castle though not of one John Tawell, a murderer from Slough who was apprehended at Paddington after a telegraph message was sent saying:

A murder has just been committed at Salt Hill and the suspected murderer was seen to take a first class ticket to London by the train that left Slough at 7.42pm. He is in the garb of a Kwaker with a brown great coat on which reaches his feet. He is in the last compartment of the second first-class carriage

Which is thought to be the first use of the telegraph to catch a murderer. If you do come you probably won’t get to see the viaduct through plentiful numbers of snowflakes as I did though.

I passed under the viaduct and turned left into Churchfields Recreation Ground and with the Brent on my left then into Brent Lodge Park continuing by the river with Hanwell Zoo on my right before cutting across towards the zoo buildings in search of a bench on which to eat lunch, preferably sheltered though the best I could find was under some trees near the coach house. It was OK though because the snow suddenly stopped. A picnic lunch was had accompanied by the sounds of Parakeets.

I carried on after lunch past the Parish Church of St. Mary Hanwell and crossed over the River Brent on the tubular steel Boles Bridge to Hanwell Cricket Ground and then onward across Brent Valley Public Golf Course. There were many signs warning of the danger from golf balls but no one appeared to be up for ruining a good walk in this weather.

Crossing over the River Brent again I climbed up past some allotments to reach Bittern’s Field, a wide open space elevated from the river bank because it was once a landfill site. Where bulldozers once levelled piles of rubbish dogs now run happily across the grass which is managed as a hay meadow. Apparently there are Slow-worms here but this isn’t the weather for them to be out. I followed the path parallel to the river until reaching Greenford Bridge which carries Ruislip Road East over the Brent and where a Heron patrolled the gravel bank in the middle of the river.

Crossing Ruislip Road East on the Zebra Crossing I was nearly hit by a wanker in a BMW who decided that was the best place to furiously overtake the JCB that was impeding his progress even though I was half way across the road. Then the JCB driver blew his horn at me because I had paused to avoid being run down. Two wankers in the space of twenty feet. Welcome to Greenford.

The bright lights and no doubt warm pubs and cafes of Greenford town centre lay just to the west but the Capital Ring eschews such pleasures and turns down Costons Lane to reach Perivale Park. A tarmac path led into the park, crossing Costons Brook then turning left and then right along the north side of the open space passing an interesting memorial bench in the form of a piano keyboard. This commemorates local musician Nicky Hopkins. You might not have heard of Hopkins (I confess I hadn’t) but you’ve probably heard him play. Born in Perivale in 1944 he died in 1994 in Nashville TN. Ill health caused him to work mostly as a session musician and the list of acts with whom he worked is impressive, including The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, Jeff Beck, Art Garfunkel, John Lennon, and Rod Stewart.

Leaving Perivale Park I crossed the A40 Western Avenue on the high footbridge just north of South Greenford Station for the final stretch of Section 8, a short bit of suburban street followed by an alley sandwiched between the railway and the fence of Cayton Green Park, home to Northolt Rugby Football Club and Tara Gaelic Football Club, then another curve of suburban houses to reach Greenford Road by the two railway bridges. The first carries the Central Line and the GWR Greenford Branch, the second the Acton–Northolt line, otherwise known as the New North Main Line. Having passed under both bridges I arrived at the crossroads with Rockware Avenue and the end of Section 8.

On the corner of Rockware Avenue as I walked to Greenford Station I noticed a very old piece of street furniture, a habit carried over from my old job, it is a cast iron electricity supply cabinet with the words “Boro. of Ealing Electricity Dept.” surrounding the Ealing Coat of Arms and the date 1910 cast into the door. Quite a survivor, I wonder if it is still in use?

At Greenford station I jumped on a Central line train to head for home. 

Capital Ring Section 8 ✅

53 photos from Section 8 are in this Flickr Album