East Grinstead Classic Bus Running day.

21st April

For my birthday this year I went for a ride on this:

and this:

and this:

and this (which as far as I can recall is the first time I've ridden on an RF, certainly a Green Line one):

and this:

and this:

and had a rather good day in and around East Grinstead, seeing a bit of the country I'm not that familiar with.

I also got to meet, albeit briefly, Pete of Pete And His Bus fame.

Bus running days are a rare occasion when you can actually ride other people's classic vehicles rather than just look at them. For free too, although I made sure to buy the programme/timetable the tenner for which goes towards the costs. You don't want to think about the mpg figures for these vehicles! 

I'm not sure that the planned timetable "survived first contact with the enemy" but there were plenty of different buses of varying ages to see and I'm sure I missed some of them but here's the

Flickr Album

London Loop, Section 11 (part one).

April 19th

At the end of section 10 I could have got a train home from Hayes & Harlington station but chose to press on along Section 11 to West Drayton, a convenient point for me to both break off and to return another day to complete the section. Reports had suggested that the latter part of Section 11 might still be impassable due to flooding from the River Colne or at least if not then probably very muddy. That’s my excuse anyway. So having stopped briefly in Hayes town centre to grab a coffee and find a loo I rejoined the LOOP under Bridge 200 and headed west along the Grand Union towpath, past a cast iron milepost “Braunston 87 Miles”, and under bridges 199 and 198, past a Mallard mum with 10 (or 11, you try counting them!) very small fuzzy ducklings. Then under bridge 196 (I don’t know where 197 went) where a convenient bench presented itself on which to pause, watch a couple of boats go by, and eat the piece of home-made bread pudding I remembered I’d packed that morning.

 

 

 

 Just before the next cast iron milepost (Braunston 86 Miles) the LOOP leaves the nice level towpath and turns right through a metal gate leading to Stockley Park. This 1980s business park, golf course, and country park is built on former brickfields and dumping ground, upon which about 140,000 new trees and shrubs were planted to create a woodland area.

 

 

 

 Across the entrance drive and alongside the golf course the route passes through an avenue of Lime trees, their spring foliage bright green, then through the edge of the business park and past the modern Golf Clubhouse where it bears right and starts to climb up past the entrance to the tenth tee and onward to the A-frame bridge across Stockley Road. About here I encountered the only other obvious “LOOPer” that day, closely and a little uncertainly following the route on his mobile phone screen.

 

 

 

 I passed ‘phone man’ on the way up the gravel track towards the viewpoint, which I diverted to up the short steep climb to the right of the path. You can see quite a way from this high point in Stockley Country Park although most of the details are obscured by tree cover. ‘Phone man’ passed by below while I was taking in the view.

 

 

 

Down from the viewpoint and back on the main path SSW across the country park and into the woodland along narrow paths partly obstructed by fallen trees until I got to the metal gate at Horton Road. Where ‘phone man’ suddenly appeared behind me so I’ve no idea which way his phone had taken him through the woods. On the other side of the road there is a choice of onward route, either following the roads or the “recommended alternative” along a new gravel path, Weston Walk, through a small park to an odd grassy mound like an Iron Age tumulus with a path around the base. I chose the latter obviously.

 

 

 

 Beyond the mound a set of steps leads back down to the Grand Union towpath, to turn right to rejoin section 11 of the LOOP. Seems to be popular with afternoon joggers and pram-pushers but from here it’s straight along the canal, with the Great Western main line on the other side, under Horton Road bridge (193) towards West Drayton.

 

 

 

 The next bridge (192) is adjacent to West Drayton railway station so that’s where I called it for the day and got the train home. I hope to be back when things have had a chance to dry out a bit on the rest of Section 11 when I’ll continue along the Grand Union and then up by the Colne to Uxbridge.

 

Flickr Album Section 11

 

 

 

 And I didn’t even get wet on this bit.

 

London LOOP, section 10.

April 19th

I want to walk the London Outer Orbital Path, usually tautologically referred to as the London Loop. This trail, nearly 150 miles long almost encircles Greater London, split into 24 sections between Erith station and Purfleet. The sections all start/finish close to public transport nodes making it really convenient if you live inside the loop. I don’t live inside the loop so it will be quite inconvenient, especially given the limited public transport options where I do live. I might never actually complete the whole thing but if I don’t start somewhere then I certainly won’t finish it. So what better place to start than the nearest bit, Section 10 from Hatton Cross to Hayes & Harlington. I downloaded the map and guides for Section 10 from the Inner London Ramblers website and picked the following Friday as the day to make a start. Yes of course that turned out to be the only day that week when rain was forecast because Sod’s Law applies. 🙄

 

Two buses and a tube got me to Hatton Cross Underground station, at which I’d never previously got on or off, so ✔︎. From there it’s a short walk alongside the A30 Great South West Road to the start of Section 10 proper by the bridge over the River Crane.

 

 

 

 This is River Crane Park and the path heads north through the woods beside the river and out into an open space and once you are away from the road it almost feels like countryside. On leaving the open space the route runs through suburban semis with double glazed windows to mitigate the sound of the jets on the flightpath overhead, streets not too dissimilar to the one on which I was born. On reaching the A4 Bath Road I crossed and turned left, at which point enough rain arrived that I had to put on my waterproof coat and then crossed back over the River Crane on the road bridge.

 

 

 

 Shortly after which the route turned right into the next green bit, Berkeley Meadows, named after the ancient English landowning family whose name also gave us the square in which nightingales sang and the hunt from which we get the rhyming slang, "berk". Exiting the path at the north end and crossing the road carefully it’s into the woods along muddy paths alongside the Crane until reaching the large open field which is Cranford Country Park. Across which the rain was now blowing horizontally from the left 💦

 

 

 

 And across which I had to walk diagonally to get to the exit after passing the Ha-Ha which separated the garden of Cranford House, one of the homes of the Earls of Berkeley (now demolished) from the open parkland. A Ha-Ha being a ditch with a vertical wall on the inner side designed to keep deer, livestock, peasants etc. out of the garden without the wall spoiling the view from the house. Ha-ha supposedly being what people said when they saw it. Or fell into it. 

 

 

 

 I was too wet to laugh at it but by the time I’d crossed the car park the sun had come out and I found a dryish bench under a large Yew in the churchyard of St. Dunstan’s Cranford on which to pause and eat my picnic sandwich. Doesn’t look like it’s right next to the M4 Motorway, does it?

 

 

 

 They didn’t build it next to the motorway of course because that wasn’t there when the Saxons built the first church, or in the 15th and 17th centuries when the current building was constructed. The church is locked outside of mass times so I missed seeing the memorial to the comedian Tony Hancock and the memorials to the many berks sorry, Berkeleys that lie within. Picnic consumed I crossed the cobbled (setts) yard and passed under the arch of the old stable block, then under the motorway and turned right into the wonderfully named Dog Kennel Covert, a strip of woodland through which runs the Loop, the Hillingdon Trail, and the River Crane also known here as the Yeading Brook which forms the boundary between the boroughs of Hounslow and Hillingdon. For a bit of urban edgelands it had a pretty good display of Bluebells.

 

 

 

 Emerging from the park via Watersplash Lane my eye was drawn to a large art deco factory or office on North Hyde Road, topped by an incongruously large cellsite aerial tower. I can’t find any information about this building, it seems to be outside the area of the former Nestle factory site across North Hyde Gardens. Something to do with the electricity substation to its north maybe?  If you know, comment below.

 

 

 

 Passing the above building and bearing round to the left and up onto the  flyover of The Parkway (A312), across the Grand Union Canal and down a long zig-zag ramp to the canal towpath and a little diversion to Bull’s Bridge Junction where the Paddington Arm joins the main Grand Union, giving London a direct link to the national canal network rather than via the Thames at Brentford. Next to the white painted brick Bull's Bridge is a finger post giving the distances to Brentford 6 miles, Paddington 13½ miles, and Braunston 87½ miles. Or it would do if some twat hadn’t snapped off half the sign pointing to Braunston. Cut off their goolies I say.

 

 

 

 Retracing my steps along the canal towards Braunston  and under the flyover the end of section 10 was almost in sight. Just a stroll along the towpath underneath the railway bridge carrying the Great Western main line and Crossrail Purple train Elizabeth Line then to Bridge 200, Station Road, the end of Section 10 near Hayes & Harlington Station.

 

 

 

 Section 10 ✔︎

 

I could have got the train home from here but the sun was out, it was only half past one, and I could manage another few miles so I continued on Section 11 to West Drayton. Post about that to follow.

 

Section 10 Flickr Album

 

 

 

Pilning (and Bristol)

April 13th

It seems to have stopped raining for the moment, time for a spring weekend getaway. I’ve not been to Bristol since 2020 before the you-know-what so I bought a small handful of rail tickets on Trainsplit and booked a couple of nights in a city centre hotel because I enjoyed Bristol last time and it’s easy to get to. I also had a little mission nearby that I wanted to do.

 

An emergency track repair on the GWR main line meant a delayed arrival at Bristol Temple Meads but I still had time to go for a coffee before I could check it at the hotel. The coffee was covered by the £3.90 Delay Repay refund I got from GWR though 😀

 

Bristol is a fairly walkable city so later I went for a stroll around the harbour, had fish and chips for tea (it was Friday night after all) and walked them off (a bit) along the trail around the south side of the Floating Harbour.

 

 

 

Which was thirsty work so I stopped at The Nova Scotia Hotel, an old pub on the Cumberland Basin part of the harbour. After a couple of very nice pints of local beer I walked back in the gathering darkness along the north side of the harbour back to my hotel.

 

 

 

 Saturday morning and time for the “mission”. The plan was to take a train to Severn Beach, walk part of the England Coast Path along the Bristol Channel/River Severn then inland to Pilning and catch the rare train back to Bristol. The weather forecast looked good. Well dry anyway.

 

The train to Severn Bridge was busy to start but as it progressed the passenger numbers dwindled and the views out across the estuary improved and half a dozen or so alighted at Severn Beach station.

 

 

 

 From the station I walked through the village of Severn Beach, a minor “seaside” resort whose attractions include a couple of cafes, a bakery, and Wow! a Public Toilet that is actually still open! You don’t find many of those in England. From there I took a path over the ditch, or rhine (pronounced “reen”) as it’s known here, and up onto the river wall.

And bloody hell that’s a cold wind blowing out of Wales! Coat on.

 

 

 

 I followed the sea wall along and under the Second Severn Crossing, a.k.a. the Prince of Wales Bridge, which carries the M4 Motorway to and from Wales, supplementing the 1966 Severn Bridge which can be seen further upstream. The tide was partly out and the path along the concrete wall was littered with bits of tree, some quite large, washed down from inland.

 

 

 

 After passing under the M4 and I reached New Passage Pier. This used to have a railway terminus and ferries across the Severn before the 4.4 miles long Severn Railway Tunnel superseded them in 1886. There is an information board at the point where you walk over the site of the tunnel. Beyond New Passage I turned inland to follow the Severn Way along The Pill river but soon and to backtrack because someone had let the cows out. The cows themselves weren’t the problem, the fact that the ground wasn’t yet firm enough to support them was since they had puddled the surface into an impassable quagmire and when the mud reaches over the top of your boots it’s time to change your plans. Even the cows didn’t seem to be enjoying the conditions. I re-routed via New Passage Rd. crossing the M4 in what according to the signs visible from the over bridge appears to be a no man’s land between England and Wales, and after a couple of miles reached Pilning. Well to be accurate I reached The Plough, where I was glad to have time to enjoy a pint of Wadworth’s and where they didn’t seem to mind the mud splattered apparition that just left a visible trail in and out of their saloon bar.

 

Pilning Station

 

Pilning is a formerly quite important station on the South Wales Main Line between Cardiff and Bristol. Potentially it could be an important transport hub for the surrounding area. Currently it’s the ninth least used station (2022-2023 figures) in England though due to under investment, poor management, and reduction in services that looks very like an attempt at closure by stealth. Until 2015 there were two trains a day, one in each direction. In 2016 that was reduced to two a week, the minimum permitted under the operator’s franchise. In November 2016 as part of the Great Western Mainline electrification the footbridge to Platform 1 was removed and the decision made not to pay to replace it. So now the two trains a week run in the same direction, towards Bristol, on a Saturday timetabled at 0832 and 1532. To make a return journey from Pilning you need to leave early in the morning and return early in the afternoon travelling to Severn Tunnel Junction and then back to Pilning. It being Saturday and GWR it’s not unknown for the trains to be cancelled. You can see why the locals are not happy. The publicity around the above has, because UK rail enthusiasts being what they are, resulted in something of an upturn in passenger numbers though and Pilning refuses to die. I added 1 to the statistics. Why? Because it’s there of course.

 

 

 

 Fortunately I only needed to make a single journey from Pilning to Bristol Temple Meads, cost with a railcard £3.60 and scheduled to take 20 minutes. Why the 37 minute trip from Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach earlier only cost £1.35 is a mystery known only to the gods of the UK rail ticketing system. I arrived in good time to take a look around. There’s not a lot to look at.

One platform, unlit because no one would replace the unsafe lighting and so trains cannot call after dark. One small shelter with a seat. This was actually occupied on my visit by the other two passengers travelling from Pilning that afternoon!

 

 

 

 An information point and a train times poster pretty much completes the set. There’s one station name sign ideal for selfies wearing your “#footbridge4pilning” tee shirt. No, I’m not sharing it here 😜

 

A couple of trains passed through while I was waiting, one in each direction. There’s no train departure board at Pilning obviously so I was keeping an eye on the Train Track app on my phone - fortunately something Pilning does have is a decent mobile signal. So I wasn’t entirely surprised to see that the 1532 train was now shown as “Delayed” with no estimate of when I might arrived. Told you, GWR + Saturday. Eventually it’s ETA was given as 1546 which kept moving away until 1549, which is when it finally appeared.

 

 

 

 This train from Cardiff Central to Penzance in Cornwall had left Cardiff late and was quite well loaded. Interestingly I had a seat reservation, Coach C Seat 78, but although the seat was vacant that was only luck since the reservation wasn’t shown on the on board display above the seat. (GWR+Saturday again?). Anyway it got to Bristol Temple Meads 19 minutes late so I got a refund of… 90 pence. Not enough for a coffee sadly.

 

Pilning ✓

 

I headed into Bristol city centre to buy a brush to remove at least some of Gloucestershire from my boots and jeans and then get something to eat. I had intended to return to the Nova Scotia later but frankly I was knackered having totted up a dozen miles walking and fortunately I had made provision in the handy fridge in my hotel room for such an eventuality. And that’s a really big television at the foot of the bed to fall asleep in front of.

 

Flickr Photos from the trip.

 

 

 

 

Not-so-super Superloop

 21st March 2024

I'm late to the party as usual but have finally ridden on part of the new Superloop branded TfL express bus service. The experience was ... well not that super to be honest. I was in Kenton early evening and wanted to get back to Hounslow West, not in any huge hurry, and the TfL Go app suggested a number of different routes involving combinations of Overground, bus, and Tube and then a step-free suggestion of the Superloop.

Well it was new and shiny and I had the time so why not? It started off well, the 18:10  SL10 rocking up on time for the one stop to Harrow Bus Station and lightly loaded enough to get a top deck front seat. We arrived at Harrow Bus Station with more than enough time to catch the next SL9 Harrow to Heathrow departure and there was an SL9 laying over at the back of the bus station ready to go. Which is where it stayed for the next 10 minutes - despite the app showing it as "due" at Harrow Bus station Stop B - while a large, jostling crowd gathered on the narrow foot-way at Stop B. Eventually it came out of the bus station and... drove straight past. The route indicators no longer displaying "SL9 Heathrow Airport Central" but simply "Transport for London". The crowd continued to swell, scrums forming to board other services at Stop B until another SL9 appeared about 10 minutes later behind a 114 that was already occupying Stop B. The British have a reputation for queuing which at this point they decided to disprove and there was a general melee for another 5 minutes or more until the "New Routemaster" bus was full. I mean full too, standing room only full, and as became apparent when we moved off, scraping the humps and bumps in the road full because these buses have very little ground clearance. 

Off we went into the evening traffic. By Northolt Station I had at least got a seat due to a few passengers alighting albeit not with a window view. Those who alighted were replaced by as many boarding so it was still a full load. Through Yeading and the bright lights of Hayes we went, delayed at several points and now running about 10 minutes late although no longer as tightly packed in. Then it happened. I could hear the conversation between the driver and the control as they told him to terminate at Harlington Corner instead of going all the way to Heathrow Airport, which he questioned, as was told there was another SL9 two to three minutes behind which would pick up any passengers wanting to continue. There was no announcement of the change and the on board displays and audio continued unchanged stating SL9 to Heathrow Airport Central. As we approached Harlington Corner a passenger who had evidently had a good afternoon in the bar went forward to ask if this was the last stop before the airport then returned to inform us "we're all being turfed off here" and sure enough, still without any announcement, the bus pulled into Stop J at Harlington Corner, the hazard lights went on, and the remaining passengers were indeed turfed off.

Sure enough two or three minutes later another SL9 bus rounded the corner... and drove straight past without stopping. Now this wasn't a problem for me as Harlington Corner was where I was to change to the 81 to Hounslow but it did leave quite a few people standing at the side of the road consulting the timetable on the bus stop pole or on their phones and trying to work out their next move to continue their journey. I wonder how many of them were late for work at Heathrow? At least no one had the sort of baggage that indicated they were on their way to catch a flight.

So the Superloop isn't that super and I'm sure it's very useful - as the loading on this SL9 showed - but it still suffers all the uncertainties of other TfL buses but stops in fewer places.

Anyway, that's SL10 and SL9 ticked off.

• Route SL1 - North Finchley to Walthamstow
• Route SL2 - Walthamstow Central to North Woolwich
• Route SL3 - Thamesmead to Bromley
• Route SL4 - Canary Wharf to Grove Park
• Route SL5 - Bromley to Croydon
• Route SL6 - Russell Square to West Croydon (peak services only)
• Route SL7 - Croydon to Heathrow Airport
• Route SL8 - Uxbridge to White City
• Route SL9 - Heathrow Airport to Harrow
• Route SL10 - Harrow to North Finchley

Though I've no intention of riding it all the way round like Geoff Marshall did.

The Biggest Working Steam Engine In The World

Saturday 16th March

 

and I paid another visit to Kempton Steam Museum to see what is believed to be the largest running steam engine in the world. Located in the Kempton Park Water Works in the New Engine House (completed in 1929) the Sir William Prescott Engine is 62 feet tall, weighs 800 tons and is named after the then chairman of the Metropolitan Water Board.

One weekend a month from March to November the museum have a steaming weekend on which they run the huge triple expansion steam engine that once supplied fresh drinking water to much of London. If it looks familiar that might be because it has stood in on film on several occasions for the engines of RMS Titanic, whose engines were very similar but are now unavailable for filming 😉

As well as The Sir William Prescott the museum contains two steam turbine pumps (not working) and a wealth of other associated waterworks equipment to see and lots of information and audiovisuals to keep the kids amused.

 

At the other end of the engine house sits The Lady Bessie Prescott Engine. This is the second of the pair and is not currently running, which means they give free guided tours of it from top to bottom. I've been up it before but not this time as the next free slot wasn't for about two and a half hours alas 🙁 The museum hope to have Lady Bessie running as well within the next five years 🙂

If you can get to Kempton Park for a steaming weekend do it, you're not going to see its like anywhere else.

Flickr Album from two visits here.

 

Rustival

9th March 2024

 

Clapped out to concours every vehicle is welcome! was the strap-line for a very different car show organised by British Youtubers Ian and Carly from HubNut, Matt from Furious Driving and Steph from idriveaclassic. Rustival was held at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon, Warwickshire, a nicely central location with good access to the motorway network and only about 90 minutes drive away for me. I follow two of the organisers channels and fancied a Saturday trip out. Now I don’t have a particularly interesting car but that’s rather the point of Rustival - all wheels are welcome - and since it was also cheaper to go as an exhibitor than as a general visitor I booked my space. I even gave the car a wash and polish a couple of days before, something that happens… shall we say infrequently? 

 

Exhibitors were allocated into two car park areas named Van den Plas and Mayfair, I was allocated to Mayfair and entry was from 10:00 a.m. I arrived a little before 10:15 and the exhibitor areas were mostly full by that time so I was parked up almost at the far edge of the show. 

 

 

 

 It looks a little lonely here but the area quickly filled and my Toyota RAV4 Hybrid was framed by a Porsche 944 and a Vauxhall the details of which I cannot now recall. I’d been a little concerned that my boring and reliable modern car would look a little out of place but it was far from the newest car present. As far as I could tell it was, surprisingly, the only RAV4 present. As my sister pointed out it was bound to win the prize for “Car I’m Most Likely To Go Home In” :-)

 

I’d planned ahead and taken a flask and a picnic lunch because who wants to spend time queuing at the burger van when you can be checking out the exhibits? So first I took a cup of coffee for a walk around the Mayfair section which contained some interesting, ordinary, and rare cars

 

 

 

 and other vehicles, not all of which had seen wax or polish recently

 

 

 

which sums up the ethos of the show nicely.

 

I popped back to my car and ate lunch then headed down to the Van den Plas area where the various Youtubers’ displays, portable stage, stalls, and a lot more exhibits were located.

 

 

 

 And I spent the next few hours wandering around looking at what everyone had brought and chatting with or listening to exhibitors and visitors. There was getting on for 900 cars exhibited and although my ticket included entry to the British Motor Museum I never actually made it indoors (though I have visited before). Time flew and soon it was nearly 3 o’clock, prizes were being awarded

 

 

 

 and it was almost time to head home. Particularly since I set my alarm for 0600, woken at 0355, and failed to get back to sleep before it was time to get up so having been mostly on my feet I was starting to flag.

 

A couple of my show highlights:

 

 

 

 This Austin A40 Farina Mk1. I’m always going to be drawn towards one of these as a 1961 Countryman model was my first car. The young lady owner of this example has also adapted it into one of the smallest micro-campers I’ve ever come across. So that’s my choice for car of the show because I’m partisan :-)

 

 

 

This slightly scary Reliant Robin based trials car, complete with quite a lot of countryside still stuck to it from its last trials event. The gent who owns and built it was happy to explain to visitors the why’s and wherefores of his creation and yes, it’s street-legal and yes he drove it to and from Rustival so I guess he was as glad as anyone else that we had fine weather on Saturday!

 

Here’s 63 photos that I took on the day in a Flickr Album

 

 

 

 Rustival was a great success and the organisers plan to do it again next year so I hope to do it again too, I’ll be keeping an eye on https://www.rustival.co.uk/ and suggest you do as well if you’re interested in all types of cars not just the “special” ones.

Battersea Power Station Light Festival 2024

30th January 2024

More winter lights, this time at the shopping mall that was formerly Battersea Power Station.

I made a wee video.

I also took some photos, available in this Flickr Album.

Verdict: Worth a look if you're nearby or really like this sort of thing. Could be a bit underwhelming if you've come a long way. Battersea Power Station has much too high ambient light levels to really pull this sort of display off.

Canary Wharf Winter Lights 2024

19th January 2024

A quick look around the Canary Wharf Winter Lights Festival for 2024. It was bloody cold and I'm glad I arrived early to avoid most of the crowds.

There's a bunch of photos here on Flickr

Walking from Roding Valley to Hainault

5th January 2024

This was the first day of 2024 on which there seemed to be a low risk of getting seriously wet. Wanting to relieve the winter cabin fever I took a long ride on the Piccadilly and Central Lines to a station I’d never been to before. It’s a station that most people haven’t been to either as Roding Valley is the least used tube station with only 259,271 entries and exits according to the latest official figures, 2022 at the time of writing. (Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2022. Transport for London. 4 October 2023.) So I’ve added 1 to whatever the 2023 figure turns out to be.

 

 

 

 Served by the Central Line Woodford to Hainault shuttle there’s not a lot at Roding Valley station - not even a ticket barrier just Oyster/Contactless validators which must affect the accuracy of those entry and exit figures a little. I arrived from Woodford a little before half past midday a little disappointed not to have ridden on the newly refurbished train with its new moquette which is supposed to be running on the shuttle service. 

 

My “plan” was to take a short walk to either Grange Hill or Hainault and then head back into London again. I’d plotted a route on my phone which took me via Loughton Rugby Club, a short way along the River Roding under the Central Line to a bridge over the river and along Luxborough Lane to cross over the M11. Having crossed the edge of the rugby field I found that the Roding had other ideas.

 

 

 

 There was about six or seven feet of the path flooded to “needs wellies” depth so I retraced my steps and found an alternative route via Ray Park, crossing over the river and under the M11 at Woodford Bridge, pausing for coffee at Costa on Chigwell Road. 

 

 

 

 Suitably caffeinated and having taken advantage of the other facilities I carried on past St. Paul’s Church and across the green by the pond then continued along Manor Road towards Grange Hill. A fairly busy road but with broad pavements and more importantly dry underfoot.

 

 

 

 Manor Road is peak Chigwell, isn’t it? Lined with very large detached properties behind big, often ornate gates mostly electrically powered. The front “gardens” nearly all paved over and accommodating a range of exotic or just large cars, many sporting personalised registration numbers (or twat-plates as I can’t help thinking of them). Visible alarm systems and CCTV adorn most of the houses. Every so often they’d got the builders in, refurbishing or extending the houses and blocking the footway with vans or skips. OK **** we’ll just walk in the busy road then shall we? Crossing the A23 the houses become more standard suburban fare and have suburban streets behind rather tan the golf course. On the opposite side of the road St. Winifred’s Church looks oddly utilitarian but is in parts at least older than it looks.

 

 

 

 I carried on along this less ostentatious part of Manor Road to Grange Hill Station. I could have got back on the Central Line here but Hainault is only a little further and I’d have needed to change trains there anyway. In fact the walk would have been shorter had I gone to Hainault directly but then I’d have missed the opportunity to make the obvious  low flying sausage joke. 

 

 

 

 So I passed by the station and turned down Long Green continuing along the alleyway at the end parallel to the railway. Rather unexpectedly there’s a World War II pillbox fortification here and a line of concrete tank obstacles along the edge of the line.

 

 

 

 The alleyway emerges into Robina Close amongst blocks of flats and then via Clinton Crescent to New North Road where I turned right to Hainault Station entrance under the railway bridge.

 

 

 

 Hainault has some unusual tiled station name boards on the platforms which I thought reminiscent of a mid 20th century domestic fireplace particularly with the spaces intended for posters being mostly empty.

 

 

 

 From the platforms the footbridge you can see the entrance to the Central Line Hainault Depot just north of the station. There are three platforms, one seems to be for the Woodford shuttle and the other two for trains towards London. Checking the next departures on both the TFL Go app and Google Maps showed completely different platform numbers to those actually being used so I followed everyone else onto the train at platform 3 that said it was bound for Ealing Broadway even though both apps said it was leaving from platform 1!

 

 

 

Roding valley ticked off I went to Gants Hill next but that’s another story.