May 10th
It’s a little after lunchtime and I’m sitting by the River Colne in an Uxbridge pub garden having walked about four and a half miles from West Drayton to complete Section 11 of the London Loop. The weather’s nice. I have beer. I have a choice, I can call it here and get a bus back to West Drayton and the train home in time for tea or I can carry on and do Section 12. It’s only another 5.3 miles, that should be OK even for a fat old bloke, right? I check the public transport options to get back, they’re a bit vague but it’s Londonish so something should work out. Finish beer, have a pee, return to the canal towpath...
Uxbridge to Harefield West
Most of this section follows the Grand Union Canal main line and before long I’m at Uxbridge Lock where I cross the canal on the turnover bridge, a brick built bridge designed with ramps so that horses towing the boats could cross from one side to the other without having to be unhitched. I noted that the lock keeper’s house is for sale and although this one has 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and the same guide price £799,950 my previous comment about having everyone and his dog trekking past your front door applies here too.
There were plenty of boats moored along this pleasant stretch of canal although I only saw one moving. Carrying on and we’re 81 miles from Braunston and soon a branch of our old companion the River Colne joins the canal on the far side before the canal passes under the A40 Western Avenue, just before it becomes the M40 motorway. Both will eventually take you to Birmingham but one is a bit quicker than the other. At Bridge 183 I recrossed the canal and saw a boat that sadly wasn’t going anywhere soon.
Again I could see glimpses of the River Colne off to the left running parallel to the canal and the trees along this section gave welcome shade. I’d noticed earlier a couple of orange ships’ or maybe oil rig lifeboats converted to houseboats and here were two more. I’m not sure how practical it is to move these particularly through locks, or even if they do move given that one looked to have a look of permanency about its mooring, as well as more fenders than would seem necessary.
At Denham Deep Lock the guide says the lock cottage is the beautifully set Fran’s Tea Garden. It was shut so I didn’t linger but carried on to Bridge 182. The bridge and lock numbers go down as you travel away from London since the canal was built from the midlands to London. This is the opposite to what you might expect, we’re used to roads etc. numbering the other way. At Bridge 182 I crossed the canal again and turned left onto the wide path of the Colne Valley Trail between the canal and Long Lake. This tree lined track then passed under Denham Railway Viaduct which carries the Chiltern Main Line linking London Marylebone with Birmingham over the canal and a branch of the River Colne.
Beyond the Denham Viaduct on the right is Harefield Lake No.2 and here I realised something that hadn’t previously occurred to me. I hadn’t made the connection between the Colne Valley and HS2 until I looked across the lake and saw the construction of the new Colne Valley Viaduct in progress. I’d seen photos but only in the “flesh” is the scale of this fabulous piece of civil engineering apparent.
What a shame that due to short-sighted government it might never realize its full potential, at least not in any timescale I’m likely to see 🙁
At the end of the lake the Loop passes under the completed section of the viaduct deck on temporary pontoons around one of the supports so you get a fairly close up look at the structure and I don’t care what anyone says, it’s pretty cool. Oh and you have to press the button and wait for a green light before proceeding under the viaduct, which felt a little odd.
Beyond the lakes and Harefield Marina the way follows a wide track and then winds through the woods. The guide and the way marks aren’t particularly clear on this part and I had to resort to GPS to ensure I was on the right path to eventually emerge onto Moorhall Road. Left here and up over a bridge and down some sketchy steps through the nettles and fly-tipped rubbish to join the Grand Union Canal again. Back on the towpath and beginning to question my life choices but now determined to complete Section 12 today I passed by Widewater Lock.
Then under a rather decrepit bridge and onwards to Black Jack’s Lock. I can’t find anything to say who Black Jack was but Black Jack’s Mill stood between the river and canal, was apparently a location in Dr. Who and the 1964 comedy film The Bargee starring Harry H. Corbett, better known as Harold from Steptoe and Son. The Bargee is worth looking out for if you’ve never seen it.
The lock was used in The Bargee as well and apparently the nearby thatched Jack’s Cottage was once the home of actress Ann Todd (The Seventh Veil) and was a filming location for Basil Brush. We’re in that area here, West London not far from several film studios. Full disclosure, I gleaned the above information from the blog Edith’s Streets which I’ve just bookmarked as a future time sink 🙂
I continued along the towpath over a footbridge above a rushing weir (the River Colne again) and over a high footbridge across the Troy Arm, past offices on the far side of the canal, and eventually to the Coy Carp Inn (yes, it is spelt like that) where Section 12 leaves the canal, crossing it on a narrow busy bridge with traffic lights and up a winding lane to finish at a nondescript junction with Summerhouse Lane.
Section 12 ✔︎
And then I went back to the Coy Carp and had what I felt was a well earned pint!
While enjoying that I checked the TfL Go app for how to get back to West Drayton for the train home. It said U9 from just up the hill to New Park Rd. Harefield then cross the road and get U9 to Uxbridge and U1 from there to West Drayton Station. So I followed those instructions despite a nagging suspicion and having got off the first bus I then rejoined it on the other side of the road a few minutes later, albeit it was now much fuller having been to the hospital in the meantime. The driver gave me a funny look, I just rolled my eyes and said “TfL Go app”. Fortunately Uncle Sadiq’s Hopper Fare meant this pointless exercise didn’t cost any extra, all three buses were covered by a single journey charge.
I arrived home a bit after 8pm, knackered but with at least some sense of achievement. Then I dozed off watching Top of the Pops on BBC4, went to bed, and completely missed the Aurora Borealis, not imagining it would be visible from my house. The photos posted on Instagram by a near-neighbour prove I was very wrong. Bugger 🙁
No comments:
Post a Comment