London Loop Section 14

Moor Park to Hatch End

 

"A very green and quite short section” says the guide. Thus encouraged having completed Section 13 instead of doing the sensible thing and walking to Moor Park Station, getting the Underground back to the car and being home early I chose instead to carry on to Hatch End. Only another 4 miles or so, can’t be too bad. From the path junction just outside the Moor Park Estate I headed away from the Metropolitan Line trains passing behind the trees and struck out on a broad grass path towards some electricity pylons (yes I know the correct term is towers but everyone calls them pylons) and across Sandy Lodge Golf Course. Does anything sound more Home Counties than Sandy Lodge Golf Course?

 

 

 

 The route goes right across the course so there are lots of signs warning you to beware of flying balls from the left or right where you cross a fairway. Although quite what you’re supposed to do if there’s one coming at you I don’t know. I’ve no idea what the protocol is either, who gives way to whom? Golfers or walkers? Anyway I made it across without incident then through a small wood and out onto a lane and turned right down to a T junction near a petrol station. There are supposed to be fine views to the north over the Colne Valley here but they must have been hiding behind the summer foliage. Having crossed the road at the island by the petrol station and after a couple of goes found the right path, (which does not appear to have a green metal squeeze barrier that the guide indicates any more) I found myself climbing up into the woods again following the way marks until I emerged onto the tree-studded open area of South Oxhey Playing Fields, cutting straight across to a welcome sturdy bench, ideal for stopping for a drink of squash and a Twix.

 

 

 

 I was undisturbed while I took a break, distant dog walkers being the only other sign of life apart from the distant houses that lay ahead. Pushing on out of South Oxhey Playing Fields and a brief bit of road walking through South Oxhey’s northern edge I entered the woods called Old Furze Field at the end of a short street called Nairn Green. I’ve been to Nairn, the town in Scotland and it’s not especially green. It is considerably less muddy than these woods though. Following the way marks wasn’t too hard but in places the going was quite unpleasant, on a few occasions the path was too gloopy and jungle-bashing was needed to find a way past. And all this time I was still going up. By the time I’d climbed up to drier ground and crossed Prestwick Road I’d renamed Old Furze Field as Fox Ache Woods in my head.

 

 

 

 At a T junction of paths in Nanscot Wood I had a decision to make. Turn left and follow Section 14 proper which the guide says some of the fields  can be impassable without wellies after wet weather or turn right to follow a route along better drained tracks and roads but missing the view over London which is probably the most notable feature on Section 14? Not without a little trepidation I turned left. Shit or bust, what could possibly go wrong?

 

 

 

 Nothing as it turned out. The possibly impassable field turned out to be so dry that the only small risk was turning an ankle in a dried-up hoof-print. You do get a good view over London and despite it being a little hazy Wembley Arch was easy to make out and I could see the top of The Shard because where can’t you see it? I went downhill into Pinnerwood Farm yard, squeezed between the parked vehicles to locate the path out the other side through another wood and along the drives of the cottages hidden in the woods and past the early 18th century Pinnerwood House, glimpsed between the trees and across its garden pond. It was home to the novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton in the 1830s. As well as being an author he was a politician and cabinet minister but he’s far away, buried in Westminster Abbey, probably not on a dark and stormy night fitting as that might have been.

 

A short walk along a concrete drive, left along a narrow footpath and across a couple of untidy paddocks, through a broken gate and along the back of a row of houses and I reached the signpost marking the end of Section 14 and start of 15.

 

 

 

London Loop Section 14 ✔︎

 

 The alleyway in the above photo took me out into suburban Hatch End where I walked to the station. I’ve no idea what was going on here with these unattended items. No one seemed to be taking any notice of them, no one appeared to be with them. Alien abduction?

 

 

 

 Anyway the TfL Go app suggested a bus to Rayners Lane and Piccadilly Line back to Hounslow West so I left the station and hopped on the H14. Shortly after which it began raining so that was bloody good timing! It had stopped by Rayners Lane and since it was already gone four o’clock I went for coffee in Costa next to the tube station before getting the rush hour tube. Not too busy to Acton Town but predictably the first westbound train was rammed. I let it go and was delighted to find the next one was half empty. Win!

 

Section 14 Flickr Album here.

 

 

 

 Not sure which section I’ll do next, they’re starting to get further away from home.

 

London Loop Section 13

Harefield West to Moor Park

 

A bit of a spur of the moment thing since the forecast was mostly dry. Parked at Hounslow West and got a bus to Uxbridge then a second one to the turning loop at Harefield West where I’d last been back in the middle of May. A short walk down the road to Summerhouse Lane and turn right to begin Section 13. Unlike the sections I’ve done so far this one is hillier and soon begins a long climb up into and through Park Wood. The path is largely fenced in but at some time the fence line must have been different because just off to one side there’s a random set of isolated cast iron gateposts.

 

 

 

 I carried on past Old Park Wood Nature Reserve, the meadows opening up on the left and then the allotments emerging onto Hill End Road. A left then right past houses and then over a stile where the terrain opened out and the path went onward across undulating fields in a most un-London like manner. It was quiet and rural following the field hedge boundaries and between each field a stile, footbridge, or a combination of the two.

 

 

 

 Crossing the border from Middlesex (I’m old enough to have been born in the County of Middlesex & for me it still exists) into Hertfordshire I passed some large farm buildings and could see a Police van parked at the far end of the track ahead. A peeling painted sign on the side of a big shed said “Police Animal Training Centre” and the signs on the paddock fences warned that “These horses will bite and kick”. Presumably if they kick you  they’ll claim that you fell down the stairs guv’ 😉

 

By the gateway the Loop turns right behind the Police van, an abandoned looking old Vauxhall Vivaro, running along the field edge parallel to the road and emerging into the car park of the Rose & Crown which looked like a nice pub but it was too early. I crossed the road and found the entrance to the tightly fenced-in footpath which led up Woodcock Hill into open fields heading towards the Nine Of Hearts Golf Course. 

 

 

 

 There are a lot of golf courses around here but before getting as far as the Nine of Hearts the Loop turns right into the trees onto a permissive bridleway, churned up at this point by many horses turning around since they aren’t permitted to go out into the meadow I’d just crossed. A bit of an odd equine dead end. A wide clear path leads into Bishops Wood and oh good, a bench on which to stop and eat my picnic lunch. Indeed the first place I’d come across to sit down since I got off the bus. Not much of a view though, just trees.

 

 

 

 Carrying on after a brief lunch stop I almost missed the sign where the Loop does a sharp left off the wide obvious track and heads off alongside a stream and starts weaving through the woods, fortunately quite well waymarked. In places the path has been well churned up by the horsey girls and I was glad that the recent weather hadn’t been as wet as earlier in the summer.

 

 

 

 The woods eventually opened out and I passed under the electricity pylons to reach the A404 at Betchworth Heath. The Loop turns right and follows the busy road past the Prince of Wales pub (not recommended for walkers says the route guide, I feel there must be a tale behind that) and then by the white Coal Tax Post you take your life in your hands and cross the A404 to the footpath leading into the woods the other side. It’s a sketchy place to be crossing a main road, the sight lines are not good 😟

 

 

 

 About a hundred yards in I met my first real obstacle, a tree fallen across the path. Not a huge tree but no way to go around it, too high to step over it, and too low to duck under it unless you’ve legs like a dachshund or are a champion limbo-dancer. I don’t qualify on either count and only by sending my rucksack through first did I manage to squeeze under without getting muddy knees. 

 

 

 

 Once past that obstacle it was easy going on sometimes grassy paths in and out of the trees until popping out between a fence and a wall into Kewferry Road, turn left, cross Batchworth Lane and join the very private Bedford Road into the very private indeed Moor Park Estate. Six square miles of gated, private residential roads with large expensive houses tucked away behind trees and hedges and gates and CCTV cameras. Lots of CCTV cameras. And restriction signs, and LED signs. You can almost smell the money and rather get the feeling you’re only allowed there under sufferance. Still, London Loop Section 13 goes straight up Bedford Road before turning right down an alleyway between high fences , so sod ‘em. 

 

 

 

 I risked taking one photo then passed underneath the Metropolitan Line to find the metal barrier and fingerpost that marks the end of Section 13. Straight on to go to Moor Park Station or bear right to continue onto Section 14 to Hatch End. I bore right but that’s another blog post to come.

 

Still, London Loop Section 13 ✔︎

 

Flickr Album here of course.

 

 

 

 

A Trip to Ramsgate

I’d only been to Ramsgate twice before, one afternoon in 2012 while touring Kent and in 1980 to get the hovercraft to the continent so it was essentially a new place for me. 

 

There was a particular place that I wanted to visit, only open at the weekend and it’s too far to go for a day trip, or would make for an unpleasantly long day, so I made a long weekend of it. I travelled by train and scored a rather nice seafront “suite” in a historic terraced house overlooking the harbour. The trains behaved (on the way there at least) and the accommodation was very comfortable with a fine view. 

 

 

  

This Museum Is (Not) Obsolete

 

 I’d been itching to go and visit This Museum Is (Not) Obsolete for some time having watched a lot of the Youtube videos on old electronic music and other noise-making stuff and of particular interest to me, old electromechanical telephone exchanges. The museum is billed as "AN INTERACTIVE MUSEUM CELEBRATING OBSOLETE AND EXPERIMENTAL TECHNOLOGY” and the emphasis is on the interactive, there’s lots of stuff to play with. Some of it truly weird!

 

 

 

 If you’re a musician type (and I’m definitely not) there are a lot of synthesisers here to play. Or if you’re not musical, to play about with and make a noise 😀 

The place is packed with old electronic games, equipment, and computers. There are display cases of all kinds of obscure stuff some of which has been wired up to do stuff at the push of a button. Then there’s the telephone stuff. A working Strowger UAX rural exchange connected to telephones (and some other things) around the museum so that you can make calls and watch the switches connecting the call. 

 

 

 

 You might find yourself having to explain to younger visitors (i.e. those under 40) how to use a rotary dial telephone though. That will remind you that you are old but you knew that already because you used to work on this stuff and now it’s only found in a museum 😀 There’s also an older UAX12 exchange wired into the mix, a GEC Private Automatic eXchange connected to a dial, and dotted about quite a lot of test equipment that was familiar from my working life. If you’ve any interest in this sort of thing I highly recommend  getting yourself down there, it’s only £6 to get in. Be aware though that time is distorted within the building and you’ll find two hours have gone by while you weren’t paying attention. I seem to have been to busy enjoying it to take many photos. And yes it’s tech geek/nerd heaven.

 

Ramsgate Tunnels

 

Having decided not to travel on Sunday because Rail Replacement Buses are not something I’m keen on I had another day in town so booked a tour of the Ramsgate Tunnels.

These are partly a disused railway tunnel that took the London Chatham & Dover Railway down to the seafront Ramsgate Harbour station. This station and the line through the tunnel closed in 1926 when the lines through Ramsgate were reconfigured and linked via the new station on the landward side of town. In the 1930s part of the tunnel was used for a miniature railway serving the amusement park and zoo on the site of the old harbour station. In the late 1930s the local council and the Mayor could see what was coming and that Ramsgate would be a bit too close for comfort to the action - it had been bombed by the Germans during the previous bout of unpleasantness - so they pushed hard to get a network of air raid shelter tunnels built leading in an arc under the town and connected to the former railway tunnel. It’s these, or part of them anyway which form the location of the tours.

 

 

 

 And very good they are too. Following a brief introductory film and a safety briefing (accept their advice to use a hard hat) you’re issued a torch and a couple of knowledgeable guides take you down into the tunnel shelter system, explaining how it all worked and pointing out various things of interest. This includes quite a bit of graffiti from the time before the tunnels re-opened for tours in 2014 and local urbex "enthusiasts" used to get in. Visitors who left their mark allegedly include Charles Darwin and inevitably Norma Stitz. They’ve decided to preserve the existing graffiti but request that no more is added. And yes at the limit of exploration they turn all the lights and torches off for a minute. It’s dark in there.

 

Back at the railway tunnel there’s a recreation of the “tunnel town” that developed to house residents displaced by the bombing with wood and canvas rooms for families who had lost their homes, and ablutions and medical facilities.

 

 

 

 It’s all very well done. Not overdone or Disneyfied, well able to hold it’s place against the large shelters you can visit such as Clapham South in London or Stockport, Greater Manchester. It has the advantage over Clapham in that being entered from the railway tunnel access is level-ish so no long climb down and back up 180 steps! 🙂

It has to be a “must do” when visiting Ramsgate.

 

 

 

 The rest of Ramsgate is worth a wander around too with a lot of interesting nooks and crannies in the backstreets, a busy harbour although it now lacks any cross-channel ferries, and some nice pubs. Although a warning to the easily offended, maybe it was just the fine weekend weather, maybe it was the proximity to Wetherspoons but the harbour front and town centre do seem to attract a noticeable number of shouty, sweary people.

 

I enjoyed my third visit to Ramsgate, there are more photos here on Flickr.

 

 

 

 Oh and the train journey home? Yeah, that was severely disrupted by someone getting themselves under a train at Maidenhead. Terminally 🙁

London Loop Section 9

June 1st

I got up early to do section 9 as the forecast was warm and sunny and I wanted to avoid the hottest part of the day. As it turned out the forecast was wrong, it was mostly cloudy but dry and with a cool breeze. Ideal really for walking ten miles. I got a bus, a train, and another train to Hampton Wick and made my way down to where the section starts near Kingston Bridge.

 

Kingston Bridge to Hatton Cross

 

The first bit from the bridge is just a bit of road walking but only a few hundred yards and through the metal gate into Church Grove Passage which leads into Bushy Park. Section 9 leads right the way across Bushy Park to Teddington and this is probably the nicest bit of the section, starting with traversing an open meadow that’s Skylark central so you are accompanied by their singing as you walk.

 

 

 

It’s also the busiest bit of section 9 especially today as it’s Bushy parkrun day and this corner is full of energetic, colourful people of every size and shape running, jogging, or plodding the main paths near Heron Pond. Now the “musical” accompaniment was someone rhythmically bashing what sounded like an old saucepan and yelling encouragement to the flagging parkrunners. I preferred the Skylarks.

 

 I timed my crossing of the sweaty stream of bodies crowding the main path, passed the pond and carried on across Chestnut Avenue, carefully as the lycra-louts were out in peloton-style force, and on to the area called The Pheasantry Plantation, where I spotted an interloping heron.

 

 

 

 I suppose he should have been at Heron Pond but perhaps he didn’t appreciate the saucepan player either. I was now into the Woodland Gardens where there was a welcome loo by the cafe. Dogs aren’t allowed in here so there’s an alternative route for loopers with dogs. The people just in front of me decided No Dogs Allowed didn’t apply if you picked it up and carried it through to the car park beyond 🙄

 

The path here wiggles its way through the gardens, under the trees and near the water and the birdsong here is mainly provided by London’s resident Ring Necked Parakeets, occasionally glimpsed in the canopy above. So for birdsong read loud, penetrating screeches 😀 Passing through two gates I entered the next, less busy part of the gardens, too late in the season for daffodils however.

 

 

 

 I followed the path out of the gardens, through the trees past a pond to Cobblers Walk and then right and left to the wide open space where the deer roam, and along by the Longford River where indeed the deer were roaming. Well largely they were lying in the long grass pretending no one could see them.

 

 

 

Or trimming the lower branches of the trees to an impressive horizontal line at maximum deer-tongue height.

 

 

 

 I passed out of the park through the large metal gate designed to keep deer in and traffic out and for the next quite a while it was back to pounding the pavements. Hampton Road, King’s Road, Connaught Road, Burton’s Road, over the railway to Shepperton and past Fulwell golf course to the busy Uxbridge Road. Then thankfully through a gate into more green space. Slightly muddy green space with a rough overgrown games pitch containing one set of miniature goalposts made from flaking blue-painted steel tubing. The day was warming up a bit and it was time to take off my long sleeved top. Squeezed down the alley between the golf centre car park and the sports centre car park and through a woodland to Staines Road. Back onto suburban streets again for a while.

 

At Hospital Bridge Road I crossed the River Crane and turned into Crane Park, under the very low subway under Great Chertsey Road, and follow the River Crane for a while, along muddy paths past the remains of the old gunpowder works, or the earthen banks that surrounded them at least. If you can spot them that is. I think this is them behind the wild Lime Bike.

 

 

 

 A bit easier to spot, although not from the direction I was was walking, is the "Shot Tower”. The last remaining building from Hounslow Gunpowder Mills and thought to be used to make musket balls by dropping molten lead from a great height into cold water. Except it might not have been. It was quite likely a windmill, there are millstones next to it and gunpowder was milled in a similar fashion to flour but with larger bangs if things went awry. The door was open but I didn’t have time go and climb the tower today. Ian visited earlier this year though and you can read more about the tower here.

 

 

 

 I carried on through Crane Park and out onto the Hanworth Road where I was able to pick up something to eat at the shops, which I’d forgotten to do in Hampton Wick, for lunchtime was approaching. As was Hounslow Heath. Up Hanworth Road past the cemetery with it’s boarded up chapel, over the Waterloo to Reading railway, and left through a recreation ground, through a strip of woodland, out of the Borough of Richmond and into that of Hounslow. Up onto Hounslow Heath, a nature reserve now the haunt of Adders (see warning notices) but no longer of Highwaymen (at least, there are no warning notices). Sit on a bench to picnic on felafel wrap and watch the jets pass overhead.

 

 

 

 Those planes will feature prominently on the rest of this walk as it passes under the flight path of Heathrow’s southern runway (27L), at times they will be only 300 feet above and I was taken back to my schooldays at Springwell where lessons were punctuated by pauses every few minutes to allow them to pass until the teacher could be heard again. Also to my childhood back garden where in the summer (which of course was always sunny back then) you could see a line of as many as 5 planes coming in to land, two going away from you, one directly above, and the lights of two more approaching you. When the Boeing 747 came in it was so much bigger than the others it almost looked as if the wheels would touch the chimney pots. I digress. Back to Section 9.

 

The path takes a zig-zag route off the heath through woods and along brambly, narrow paths along a gully next to a high bank, over a footbridge and eventually to the River Crane again. I had to reference the directions and check against GPS on the phone quite a bit to follow this section. Crossing over the Crane I turned left and followed it along its southern bank through Brazil Mill Woods, where there is occasionally what looks like evidence of former industrial use of the river.

 

 

 

It should be hard to take a wrong turn while following a river but I still managed to come out on a street unexpectedly and had to retrace my steps 50 yards to regain the correct route 🙄 eventually bringing me to Staines Road, crossing it by a clothing donation container wrapped in hazard tape and “Environmental Crime Scene” notices. No idea, there weren’t any details. I crossed over in a break in the traffic and entered Donkey Wood for the final stretch. Through Donkey Wood the route still follows the River Crane but along one of its marshier stretches so there are a number of little footbridges and a long section of boardwalk, the boards made of recycled plastic but firmly supported, unlike a stretch near home which is disturbingly bouncy. Passing under a road bridge and then up some steps onto it, it was immediately clear that I was now standing directly under the runway 27L flightpath 🙆 I crossed the river, turned left through the gap in the fence and along Causeway Walk through the woods with the River Crane on my left until I came out on the A30 Great South West Road where section 9 ends, opposite the start of Section 10 where I’d been back on April 19th, although the impenetrable barrier of the Great South West Road means that’s nearly a mile away on foot.

 

 

 

 I turned right and walked to Hatton Cross Station, got the tube to Heathrow Terminal 5 and two buses and an hour and three quarters later was home with the kettle on.

 

London Loop Section 9 ✔︎

 

My Section 9 Flickr Album is here.

 

The Inner London Ramblers guide to Section 9 (PDF) is here.