London Loop Section 15

Hatch End to Elstree

 

Back out on the Hertfordshire - Greater London (Middlesex) boundary again for a 9-ish mile walk on what turned out to be a rather warm day. A mixed bag of suburban spaces, parkland, golf courses and fields. I got off the bus outside Hatch End Telephone Exchange and walked round to Grimsdyke Road, down the path between the houses to the field I’d finished Section 14 in back in June. Section 15 starts in this corner, can you spot it?

 

 

 

 It wasn’t the last time today that I would curse the shockingly overgrown state of the paths on this section of the Loop. I made it over the stile and turned left through the brambles and undergrowth, it would have been easier to follow the field edge but the toilets at Rayners Lane are still “temporarily” closed and I needed some cover to offload my morning mug of tea.

 

For another half mile or so I wished I’d brought secateurs or something and then I found the path down the back of the houses in Derwent Avenue was completely impenetrable. This wasn’t the start I’d hoped for. I had no option at this point but to backtrack and divert via the parallel street to reach the wooded Sylvia Avenue Open Space and beyond that finally an open field!

 

 

 

 On the other side of which lay Hertfordshire. Also the West Coast Main Line railway which I followed to Little Oxhey Lane and crossed via a rather grotty steel trough pedestrian bridge alongside the road bridge. For another half a mile I walked along the road with little of interest except a fading, undated notice from the London Borough of Harrow informing whoever had their horses on the borough’s land that if they weren’t moved they’d be sold. I didn’t see any horses. I managed to cross Oxhey Lane at the lights without being run over and on reaching the far side noted a pedestrian crossing push button in the hedge and a single traffic signal in the trees. Not sure what this is supposed to do? An actual pedestrian crossing would be nice.

 

 

 

 Beyond the field gate here the path got brambly again but passable and I made it through the scrubland to Grim’s Dyke Golf Course without too many injuries. I’ve never really managed to work up any enthusiasm for golf, agreeing with the description often (but probably erroneously) attributed to Mark Twain of it as “a good walk spoiled”. There were a few people out today who seem to disagree though.

 

 

 

 I was glad to reach the shade of the trees on the far side of the course though, the forecast scattered clouds having largely scattered and it being uphill most of the way. I left the course down Ass House Lane, which transatlantic readers will no doubt find amusing and reached Grim’s Dyke, which they might consider inappropriate. It’s a linear earthwork, a ditch believed to be at least 2000 years old and probably marking a boundary. The Saxons didn’t have archaeologists however so they ascribed its construction to the Devil, a.k.a. Grim. I turned left and walked through the woods along the bank alongside Grim’s Dyke which could still be made out on my right, if you looked closely enough.

 

 

 

 Continuing through the woods of Harrow Weald Common I crossed Grim’s Dyke at a bridge and passed the Telecoms radio station with its tall steel lattice tower poking up above the trees to reach Gilbert’s Lake. The Gilbert for whom it is named is Sir William, of “and Sullivan” fame and the lake and surrounds were once his ornamental gardens. Sir William died here after going in to save a young lady who’d got into difficulties swimming in the lake, thereby achieving his wish to die “on a summers day in my garden”. On this summers day I sat on a rock by the lake and ate my picnic lunch.

 

 

 

 Fortified by crisps and fish paste sandwiches I carried on across Harrow Weald Common to the Old Redding road and crossed over to the view point in the car park. There are good panoramic views over London from here and despite the heat haze I could see the top of the Wembley Arch glinting above the treetops and a scatter of tall buildings in North West London.

 

 

 

 Leaving the car park I passed the pub called The Case Is Altered which was closed, probably just as well or further progress might have faltered. It might be permanently shut from what I can gather although it didn’t have the appearance of an ex-pub? Let’s hope it lives again.

 

 

 

 I crossed back over the road and into the woods of Harrow Weald Common and followed wide and thankfully bramble-free paths past cottages built for workers at Grim’s Dyke House, over little bridges and along boardwalks to reach Common Road. Here I crossed to enter Bentley Priory Open Space. Behind the security fence and the trees I caught a glimpse of Bentley Priory itself, formerly the HQ of RAF Fighter Command and the place from where the Battle of Britain was directed in 1940. The open space has a good solid concrete path running across it that looks like it might be a wartime construction but I’ve no idea. 

 

 

 

 There’s a good view over open country to the right and the path is popular with dog walkers, eventually it exits Bentley Priory Open Space onto a track that leads to Priory Drive. This is the posh bit, massive houses, no footway, lots of notices making those passing through feel as unwelcome as a fart in a space suit, expensive cars on large drives, big gates. You get the idea. I left through the black steel security gates and crossed into Warren Lane ahead. Turning left through a car park I almost missed the Loop way marker in the corner which pointed to a path that looped around through the woods to emerge back on Warren Lane. Because sometimes the London Loop takes the long way round to get away from a short stretch of road even when it has a footway. I crossed the road to Stanmore Cricket Club where I rested for a while on a handy bench under the trees at the edge of the pitch and tried not to think about how much further I had to walk. It was a bit hot.

 

 

 

 Fortunately I now headed through shady woodland again past the Brewery Ponds, reservoirs for a long defunct brew-pub and coaching inn, The Vine, nearby. Beyond the larger pond I headed across a grassy space and between a line of trees to a track and then through a gap to Little Common, where I claimed 2 points for spotting the stinkpipe 🙂

(It’s a Joolz Guides thing.)

 

 

 

 From Little Common I passed Ceasar’s Pond at came out on Wood Lane by the Husaini Shia Islamic Centre. It was quite busy and frequented by the sort of arsehole that thinks double yellow lines don’t count if you park on the footway next to them, completely blocking it so pedestrians have to walk in the road 😠

A little further on I turned right into an unnamed private road with a Loop sign, a sign showing it as Public Byway No.6, and of course two signs saying ‘Private’ and ’No Public Right Of Way’ because that’s how they roll in Stanmore. I took no more notice of this nonsense than did the fox crossing the road in front of me.

 

 

 

 At the end of the private road I went down the narrow alleyway (more brambles but someone had been along with the weed-whacker to clear most of them) that runs between high fences through the grounds of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, stepping out at the end to join a broad, rough track and scaring the ‘good-for-the-roses' out of the hooded horse in the adjacent field. Literally.

 

 

 

 Where the track turned right I branched left over a little bridge buried in a hedge and once again entered Hertfordshire. Here I had to climb up and over part of Caldecote Hill following a faint grassy track towards the M1 Motorway. Two walkers came the other way, fully kitted out with rucksacks and walking poles and it struck me that they were the first two hikers I’d met today.

 

 

 

 On the far side of the hill by the gas pumping station I turned right onto Elstree Road under the motorway and followed it across the Watford Bypass until it became Watford Road which I crossed not without some difficulty to enter Aldenham Country Park by the huge Aldenham Reservoir. I paused for a rest by the dam that contains the reservoir and risked checking how much further I had to walk. About two miles, not too bad, about the same as to my local railway station and back. No problem, finished the contents of my water bottle and looked forward to the possibility of an ice cream in Elstree 😅

 

 

 

From the reservoir I crossed Aldenham Road and was surprised to see a group of old fashioned tents in the field to the left. I looked it up later, “Home Farm Glamping” apparently. Bell tents from £150/night, Yurts from £200/night, corporate events, weddings, and hen dos catered for. There seemed to be a large party of blue uniformed kids staying there, standing in a circle and cheering. I moved on through a large open area, part of Composers Park, through some young trees and eventually to Elstree Hill North which is also the Roman road Watling Street which I crossed, turning into Allum Lane. From here the Section 15  takes another big loop, three sides of a square, before returning to Allum Lane near the section end. Tempted as I was to just shortcut it I decided to follow the official route and plodded on up through the field to the north. At least I got to claim another 2 points.

 

 

 

 Further up the hill just before reaching the golf course there was a passive-aggressive sign just begging for wilful misinterpretation. Horses in Elstree can read apparently 🙂

 

 

 

 “Please keep to the Public Footpath” would have served just as well. I went through the broken gate in the hedge onto The Hertsmere Golf Course, following the track eastwards across the course braving some very inaccurate driving - I bet he had trouble finding that ball - and turning south through Allum Lane Spinney to reach Allum Lane again. The final stretch east along Allum Lane brought me at last to the end of Section 15 at Deacon’s Hill Road next to the ASDA petrol station. I was rather disappointed to discover they don’t sell ice creams so settled for a bottle of chilled water and an iced coffee. 

 

 

 

I did get my ice cream at Elstree & Borehamwood Station though, then caught a Thameslink train to West Hampstead, the Overground to Gunnersbury, and the hellish mobile sauna known as the New Routemaster to Hounslow West and my nice air-conditioned car!

 

 Not sure which bit to try next, Section 16 is over 11 miles so I might look at 5, 6, or 7 for something a bit easier.

 

All 57 photos I took on Section 15 are in this Flickr Album

 

 

Online Accounts in Xubuntu 24.04 Noble Numbat

 Xubuntu, the XFCE version of Ubuntu Linux does not have an Online Accounts option in the settings menu. I have previously got around this by running the Gnome Control Center from the command line using:

 env XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME gnome-control-center

 but just recently when I tried this it threw up an error:

GLib-GIO[98054]: ERROR: Settings schema 'org.gnome.shell.app-switcher' is not installed

Much searching of the interwebs ensued but I have managed to fix it so I'm just going to document it here for future reference and to help anyone else who might need it.

Disclaimer: I'm not an expert in anything, this worked for me, beyond that you'll need to do your own research.

Taking it from the top, (although I already had gnome-control-center and gnome-online-accounts installed) the magic incantations to be entered into the terminal are:

sudo apt install gnome-control-center

and

sudo apt install gnome-online-accounts

To fix the error I had to do:

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends gnome-shell-common 

After which running

env XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME gnome-control-center

in the terminal opened the Gnome Control Center without chucking up any errors and I could use the Online Accounts section to (re)setup my Google and Microsoft accounts as previously.

 

As an extra step I added a launcher on my desktop and in the settings menu for quicker access.

If I were much cleverer I expect I'd be able to make that open Gnome Control Center directly rather than via the terminal but as a double-click solution it's good enough for me.

 

Footpath 47

 I had a bit of time on my hands so I took a random ride out to Barking Riverside to see if it had changed much since my previous visit in August 2022 not long after the new station opened. Back then it was very much a building site.

 Now? Still a building site really, a bit tidier but not a lot going on on a Friday afternoon.

The area outside the river side of the station is a bit more finished and there's a horse box, which I assume dispenses coffee at some unspecified times but it wasn't open. I took a stroll down to the riverboat pier again but this time it was chained shut it being about 4 p.m. and there being no boats between 11:35 and 17:12 on a weekday.

So no escape that way. Not wanting to get straight back on the train I looked for something else to do and found Footpath 47 signposted from the "esplanade" near the pier. It's not a long walk, roughly a mile, but it takes you along the river side eastwards along what is currently a grassy bank with a large open space fenced off on the landward side which no doubt one day will be covered in blocks of identikit flats. Best make the most of this prime outdoor facility while it's here then. 

The Thames is around half a mile wide here giving a view over to Cross Ness and the water works which I visited in 2019 and more prominently the white and blue Belvedere Incinerator at the Riverside Resource Recovery Energy from Waste Facility, turning London's rubbish into power.

There was a fairly strong south-westerly breeze coming across the river, bending the long grass and short, scrubby trees on the riverbank but not disturbing the birds feeding on the exposed mudflats below - although they did all take care to keep their heads pointing into the wind.

Looking back past Barking Riverside Pier the horizon was studded with south east London towers and the cranes at the new Barking Riverside developments.

Intermittently aircraft bound for London City Airport made their way westwards following the Thames. Despite which it feels quite remote out here and is fairly quiet. I'm sure that will change as the flats and houses get closer.

After half a mile or so Footpath 47 reaches Horseshoe Corner where it turns inland to follow The Gores stream from its confluence with the Thames up a short valley with reed beds in the bottom to come out on Choats Road. The far side of The Gores is very different to the Footpath 47 side for here are the industrial estates of Dagenham Docks, with an aggregate plant blocking any further Thames side progress.

Over a high bank and a fence on the left of the path I could just make out ground works beginning on what The Masterplan for Barking Riverside describes as The Village – On The Horizon. With plenty of family homes and located close to the local schools and shops, The Village is an ideal neighbourhood to raise a family. The area also benefits from plenty of green spaces and long views over the River Thames.

Which is a good example of what Diamond Geezer refers to as "bolx".

The stretch of path from Horseshoe Corner to Choats Road starts out quite flowery with a lot of what Google Lens tells me is Goat's Rue and finishes very littery at the point where you squeeze out between substantial chunks of metal embedded into the ground, there to prevent the entry of motorbikes I suppose.

I squeezed out, turned left and walked down to the bus stop by the BRL Infrastructure Office where I caught the EL2 to Barking Station.

I can now say I've walked the remote Footpath 47 while it's still (relatively) remote and if you're anywhere nearby you should too, although to be honest it's not worth a special trip form afar.

I've put some more photos on Flickr

London Loop Section 8

Ewell to Kingston Bridge

This fairly level 8 mile stretch mostly follows the Hogsmill River except where that isn’t possible in Old Malden and again between Berrylands and Kingston. I started outside Ewell West station at about 11:25 in the morning having travelled there by train.

The section proper starts in Bourne Hall Park which is access through an arch in a brick wall in Chessington Rd. By the pond, which was crowded with Canada Geese I turned right and shortly afterwards re-read the directions and retraced my steps because I should have turned left to leave the park, crossing Chessington Rd. and then turning left into the woods and shortly after joining the Hogsmill River (hereafter to be referred to as the Hogsmill for short) by the white clad building which was formerly the Upper Mill which was in production until 1953. Actually the building you see now was mostly pulled down and rebuilt as offices in 1984.

I followed the Hogsmill to the site of Lower Mill (burnt down 1938) where a boardwalk – more of a bridge really – runs above the river and through the tunnel carrying the Raynes Park to Epsom railway line thus avoiding the Loop having a lengthy detour away from the Hogsmill.

The next bit involved following the river through the partly wooded Hogsmill Open Space, swapping from one bank to the other via a bridge and then back again after passing the playing fields, crossing Ruxley Lane and eventually coming to the unwelcome intrusion that is the A240 Kingston Road. This required a short diversion to the traffic lights to get across the busy dual carriageway. I went through the gap in the fence to find the Hogsmill again and followed it as it paralleled Worcester Park Road. The river here forms the boundary between Greater London and Surrey with the path on the London side. An information board here says that The Worcester Park gunpowder mills were along this part of the river and on several occasions blew up. In 1851 it was the door of one of the derelict gunpowder huts near here which pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt used in his picture "The Light of the World". 

 And having learnt that nugget of information I shall evermore think of that painting as “Jesus and the Abandoned Bomb Factory” :-)

I’d now reached the point where the route leaves the Hogsmill, there being no continuous path ahead and for road safety reasons takes to suburban roads heading first SE then ENE and curving around to head NNW and what the directions omit to mention is that this is a long uphill slog just to avoid the footway-less Old Malden Lane which would be considerably shorter. At the highest point the path heads down through the woods to meet Church Road. Here I had a choice of turning right on the main route past the church of St. John the Baptist or left to cut down through the woods on the Alternative route via Six Acre Meadow. I chose left.

I reckon this was the better choice, Six Acre Meadow was a good place to eat my picnic lunch, it now being just after 1 p.m. and there being a handy bench. Next to the bench was another information board introducing a second artistic encounter. Sir John Everett Millais painted the background to his work “Ophelia” along this stretch of the Hogsmill in 1851. “Ophelia” herself was added afterwards afterwards in 1852, modelled by 19 year old Elizabeth Siddall lying fully clothed in a full bathtub. Probably a wise move looking the river water if she’d laid down in that she might have spent a long time afterwards sitting on the loo.

After Six Acre Meadow I rejoined the main route to reach the A3 Malden Way / Kingston bypass road which was audible long before it was visible. It’s a bit of a schlep up the road, through the subway, and back down again to reach the far side of the road and they’ve put a high fence along the central reservation to thwart anyone tempted to take a shortcut. Having rejoined the Hogsmill it soon got a bit quieter and the next half mile or so followed the river through Elmbridge Meadows Nature Reserve, popular with the local dog walkers.

At Berrylands I left the river again, passing under the South Western Main railway line at the station and plodding down Lower Marsh Lane between the Hogsmill Waste Water Treatment Works and Surbiton Cemetery, turning right along Villiers Road to cross the Hogsmill by the Spiritualist Church and left down Swan Walk to rejoin the river by Hogsmill Community Gardens, busy with green-fingered types.

From here it was all through Kingston town centre, the route following the Hogsmill where it could, past Kingston Town Hall to Clattern Bridge. A nice cast plaque on the bridge says “Clattern Bridge, which crosses the Hogsmill River, is one of the oldest bridges in Surrey and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The earliest known reference is in a deed of 1293 and the medieval name, "Clateryngbrugge”, is thought to have been descriptive of the sound of horses crossing the bridge. The stone arches on the downstream side are the oldest parts of the bridge which until the mid nineteenth century was only 8 feet wide.” You can only really see the old bit from the downstream side.

From Clattern Bridge I followed the Hogsmill past the trendy eateries on Charter Quay to its confluence with the Thames, thereby completing another London River walk since the source of the Hogsmill is way back in Bourne Hall Park, and then along the Thames to complete Loop Section 8 at Kingston Bridge. It was ten to three. Good, time to go and have a pint in the Druids Head before getting the bus back to Ewell West Station just in time to catch the trains home.

I’ve added some more pink highlighter to my Urban Good London National Park City map and can tell that for whichever section I do next the logistics of getting to and from it are going to become more involved and the journeys longer.

Here's a Flickr Album of 26 photos I took along Section 8.

Saltburn-by-the-Sea

Looking for something to do for the rest of the day after my visit to Locomotion I decided to stay on the train from Shildon back to Darlington and go to the seaside at Saltburn-by-the-Sea. Being able to buy a ticket from Darlington to Saltburn and back while on the train from Shildon to Darlington using the Trainsplit app helped the decision no end.

 

The journey took about 55 minutes and was through new territory for me so I had an aha! moment passing through Middlesborough when I spotted the famous Tees Transporter Bridge in the distance, confirming that it never did get moved to a Native American Casino resort in Arizona  😀

 

 

 

 Saltburn was very breezy. Also very hot so the breeze was quite welcome. The town sits on top of the cliffs and the beach, prom, and pier are some 120 feet below. The good news is that Saltburn has the oldest operating water-balance cliff funicular in the United Kingdom. The bad news is it isn’t currently operating since suffering a fire in January 2024 and as yet there’s no firm date for its repair and reopening 🙁

 

 

 

 So it was down the steps instead, 175 of them (I counted on the way back up) which as everyone knows is the equivalent of a 15 storey building 😉 I went out to the end of the pier, as you always should, the views are good but the wind out there was blow-your-hat-off strength. 

 

 

 

Then I walked along to Old Saltburn, the original settlement at Saltburn Gill. It’s much smaller than the Victorian town up on the cliffs but importantly right on the front is the Ship Inn so I took the opportunity to get a pint and find a relatively sheltered spot on the terrace to enjoy it.

 

 

 

 A walk along the length of the prom and back followed by obligatory seaside chips (untroubled by seagulls thankfully) and then it was time to climb back up those steps and back to the station to get a train back to Darlington. I liked Saltburn-by-the-Sea, I’ll have to visit again, preferably when the funicular is back in operation because I do like riding those.

 

 

Doing the Locomotion, a trip to Darlington and Shildon.

I’ve been to the National Railway Museum in York twice, first on a school trip around 1977 and again in 2017. I’d never been to the other National Railway Museum site, Locomotion,in Shildon, County Durham though although I’d often thought about it. It’s not quite as easy to get to from here in the south as York but now seemed like as good a time as any so I booked a couple of nights midweek  in a hotel in Darlington, which was the closest I could find a railway-convenient vacancy. Then bought a couple of train tickets, packed my bag, and crossed my fingers for a good trip. 

 

Despite a delay between Reading and Paddington (when isn’t there? This time it was due to a vehicle striking a bridge) I easily made my connection to the LNER Azuma at Kings Cross and was whisked north. Such a long way north too although the limited number of stops helped make it feel less. Despite it being a busy train the seat next to mine remained empty and since I had showered that morning it must have been because strangely the reservation indicator showed “may be reserved later” although it never was.

 

Walking from the station to my hotel I thought “this is a bit bloody warm for t’North” and realised I’d managed to book my trip for a mini heatwave and in a hotel room without air conditioning 🙄 It was a bit of a sticky night even with the window open and a fan going. (The following day hit 25 C, I checked the weather at home, 31.5 C! Dodged that then.)

 

Of course the only sensible thing to do was go for a beer and marvel that a pint of Guinness only cost £3.55 in the centre of Darlington. In a real pub too, The Old English Gentleman, not sodding Wetherspoon’s. There was some football match going on so I don’t know if that affected the price but seriously compared to my area that’s a cheap pint 🙂

 

Not being any kind of football fan I went off in search of something I am a fan of, a curry. Cafe Spice, tucked away down a narrow passage called Clark’s Yard was midweek quiet and definitely provided the goods. Tasty chicken dansak, saag paneer, and mushroom pilau rice washed down with a couple of Cobras and quite wallet-friendly. Replete I returned to my hotel room and chilled out in front of the telly. Chilled isn’t the right word obviously given the overnight temperature remained stubbornly high.

 

The following morning after breakfast (and it would have been rude not to have had the full English included in the room rate) I walked to the railway station and got a return ticket to Shildon. I could equally have got a bus which would have taken about the same time overall but the train was actually cheaper with my railcard. Taking the train also led to a further adventure later which I probably wouldn’t have done had I been on the bus. 

 

Northern Trains two coach Class 156 grumbled along the former Stockton and Darlington Railway and I alighted at Shildon Station, a short walk from the Locomotion museum site. A much shorter walk in fact than the route that google maps took me on but I didn’t discover that until later. It doesn’t seem to know about the path which links the station to the museum. 

 

 

 

The museum now has two large buildings, or halls as they call them. The Main Hall contains the reception desk, cafe, shop, and the oldest exhibits and is passenger train focussed. Here is Locomotion No.1 the locomotive, Rocket, the Deltic, the prototype HST, and the APT amongst others. Here also is the children’s play area and the primary school parties to be navigated around and avoid when taking photos.

 

 

 

On the other side of the site is the New Hall. This is basically a big train shed and focuses on goods trains. It was somewhat quiete on my visit since the school groups weren’t in it. Large steam locomotive, very shiny Class 31 Diesel locomotive, cranes, shunters, and a variety of goods/freight rolling stock which are often overlooked for the more glamorous passenger services. There are clear information boards for the exhibits (as there are in the main hall) and I learned a good many things about railway goods services that I didn’t know before.

 

 

 

Outside between the two halls there are some sidings with more shunters and the replica Stephenson’s Rocket and here also is his iron Gaunless Bridge from 1823, the very first railway bridge to use an iron truss.

 

 

 

Away from the halls back towards Shildon Station (along the path google maps doesn’t admit to) and in the village are a number of historic buildings and structures which are also part of the wider Locomotion site. Shildon was the location of the Stockton & Darlington’s main engineering works making it the world’s first railway town and earning it the title of “The Cradle of the Railways”. The preserved buildings include a warehouse, a Sunday school, the goods shed, and a row of cottages including Soho House, built for Timothy Hackworth, steam locomotive engineer and the S&D’s first locomotive superintendent.

 

 

 

In the 20th century Shildon developed into the largest railway wagon works in the world employing around 2500 people and capable of building 1200-1500 new wagons a year and overhauling 20000. Despite a campaign to keep it open and find new orders it was closed down in 1984 by British Rail Engineering Ltd. and the Tory government resulting in most of the male workforce of Shildon losing their jobs and Shildon ceasing to be a “railway town”.

 

Is Locomotion worth travelling a long way to visit? Absolutely yes. Also entry is free, although they encourage donations (or just buy yourself something from the shop or cafe) and you don’t get better value than that. I took a lot of photos too.

 

 

 

I spent about 3 hours in Shildon and on the train back to Darlington wondered what else to do for the rest of the day, which was very hot and sunny. Then I realised that the train carried on all the way to Saltburn-by-the-Sea and I’d never been there either...