20th August
Two Tubes and a Purple Train followed by a bumpy bus ride from Romford deposited me at Havering-Atte-Bower around quarter to midday to start the next part of my London Loop walk. It was considerably cooler than the last time I was here, enough to require a second layer in fact, although that would be put away before too long.
A short walk north from the bus stop on the green brought me to a Loop sign pointing east down a narrow path between a garage and a wooden fence, which soon became a narrow path between a wire fence and a lot of brambles. This was when I remembered that I meant to bring a walking pole, very useful for fending off sharp vegetation but not if you’ve left it in the back of the car on the other side of London 🙄
Oh well, the path soon widened out anyway and then led along the edge of an open field. To the right appeared a white water tower built in the 1930s but made to resemble a Norman tower. I followed the path left around the top of the field past a sad looking horse (Why the long face?) and then through a gap in the hedge over a sketchy-looking wooden footbridge, through some brambles and up over the brow of a low hill in an open field.
Following the path across the field I came to the iron gateposts that were once the entrance to Pyrgo House. Just past here the footpath has been blocked, cordoned off with an electrified fence, the Public Footpath signs and Loop way-markers torn down and thrown in the hedge to provide a space for rich gits to play on their horses.
I followed the faint track alongside the electric fence up and around the horse ride to try and find the route of the Loop again. The route guide here is a bit vague, there are several paths. Once again the waymarker had been knocked down and moved so that it pointed the wrong way. Following the arrow alongside another fence with horses on the other side I came to a metal kissing gate, tied to this was another post with Loop and footpath markers which pointed in directions that made no sense and didn’t appear to be paths. After some messing about I realised that I was now some distance from the correct line of the Loop and had to just take a bearing across the field to regain it alongside Tench Pond Plantation. Come the revolution the bastards at (I think) Home Farm need to be first up against the wall 😦
By the sign imploring people to “please stop shooting our deer, we regard them as pets and our children play in these woods so it’s not safe” I turned North up the field edge then east through another field to reach Paternoster Row, a quiet lane leading past a number of bungalows to Widdrington Farm. Just before the farm I climbed over a high and quite wobbly stile to take Footpath 10. The route guide says this crosses Carter’s Brook but if so I never saw it. What I did see was my first deer of the day and even managed a slightly fuzzy long-distance photo of it.
Footpath 10 ended at Cummings Hall Lane along which I walked to Noak Hill Road by The Deer's Rest PH (too early to stop for beer) and past that turned into Tees Drive. This runs alongside the Carter’s Brook where it flows through the trees in a steep sided dell. Despite being next to the road with housing on the other side this strip of woodland was full of deer so I walked along the roadside, the trees were a bit low along the path anyway. I think that I spotted Bambi anyway, along with some of his friends.
From here I was following the Carter’s Brook, mostly unseen behind a broad strip of brambles and trees, first on the left then after crossing Whitchurch Road with it on the right along with more deer on the wide grass area between the river and the blocks of flats. Crossing Dagnam Park Drive I entered Central Park.
It’s nothing like the pictures I’ve seen of its New York namesake but it did provide a handy bench on which to pause for my picnic lunch. Although lunch was accompanied by loud rap music and the occasional waft of exotic roll-ups, so maybe the two Central Parks do have something in common after all.
In Central Park Carter’s Brook becomes Paines Brook and the Loop follows it South through a strip of green between the housing estates, eventually reaching the busy A12 Colchester Road dual carriageway. Fortunately it wasn’t so busy as to need the 1000 yard detour to the pedestrian crossing. Safely across I rejoined the path beside the Paines Brook through a field to Church Road, and then a short walk through residential streets to the end of the section at Harold Wood Station.
It was now quite warm so I treated myself to an ice lolly, sat on a bench across the road from the station entrance, and prepared to start Section 22.
London Loop Section 21 ✅
London Loop Section 21 Flickr Album.
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