6th January 2026
Well three different weather apps all agreed there would be no
precipitation until late evening so an ideal day to tick off the first
new Capital Ring walk of 2026, right? With temperatures set to barely
rise above 0° C that should prevent it being muddy too. So I armed
myself with a Corned Beef sandwich and a flask of Bovril and set
off.
The first few snowflakes fell as I stepped out of Boston Manor
Station and made my way back down to the Grand Union Canal at Osterley
Lock to walk Section 8 to Greenford. The canal was partly frozen over
which seemed to have lifted the litter and detritus up onto the surface
making it look particularly grotty.
I carried on along the towpath and crossed Osterley Park Weir at the
top of the loop of River Brent which flows to the east of Osterley Island. The
Grand Union Canal uses quite a bit of the River Brent in its course but
the cut through Osterley Lock bypasses this loop.
A little further along the towpath there was the sad sight of a
sunken cabin cruiser frozen into the ice covering the canal and with all
its side windows put out. Wrecked boats seem to be common along this
stretch of canal, there were a few on Section 7. Of course there are
also boats that on first sight appear to be wrecks but are actually
someone’s home. It’s a long way from the image of gaily painted
narrowboats featured in the Canal and River Trust literature. A long low
board on the side of the towpath bore the inscription
“BRITISH WATERWAYS
KERR CUP PILE DRIVING COMPETITION
PRIZE LENGTH OF
PILING 1959”
I can find little information regarding the Kerr Cup beyond that it
was a competition held between work gangs installing the piling that
reinforces the banks of the cut.
I passed under Trumpers Way road bridge and past a building on the
far side of the cut with a Victorian looking round brick chimney
although the building itself looked newer and came to the bottom of the
Hanwell Flight of locks. This flight of six locks with another two a bit
further up is the largest flight in London and was built in 1794. It
carried the Grand Junction Canal (now part of the Grand Union Canal) up
and to the west, away from the River Brent which continues Northwards.
After the first lock, number 97 - which is actually the last lock in the
Hanwell Flight since the Grand Junction ran from Braunston in
Northamptonshire to the River Thames at Brentford therefore locks and
bridges are numbered from north to south - the Capital Ring leaves the
canal to follow the River Brent.
I followed the path alongside the tree lined River Brent until I
reached Hanwell Island and then Hanwell Bridge which carries the busy
Uxbridge Road over the river. Fortunately the arch taking the path under
the road wasn’t flooded as it sometimes is so I had no need to divert to
the pedestrian crossing the reach the other side of Uxbridge Road and
Brent Meadow. I’ve been to Brent Meadow before because it
has a large and obvious interesting feature in it which thousands of
people use every day but hardly any of them have ever seen it.
The brick built Wharncliffe Viaduct is 890 ft (270m) long and 66 ft
(20m) high and carries the Great Western Main Line and the Elizabeth
Line across the Brent Valley between Hanwell and Southall stations on
eight arches. You’d not notice it from a train though unless you were
specifically looking out for it and even then you can’t really see it,
for that you need to visit Hanwell. Then you can admire what was the
first major structural design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and the first
major engineering work on the GWR project to be completed. It was also
the first railway viaduct to be built with hollow piers and later in
1839 carried the world’s first commercial electric telegraph system,
installed by Sir Charles Wheatstone and William Fothergill Cooke between
Paddington and West Drayton stations and extended four years later to
Slough at which time it became Britain’s first public telegraph system,
to the delight of the Royal Household at Windsor Castle though not of
one John Tawell, a murderer from Slough who was apprehended at
Paddington after a telegraph message was sent saying:
A murder has just been committed at Salt Hill and the suspected
murderer was seen to take a first class ticket to London by the train
that left Slough at 7.42pm. He is in the garb of a Kwaker with a brown
great coat on which reaches his feet. He is in the last compartment of
the second first-class carriage
Which is thought to be the first use of the telegraph to catch a
murderer. If you do come you probably won’t get to see the viaduct
through plentiful numbers of snowflakes as I did though.
I passed under the viaduct and turned left into Churchfields
Recreation Ground and with the Brent on my left then into Brent Lodge
Park continuing by the river with Hanwell Zoo on my right before cutting
across towards the zoo buildings in search of a bench on which to eat
lunch, preferably sheltered though the best I could find was under some
trees near the coach house. It was OK though because the snow suddenly
stopped. A picnic lunch was had accompanied by the sounds of
Parakeets.
I carried on after lunch past the Parish Church of St. Mary Hanwell
and crossed over the River Brent on the tubular steel Boles Bridge to
Hanwell Cricket Ground and then onward across Brent Valley Public Golf
Course. There were many signs warning of the danger from golf balls but
no one appeared to be up for ruining a good walk in this weather.
Crossing over the River Brent again I climbed up past some allotments
to reach Bittern’s Field, a wide open space elevated from the river bank
because it was once a landfill site. Where bulldozers once levelled
piles of rubbish dogs now run happily across the grass which is managed
as a hay meadow. Apparently there are Slow-worms here but this isn’t the
weather for them to be out. I followed the path parallel to the river
until reaching Greenford Bridge which carries Ruislip Road East over the
Brent and where a Heron patrolled the gravel bank in the middle of the
river.
Crossing Ruislip Road East on the Zebra Crossing I was nearly hit by
a wanker in a BMW who decided that was the best place to furiously
overtake the JCB that was impeding his progress even though I was half
way across the road. Then the JCB driver blew his horn at me because I
had paused to avoid being run down. Two wankers in the space of twenty
feet. Welcome to Greenford.
The bright lights and no doubt warm pubs and cafes of Greenford town
centre lay just to the west but the Capital Ring eschews such pleasures
and turns down Costons Lane to reach Perivale Park. A tarmac path led
into the park, crossing Costons Brook then turning left and then right
along the north side of the open space passing an interesting memorial
bench in the form of a piano keyboard. This commemorates local musician
Nicky Hopkins. You might not have heard of Hopkins
(I confess I hadn’t) but you’ve probably heard him play. Born in
Perivale in 1944 he died in 1994 in Nashville TN. Ill health caused him
to work mostly as a session musician and the list of acts with whom he
worked is impressive, including The Rolling Stones, The Who, The
Kinks, Jeff Beck, Art Garfunkel, John Lennon, and Rod Stewart.
Leaving Perivale Park I crossed the A40 Western Avenue on the high
footbridge just north of South Greenford Station for the final stretch
of Section 8, a short bit of suburban street followed by an alley
sandwiched between the railway and the fence of Cayton Green Park, home
to Northolt Rugby Football Club and Tara Gaelic Football Club, then
another curve of suburban houses to reach Greenford Road by the two
railway bridges. The first carries the Central Line and the GWR
Greenford Branch, the second the Acton–Northolt line, otherwise known as
the New North Main Line. Having passed under both bridges I arrived at
the crossroads with Rockware Avenue and the end of Section 8.
On the corner of Rockware Avenue as I walked to Greenford Station I
noticed a very old piece of street furniture, a habit carried over from
my old job, it is a cast iron electricity supply cabinet with the words
“Boro. of Ealing Electricity Dept.” surrounding the Ealing Coat of Arms
and the date 1910 cast into the door. Quite a survivor, I wonder if it
is still in use?
At Greenford station I jumped on a Central line train to head for
home.
Capital Ring Section 8 ✅
53 photos from Section 8 are in this Flickr Album
