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.

 

 

 

 

London Loop Section 12

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 🙁

 

Flickr Album for London Loop Section 12