London Loop Section 17, Cockfosters to Enfield Lock

2nd June 

I alighted at Cockfosters Station after a long tube journey from Hounslow West and having made use of the “facilities” exited from the station and turned right down the side of the car park to begin section 17 of the London Loop. A little under 9 miles walking would get me to Enfield Lock station and I’d picked the one dry sunny day forecast in the upcoming week to do it.

Within a few yards of entering the broad tree lined path alongside the cemetery the noise from Cockfosters Road faded away as I headed into the southern part of Trent Park. Turning north through the woods I was grateful for the recent dry weather as the rutted surface of the path indicated that after rain it would have been horribly gloopy. As it was I just had to be careful not to twist an ankle in the hardened ruts. The way-marking of Section 17 leaves a lot to be desired and the directions in the guide are sometimes a bit unclear, in this case regarding which direction to take out of the woods and across a large open grass area so I reached the obelisk near the car park and cafe by a slightly longer than necessary route. After that it was easier to follow the route as it described a backward S northwards through Trent Country Park, alternating between open country and woodland.

Just before reaching Hadley Road I took the suggested short detour to George Grey’s Obelisk to “enjoy the fine view". The fine view was between tall trees framing Trent Park House, former home of Sir Philip Sassoon, in the distance. During the Second World War this became home to high ranking German prisoners of war, along with the MI-19 operatives who listened to their conversations to obtain useful intelligence information, the whole place having been fitted with electronic bugging devices. However today the view was of a huge scaffolding tent enclosing the entire building and with an even taller crane hanging over it. It is being redeveloped into a museum about the house’s history. Along with about 262 houses and flats.

From the obelisk I retraced my steps and crossed Hadley Road. Here the London Loop joins the Enfield Greenways, a walking and cycling path network. The Loop used to run down the hill here on the Jubilee footpath, opened in 1977 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee but although you can just about make out that route it is overgrown and impassable so there’s no choice but to use the newer path.

There are long views across open country here but these will be gone in a few years since hundreds of trees have been planted as part of the Enfield Chase Restoration Project. For now you can walk down to where the route turns right alongside the Salmons Brook while admiring the view and listening to the Skylarks. The sandy path surface makes for easy walking although it does give this section a bit of an “artificial countryside” feeling. This new route replaces now lost older paths alongside the Salmons Brook for another mile or so, first on the south bank before crossing over to the north bank and continuing up the hill to meet The Ridgeway road. Loop way-markers seem to have ceased to be a thing along this part. Because it’s an artificial construct the designers couldn’t resist designing in some pointless twiddly bits which have already started to generate demand paths where the more obvious and shorter route exists. I stopped for my picnic lunch near a small pond along this section. Appropriately there were salmon paste sarnies eaten near the Salmons Brook.

The guide directions on reaching The Ridgeway are frankly a mess, not helped by poor way-marking. The Loop path exits to and crosses the road directly then turns right along the pavement until turning left down Rectory Farm Road (which doesn’t have a street name sign). The Greenways path carries on parallel to the road to a crossing point further down. The guide talks about a dead end section of Greenways and a new path that rejoins the Loop in Rectory Farm Road. Trouble is neither are way-marked. I followed the original route as per the map on my phone. Where the new path meets Rectory Farm Road there is a way-mark pointing back up it for reverse direction Loop walkers but no others. Around the back of Rectory farm the route joins and then crosses the Turkey Brook where I walked steadily up the drive towards the railway bridge. Fortunately I wasn’t tempted to gallop as that isn’t allowed.

Passing under the railway I turned right onto Strayfield Road turning south onto a path opposite St. John the Baptist Church as per the guide - although the map indicates an earlier turning which isn’t way-marked but joins the footpath into Hilly Fields further on. After walking along the edge of an open field I entered the woods and crossed the Turkey Brook again then turned east. The rest of the section would never stray far from the banks of the Turkey Brook. Hilly Fields is a park that is exactly what its name suggests it should be but because the Loop follows the brook it avoids any steep gradients.

The winding path, popular with dog walkers, carries on past the bandstand and eventually meets Clay Hill opposite the Rose & Crown pub. It wasn’t open, probably just as well since the temptation to get inside out of the sun and outside of a cold beer might have ended my walk here 😀

Instead I carried on towards Forty Hall Park, rejoining the Turkey Brook and passing the former course of the New River, London’s new 17th century fresh water supply which still supplies some of the capital’s drinking water today although its original route has been much modified. I decided against a detour to visit Forty Hall due to time constraints and continued beside the Turkey Brook and alongside the large fishing ponds.

I crossed Forty Hill near Maidens Bridge, locally said to be the place where Sir Walter Raleigh spread his cloak over a puddle to allow Queen Elizabeth to continue without wet feet. This probably never happened, similarly he probably didn’t bring her back a sack of spuds from the Americas either. Much good it did him anyway, some years later her successor James 1/6 separated him from his head.

Not far along the Loop crosses the current (ho ho) course of the New River which on this particular afternoon was a scene of much digging activity as work was going on to resurface and or reroute the New River Path.

Most sections of the London Loop eventually have to cross a main arterial road and in this case it is the A10 Great Cambridge Road. A tall metal pedestrian bridge affords views along the road and across Enfield Cemetery but has steep stairs with narrow treads which also seem not to be level, giving the disconcerting feeling that you are being pitched forward when descending them.

A path leads up one side of the cemetery and under the railway just south of Turkey Street Station and from here on it all gets a bit urban, walking beside the roadworks along Turkey Street, passing briefly through the busy shopping area at Hertford Road, then along residential St. Stephen’s Road to a back alley that rejoins the Turkey Brook where it runs into Albany Park with a little group of dodgy-looking geezers accompanied by the sort of dog intended to impress that “we is well ’ard, innit”. Out of the park and a last climb over another pedestrian bridge over the West Anglia main railway line and Section 17 ends next to the Turkey Brook where it passes under a brick arched bridge at the end of Bradley Road.

A short walk along litter-strewn Bradley Road got me to Enfield Lock Station at about the same time as apparently the whole of Oasis Academy Enfield School. The Railway Inn wasn’t open so I joined them on the train. At least I’d got there in time to tap in before peak Oyster hours.

Here's the Flickr Album (34 photos). 

 

London Loop Section 17 ✅

 

 

 

 

London Loop Section 2

Old Bexley to Petts Wood

 

Looking for a shortish Loop section to do in October as the daylight hours reduce and one which wasn’t too involved to get to and from by train I settled on this section through former-Kent. It’s mostly green with few road bits, follows a pleasant stretch of the River Cray for a while and later on is mostly in woodland. It was a very nice walk and that was helped no end by having picked a brilliantly sunny Friday on which to do it.

 

Section 2 starts right alongside Bexley railway station, up Tanyard Lane and through the arch under the Dartford Loop Line before emerging to run along the edges of first Burnt Ash Hockey Club and then Bexley Cricket Club.

 

 

 

 Then it climbs gently up between the open fields of Upper College Farm, which is a landfill site in an old gravel working but you wouldn’t guess from looking at it. The cattle in the adjacent field were all lying down so obviously hadn’t got the memo about the weather forecast. Down the other side of the hill I took a left past Bexley Pumping Station into the woods to a narrow footbridge over the River Cray where I had to wait for the oncoming gaggle of schoolgirls armed with compasses, maps, and sheets of A4 and with “Sir” trailing along at the back. There were several of these groups out doing some sort of field work or map reading exercise and they couldn’t have picked a better day for it.

 

 

 

 What followed next was a really pleasant walk alongside the clear flowing waters of the River Cray through Footscray Meadows, relatively peaceful save for the chattering of the schoolgirl groups, to Five Arch Bridge over which they passed leaving me to carry on to Pennyfarthing Bridge  meeting only the occasional rambler or dog-walker. I’d have paused for a picnic lunch along here but the only benches were in the shade and therefore still too damp for comfort.

 

 

 

 Crossing Pennytfarthing Bridge, so called because it has one large and one small arch over the River Cray, I passed All Saints Church and out onto the first significant bit of road walking of the section, through Foots Cray village centre. As I crossed the busy crossroads of the A211 and A224 roads in the middle of Foots Cray I got a phone call from an old work mate. I sat on a handy bench by the traffic lights to talk with him and congratulate him on his recent transfer into idle retirement and so that’s where I ended up having my picnic lunch. Not the most scenic spot but at least it was a dry comfortable seat. Fortified by ham sandwiches I continued through the streets of Foots Cray, now sans jumper as it was actually warm enough for shirt-sleeves, emerging onto the recreation ground and past Cray Wanderers FC then between some allotments and the backs of the houses to enter a small woodland. The path climbed through this to emerge into Sidcup Place park.

 

 

 

 The way ahead to follow the Loop isn’t too clear on the ground at this point (it’s not the obvious path in the above photo) but it’s vaguely up, along the right hand side of the open space, trough the line of trees and then sort of head right-ish towards Sidcup Place house. If there are any Loop way marks here I didn’t see them which was actually unusual along this Section. Anyway I found the large London Loop Sidcup Place information sign and turned left then right to pass the grand house and walled gardens to reach the A222 Chislehurst Road.

 

 

 

 A short way south along the Chislehurst Road lie the obstacles of Queen Mary’s Hospital, Frognal and the roaring A20 Sidcup Bypass trunk road. Fortunately here the way marking is good as the route makes it’s slightly tortuous way down ramps, up steps, over bridges etc. to get to the far side of the road to Dover but once across you reach Scadbury Nature Reserve and delve into Little Wood.

 

 

 

 I continued through the woods making a short loop off the main route to see Scadbury Moated Manor House, seeing few other walkers and the odd bear. Scadbury Manor goes back to the 13th century taking its name from the de Scathebury family who later sold it to the Walsinghams, wealthy London merchants close to the royal household. This is the Walsingham family which provided Henry VIII with a head gaoler and Elizabeth I with a spymaster. After the civil war they were a bit skint despite staying on the winning side and sold the estate on. There’s a history of Scadbury here.

 

 

 

 Crossing the busy A208 St. Paul’s Cray Road, not without some risk to life, I entered Petts Wood. Part of Petts Wood is owned by the National Trust and contains a couple of interesting memorials, the better of the two being the sundial memorial to Chislehurst builder William Willett who campaigned for the introduction of Daylight Saving hours, the idea having occurred to him while riding near Petts Wood on a summer morning in 1905 when he noticed how many of the window blinds and shutters were still closed well after sunrise. The sundial is “set” to GMT+1 (BST) and the Latin inscription translates as "The hours Do Not Count Except In The Summer” or “I only count the Summer hours” depending who you ask. Daylight savings was introduced in 1916 due to the need to save energy during the Great War but by then Willett had died of the flu.

 

 

 

 The other memorial is to Colonel Francis Edlmann a former owner of the land who helped protect it from development and eventually led to it being sold to the NT by subsequent owners and namedas the Edlmann Memorial Wood. On the far side of the wood the Loop turns right alongside the Chatham Main Line railway before crossing the Kyd Brook on a wooden footbridge. The Kid Brook here being just a tiny stream running between the trees before ducking into a culvert under the railway.

 

 

 

Next follows a high footbridge accessed, slowly at this point, via many steps to cross the Chatham Main Line railway followed by another to cross the single track Chislehurst to St Mary Cray Line and then a little way into Towncourt Wood I came to the entrance to Jubilee Country Park and the end of Section 2.

 

London Loop Section 2 ✓

 

Another half a mile brought me to Petts Wood station, the train home and a welcome fish and chips supper.

 

There are a lot more photos in my London Loop Section 2 Flickr Album. 

 

 

 

London Loop Section 5

Hamsey Green to Coulsdon South

 

This six and a half mile section is largely across level ground but with some steep slopes where it crosses a couple of valleys. It was actually quite a pleasant ramble, not too long, mostly on firm surfaces, no overgrown paths, and with a smattering of points of interest along the way. I got a bus from South Croydon station to the section start at Hamsey Green which isn’t as rural as the name suggests, then walked up Tithepit Shaw Lane for about 400 yards and at the Loop signpost out onto the Sanderstead to Whyteleafe Countryside area.

 

 

 

 This was mostly level open country with intermittent bands of trees but eventually reached Riddlesdown and dropped steeply into the valley and joining an old Roman road, Riddlesdown Road, now a trackway which crosses the East Grinstead railway line before reaching the A22 Godstone Rd. Crossing the A22 I passed through a small commercial area then crossed over the Purley & Caterham railway line on a pedestrian bridge and climbed up the other side of the valley along residential streets to a bench at the top of New Barn Lane which has a good view back across the valley.

 

 

 

 This would have been a good spot to stop and eat my packed lunch except for the guy in the adjacent garden cutting concrete blocks with a petrol disc cutter so instead I carried on up the 83 steps through Hawkhurst Wood and on to Kenley Common, where I was disappointed not to find a bench.

 

I took a short diversion onto the former RAF Kenley airfield and watched some gliders being launched using a winch and a long rope. In the 1980s I went gliding at Lasham Airfield in Hampshire and we were given the option of winch launching or for a small extra fee being towed up by a powered aircraft. We all chose the latter since that way you started off higher up and got a longer flight. Seeing the steep angle the glides were launched at here at Kenley I’m doubly sure that was the right choice!

 

 

 

 I left the airfield and walked down Golf Rd. - unusually that’s the nearest section 5 gets to a golf course - and to the edge of Couldson Common as the route makes its way around the west side of RAF Kenley. They don’t seem to do convenient benches in this part of Surrey so I eventually ate my sandwiches perched on a handy boundary marker stone near the Norman Fisher Observatory with its two small white domes for astronomical telescopes.

 

 

 

 The gliders from Kenley passed very low over my lunch spot. It’s surprising how much noise a glider makes when it passes low over your head but without any forewarning sound so I never managed to get what would have made great a photo 😞

 

From the observatory I carried on along narrow lanes and on to Couldson Common proper, passing The Fox pub and the southernmost point on the London LOOP before getting to Happy Valley. This is not the same Happy Valley as that featured in the BBC TV Series which is much further north. I doubt this one gets it’s name for the same reason (The name "Happy Valley" is what local police in the Calder Valley call the area because of its drug problem) but who knows 😀

 

 

 

 In the above photo the London LOOP crosses the valley by dropping down on the path to the left then climbing steeply up to the trees on the far side before turning right to meet the path that goes straight on here. I don’t know why this pointless dog-leg is included but I followed it anyway while thinking that the direct path was probably easier. Whichever path you take you enter the sinister-sounding Devil’s Den Woods and climb steadily to emerge on Farthing Downs near the car park and Public Toilets. Just to prove that the age of miracles is not past the latter were actually open!

 

 

 

 From here the route runs along the length of Farthing Downs parallel to but separate from the road with far-reaching views to both sides. It was pretty quiet and peaceful on a Thursday afternoon in October but I’ll bet it’s not like that on a Summer weekend! From the high points of the ridge you can see central Croydon’s high-rise buildings, the radio masts at Crystal Palace, and the towers of the City of London. Including of course the distinctive spike of The Shard because 14 miles isn’t far enough away to avoid seeing this 21st century Orthanc. 

 

 

 

 From the end of Farthing Downs it’s not far through the streets to Coulsdon South station, the end of Section 5 and the start of Section 6 which I completed back in August. I caught a bus back to South Croydon to catch a train to Redhill where I had a long wait because of course GWR cancelled my intended train home. Plus ca change 🙄

 

 

 

 As ever there are more photos in my London LOOP Section 5 Flickr Album

 

 

 

 

London Loop Section 7

Banstead Downs to Ewell

 

 

Previously in this London Loop series of blogs I arrived at a fingerpost in the woods on Banstead Downs at 1320 on Bank Holiday Monday26th August 2024 having completed section 6 from Coulsdon South. Now the adventure continues...

 

 

 

 Pausing long enough to take a photo I pressed on through the woods, emerging once again onto Banstead Downs golf course because yes, it really is that big. And empty. Well not quite empty. I sat for a while on a bench looking down the fairway as something bright pink approached. This turned out to be a lady of Oriental appearance, dressed in mostly day-glo garments and having a conversation on her phone in loudspeaker mode and held at arm’s length. I have no words.

 

The bench on which I rested was dedicated in memory of David & Nora Bryson. Don’t know who they were but they are now my first entry on OpenBenches.org Having done that I carried on out of the golf course and down Sandy Lane for the start of a a long, hot slog along residential streets lined with expensive and mostly large detached houses. This is probably my least favourite bit of the London Loop so far. An unrelenting drag along often uneven pavements with little shelter and only uninspiring front gardens to look at. At least at the point of entering Epsom & Ewell Borough there was a stink pipe to spot. 2 points to me 😊

 

 

 

 The road walking continued down to and along Cheam Road then Down Bramley Road which reminded me I’d need to get some apples to go with the blackberries I’d snaffled on section 6. Through an arch under the Sutton & Mole Valley branch line and finally the houses disappeared and I was in the wide open grassland called Warren Farm open space. By now I was flagging a bit and was glad to get across this to the shelter of the trees at the edge of Nonsuch Park. I found a bench under the trees and sat a while, drank some of my dwindling orange squash supply, and added Dolly and Ron Bees to OpenBenches.org as well.

 

Nonsuch Park was the site of Henry VIII’s Nonsuch Palace. On the Epsom & Ewell council website there’s a brief history, reproduced in part here:

 

King Henry VIII began the building Nonsuch Palace on 22 April 1538 on the Thirtieth anniversary of his accession. The King's advisors chose a site then occupied by the village of Cuddington,
with its church and manor house. These were cleared away and the owners compensated.

Within two months of work beginning, the name 'Nonsuch' first appears in the building accounts. The structure was substantially completed by January 1541, but the decorations of the outside walls (which were to be the fame of Nonsuch and the explanation of Henry's purpose in its creation) were still in progress five years later. By November 1545 the work had cost £24,536. When Henry died on 28 January 1547, the palace was still unfinished. What little remained to be done was completed by Henry Fitzalan, Twelfth Earl of Arundel, after his purchase of the palace from the crown in 1556.

Elizabeth I regained Nonsuch in 1592 and it remained in Royal hands (apart from the Commonwealth) until 1670 when Charles II gave it to his erstwhile mistress, Barbara Villiers, who became Baroness Nonsuch, Duchess of Cleveland. She demolished the palace in 1682-3 and broke up the parks to sell to cover her gambling debts. The site was excavated in 1959. Only small remnants of the Palace can be seen today.

 I was glad the Loop followed the path along the edge of the park, lined with chestnut trees so mostly shaded, before bearing off through the woods and passing the site of Nonsuch Palace Banquetting House, a site raised up behind a retaining wall looking like a Tudor artillery fort and intended to afford panoramic views to the surrounding countryside to the royal guests. The site is now much covered by trees, the building is long gone but the retaining wall remains as a ruin.

 

 

 

 I went down a couple of flights of steps and crossed the Ewell Bypass road then along an alleyway to enter Ewell via Church Street between the castellated Victorian school and the church of St. Mary the Virgin.

 

 

 

 On reaching the High Street I turned right and crossed to enter Bourne Hall Park by its impressive gateway, which had been closed the last time I was here but fortunately was now open negating the need for a detour.

 

 

 

 At this fingerpost by the pond I sat down and ticked off Section 7.

 

 

 

What to do next? Silly question.

 

 

 

I needed that. I resisted the temptation to have another, a decision helped by the £6.35 price tag and the continuously barking dog in the pub garden, went and bought some apples, and got the train from Ewell West to Guildford and from there home. The return railway journey was a whole lot less stressful than the outward had been.

 

Flickr Album London Loop Section 7 (16 photos)

 

 

 

London Loop Section 6

Coulsdon South to Banstead Downs

 

In spite of GWR’s best efforts (cancel trains, don’t put the trains on the departure boards, change the stops the trains stop at, reinstate trains but on no account tell the passengers what is happening and don’t answer the phone!) I managed to get to Coulsdon South station at about twenty to eleven in the morning on Bank Holiday Monday 26th August ready to tackle Section 6 of the London Loop.

 

 

 

 The sun even came out, on a Bank Holiday! My walk started by passing under the railway and road bridges and then climbing through residential streets on what seemed an ever upward trek without an apparent top. On the way I passed over the Tattenham Corner Line as a Southern train passed under the bridge which was good timing.

 

 

 

 I continued to climb, passing into the London Borough of Sutton before leaving the roadside verge down a sunken bridleway which had a half-hidden cast iron boundary marker for the former Carshalton Urban District Council part way down the hill. The bridleway climbed to a small rise near some paddocks with a comprehensive selection of “No” signs and CCTV cameras. This spot afforded some distant views of London's towers, cranes, and the Wembley Stadium arch just about visible through the haze. A few yards further on I spotted the two radio masts of Crytal Palace over the treetops and the Woodcote Smallholdings, built for soldiers returning from the Great War.

 

 

 

 The Loop turns south west through the open space of Carshalton Road Pastures before crossing Carshalton Road and turning north to cross the famous Mayfield Lavender Fields.

The path runs through the middle of the lavender fields which the farm makes a good deal from not only growing the plants but by charging people to come and look at them. By this time of year the blooms are well past their best though. At the far side of the field I waited for a couple to cross the stile who were stopped in their tracks by a sign saying there was a £5 entry charge. Nice try, it’s a public right of way. I wonder how many they catch with that? There’s no sign at the other side of the field where I came in. Here’s a photo because they also have a sign up claiming that you need their permission to take photos too.

 

 

 

 I crossed Carshalton Road into the rather more welcoming and much more attractive space of Oaks Park. The park was laid out in the 1770s by the Earl of Derby as the gardens of his house there. The park has been much modified since as was the house before it was demolished in the 1950s leaving only some of the outbuildings and stables. The Oaks estate lent its name to the horse race started by the 12th Earl of Derby in 1779 and run annually at the Derby meeting at nearby Epsom Racecourse. According to legend, as recounted on an information board in the park, Lord Derby and Lord Bunbury tossed a coin to decide which would get to name another race, Derby won the toss else we might have had the Epsom Bunbury, and by extension the Kentucky Bunbury races. It’s a very pleasant park with a number of separate spaces, ideal to stop and eat your picnic lunch whilst walking section 6 of the Loop. So I did.

 

 

 

 Fortified with cheese and ham sandwiches I resumed my walk along a wiggly path through the trees out onto a track, Fairlawn Road and then left onto a narrower path called Freedown Lane which passed a new development site and led up past HM Prison Highdown, glimpsed through the trees lining the path. Lining the other side of the path were many patches of brambles so my now empty sandwich box was soon filled with blackberries instead. The crumble will be worth the pricked fingers 😀

At the end of Freetown lane I crossed Sutton Lane onto Banstead Down. The rest of Section 6 runs across the down and its huge golf course. I had expected this to be busy with it being a Bank Holiday Monday but it was almost empty. Perhaps the members of Banstead Downs Golf Club mainly play on “work” days?

 

 

 

 Running through the middle of the course and across the Loop is the most substantial obstacle on this section, the “Mad Mile” of the A217 Brighton Road, a fast dual carriageway without a controlled pedestrian crossing of a footbridge. I had to wait for several minutes before a gap in the speeding traffic long enough to get across occurred. There appears to be no suitable alternative route to avoid taking your life in your hands else I’m sure the Loop would take it.

 

 

 

 Once across the road there’s just one more fairway to cross - also deserted at the time - before reaching the end of Section 6 in the woods at a fingerpost that marks the start of Section 7 and it also points the way to Banstead Station for those calling it a day here.

 

 

 

It was 1320 and I wasn’t stopping yet, planning to complete Section 7 to Ewell from where I had a ticket to get the train home. I pressed on to further “adventures”.

 

Flickr Album London Loop Section 6 (23 photos)

 

 

 

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