Day two on the LOOP, just two weeks on from day one, and our last full
day's practise walk before heading off to the Somerset section of the
South West Coast Path. This time we had solid LOOP experience behind us
and therefore we experienced none of the train trouble of the first day
- we headed straight to London Bridge, bought a bag of warm cookies and
caught the train back to Petts Wood station. After my near-death experience
on the first section, I was glad that this time the weather was cooler,
with occasional sunny intervals that lifted your spirits without instantly
dehydrating you.
This was to be quite an odd section - much of it turned out to be quite
bland, but with occasional stunning or interesting interludes. With fresh
legs the walk from Petts Wood to rejoin the LOOP in Jubilee Park seemed
much shorter and quicker than it had at the end of day one!
Jubilee Park is more akin to a semi-wild nature reserve than the manicured
flower beds and playgrounds that the name suggests. Day one had ended
in deep dark depressing woods, aptly reflecting my mood. Today we left
the woods almost immediately, emerging onto open heathland in one of the
aforementioned sunny intervals. The air was fresh and clean, the ground
was springy underfoot and we felt good. Even the many dogwalkers seemed
affable.
Unfortunately the park ends all too quickly and you emerge onto a long
section of residential roadwalking (over a kilometre). As we were still
feeling fresh and the roads were fairly quiet, it did not prove too arduous
an experience, and we were soon in Sparrow Wood,
I'm not a big fan of woodland, finding it dark, oppressive and lacking
in sights and views. Sparrow Wood isn't too bad though - it's reasonably
open, with a good selection of little streams and secretive open glades
to keep you interested.
Next comes Crofton "village", a misnomer if ever I heard one
- both from the map and on the ground it's clearly just another chunk
of urban sprawl. I'll chiefly remember it for having to wait an inordinate
length of time for a gap in the traffic on the A232.
You leave Crofton through a long alleyway between houses, and then enter
a very forgettable section of the LOOP. I can say this with some honesty
because I've entirely forgotten what it was like. The Aurum Press guide
says that you cross the A21 and go through Farnborough, which it describes
as "one of the best village centres around the LOOP". If this
is the case, how come I remember how lovely Bexley was when I was half
dead on day one, yet don't remember Farnborough at all. It must be rubbish!
In fact, the next thing I remember was the High Elms Country Park, about
two miles on from Crofton, and the reason I remember it is because of
two very unusual features. First of all we came to a sensory trail - one
of those short winding paths with a mixture of items and plants of varying
textures, scents and sounds. This in itself was not unusual, but one of
the lumps of rock was - a huge cube of granite which had been donated
by a village in North West Scotland. Why on earth these philanthropic
Scots should choose to bestow this was beyond me, as was the reason for
dragging it hundreds of miles across the country!
The next unusual feature was an Eton Fives court. As far as I could make
out this game was a little like squash, but with obstacles within the
court - lumps of wall pointing inwards and the like. It must have been
quite dangerous to play!
You leave High Elms via a descending series of lawns squeezed between
12 foot high hedges - again unusual, and slightly claustrophobic. High
Elms certainly seems an interesting place to explore.
Emerging into the car park of a golf course there were no LOOP signs
and we felt completely disorientated, a feeling not helped by the aggressive
glares of golfers as we weaved our way through their expensive cars. However,
at the car park exit we managed to pick up the LOOP again, which passed
a rather lovely white clock tower in a farm and then headed off up a track
amusingly called Bogey Lane.
This would be the last amusement for some time, for the next couple of
kilometres felt like a sheer slog. Perhaps we were getting tired; there
was nothing especially unpleasant. It was just that there was nothing
pleasant either; the stony and rutted track made for difficult walking,
and was sunken between hedge-topped banks, meaning that you couldn't see
anything. The book says you're allowed to climb up and walk in the field
alongside the track' we tried this for a while, but our boots were just
made heavy by clay and we still didn't see anything. We started to realise
that the rural scenery and landscape around the LOOP is pretty dull for
people accustomed to the countryside (although I expect the denizens of
central London would enjoy it). Apart from the bizarre Erith marshes on
day one, all my favourite parts of the LOOP had been man-made! Even the
Erith marshes had been enhanced by the comparison with the backdrop of
heavy industry.
Sure enough, the next item of interest was man made; a glimpse of Holwood
House atop a hill ahead as the LOOP wound its way around the back of some
houses on what was evidently a newly-created section of path kindly created
to save LOOP-ers from having to walk on the dangerous Shire Lane. We now
faced a stiff (by LOOP terms) climb up Holwood Hill. Sadly our view of
Holwood House was quickly obscured by woods on our right. Atop the hill
a commemorative stone bench marked the place where Pitt the Younger discussed
the abolition of slavery.
From Holwood, the path descended to Keston Ponds, which ended up being
one of our favourite spots on the LOOP. A series of three idyllic lakes
greeted us, with the overhanging trees perfectly reflacted in the mirror-like
surfaces. The area was busy, but somehow the surrounding woods soaked
up the sounds of running and shouting children and you came away with
an overall picture of serenity. Best of all there was an ice-cream van
at the far end, where Jim and I both refreshed ourselves with delicious
"99's" (how did they get that name, anyway? It certainly can't
have been the launch price, as I remember them being cheaper than 99p
when I was young. It's a mystery!)
From the delights of Keston, we had another long stretch of low-grade
walking into Coney Hall. West Wickham Common sounded pleasant, and indeed
consisted of rather impressive woodland. Unfortunately the woodland was
just a thin strip alongside busy roads, and for over a mile your ears
are bombared with the sound of traffic - not a pleasant experience after
the tranquil Keston Ponds.
From Coney Hall you can leave the LOOP if you're tired - Hayes station
is about a kilometre away. Indeed, in the Aurum Press guide this is a
chapter end. However, as we were doing two of their chapters per day,
we pushed on along the next bit of LOOP.
(b) Coney Hall to Coombe Lane (4.5 miles)
Leaving the unremarkable suburb of Coney Hall, there's a gentle climb
up to a rather nicer church called St John the Baptist. Despite only being
at a gentle elevation, it has quite good views, and the look of a country
parish. We rather fancied having our lunch here, but unfortunately - and
unusually for a churchyard - there was no bench. In addition the weather
had taken a turn for the worst - it was now heavily overcast and a chill
wind had sprung up, and a low sheltered place seemed more appropriate
for lunch than a high exposed one.
We therefore followed the LOOP down to Sparrows Den Playing Fields where
we were able to have lunch whilst watching a (very) amateur rugby match
in progress - so amateur that the combatants joined and left the match
as and when they felt like it and occasionally sat down for a rest in
the middle of the pitch.
I thought we would be invigorated by lunch, but unfortunately the next
couple of miles of LOOP (through Threehalfpenny Wood and into Shirley)
were pretty dull. Even the sights that the book pointed out (a boundary
stone and ditch) were third or even fourth rate. Being in dense woodland
under an overcast sky probably didn't help matters!
Coming out of Shirley and ascending Addington Hill it started to drizzle
slightly. Fortunately we were well sheltered by trees and - on reaching
the summit - suddenly the view that confronted us meant that the weather
didn't matter any more. A concrete viewing platform had been set up to
enhance your experience of a magnificent panaroma of the London skyline.
Despite the drizzle we could clearly make out Canary Wharf and the Erotic
Gherkin, both of which must have been a good dozen miles away. On a clear
day this viewpoint must be outstanding!
Continuing down the other side of Addington Hill to Coombe Lane, we came
across what to us seemed a bizarre image - a modern day tramline. All
thetrams I'd seen in Britain to date had been antique ones, preserved
on what were effectively museum lines (ie the Seaton to Colyton tramway).
I'd seen modern trams in Amsterdam, but to see them running alongside
a British road felt very odd, especially when that road is bounded by
woodland rather than being in the centre of a city. You can catch the
trams from here into Croydon.
(c) Coombe Lane to Whyteleafe (5 miles plus 0.5 mile station
link)
From Coombe Lane the LOOP descends into Heathfield Gardens, which I assume
are part of a former manor estate. Now freely open to the public, they
consist of beautiful ornamental woodland gardens (rhododendrons and the
like) sloping down to an exquisitely manicured central pond surrounded
by tiered paths. Where High Elms was bizarre, this park was simply beautiful,
and when the rhododendrons are flowering it must be stunning!
Leaving Heathfield we ascended to Bramley Bank, where the map promised
a viewpoint. There was one, but it was disappointing after Addington Hill,
being a restricted view of some blocks of flats. It did have a welcome
bench though, were we stopped for a quick energy boosting snack.
Littleheath Wood had some pleasant open spaces and was quite light and
airy given how cloudy it was (fortunately the drizzle had now stopped),
but it was to be the last memorable section for some time. Again my memory
fails me for a while as (according to the map) we crossed a main road
and walked through a mixture of woodland and farmland. The LOOP here dips
briefly into Surrey, which serves to remind you just how far from central
London the LOOP runs.
In fact the next part I remember is entering Hamsey Green along a pleasant
little track which passed pleasant little houses. The chapter in the Aurum
Press guide ended here, but rather unsatisfactorily at a bus stop rather
than a train station. We're scared of buses; you never know where you
need to get off. More to the point, whilst it would have been fairly easy
to assume that the bus would terminate somewhere fairly important (in
this case, supposedly Croydon), it would have been difficult and time
consuming to find the correct bus at Croydon to get back to the LOOP for
the day 3 hike. Also buses are slow, uncomfortable and full of nutters
and smelly people. Granted, in this case the smelly people would be us,
but we still didn't fancy it!
From the book we knew that Whyteleafe station was only a couple of miles
walk on. We were surprised that the chapter didn't end at Whyteleafe anyway
- it would probably make the chapters a more even length.
From Hamsey Green the LOOP headed westward across fields before coming
to the edge of a steep chalk escarpment. Although there was a path descending
straight down into Whiteleafe, the LOOP designers for some reason took
you half a kilometre north along the top of the escarpment, down at a
different point and then back south along the bottom of the escarpment.
I assume they wanted to show you the only trig point on the whole of the
LOOP (which is actually only on the LOOP because of this diversion).
There's something special about trig points. I recently saw on the BBC
programme "Map Man" the history of these stubby concrete pillars
and it was fascinating. The amount of effort that went into creating the
nationwide triangulation network was unbelievable, but we as walkers are
so glad of it. Without them we probably wouldn't have the exceptional
quality Ordnance Survey maps that guide us so well today. And we wouldn't
have the joy of seeing one atop so many of our prominent hills, that is
generally associated with "here be great views". May we offer
many thanks to the people who heaved sacks of concrete up hills to build
them.
Whyteleafe station is a long weary walk down the noisy A22, but still
better than the horrors of getting a bus. There were two things that worries
us. Firstly, the map showed two stations in Whyteleafe on separate railway
lines. Both appeared to head towards London, and so we chose the nearer,
north western one (as it turned out, the correct one). I assume this plethora
of lines dates from the days of competing railway companies, but it seems
a bit extravagant that Whyteleafe has such choice when other towns have
seen their stations closed.
The other thing that worried us was that Whyteleafe was one stop outside
the travelcard zone. Our tickets would be invalid for the first part of
the journey. We were ready to buy a ticket to travel the first stop, but
as there were no automatic ticket barriers and there was a train waiting
we just hopped on, ready to plead ignorance to the guard. As no-one came
to check our tickets we got away with it, but it was a distinctly nervy
experience to law abiding citizens like ourselves. Perhaps this, combined
with the main road walking, is why it's not used as a chapter end (or
even marked as a possible station link) in the guide.
Were we now trained up and fit for the south west coast path? Well, we'd
find out in a couple of weeks. One thing was certain though - the LOOP
was no longer a training exercise, but had become a walking challenge
in its own right. We knew we'd return and complete it, regardless of any
training needs. Places like High Elms, Heathfield and Addington Hill had
earned it a special place in our hearts.
|
