(a) Kingston to Fulwell (4
miles, plus 0.5 mile station link)
I had been looking forward to this section for a long time. A large proportion
of it was walking alongside various stretches of water, and of the LOOP
sections we'd done before those by water (such as the River Cray on day
1, Keston Ponds on day 2 and the Hogsmill River on day 3) had been the
most enjoyable. In addition other writers on the web described this as
one of the most varied sections, walking from "posh" Kingston
through the run-down areas under the Heathrow flight path. Finally we
would reach the official halfway point of the LOOP - as opposed to the
"fake" halfway point of reaching the Thames at the end of day
3.
Unfortunately Jim had sprained his ankle whilst drunk a few nights previously,
was limping slightly and saying he felt he might only be able to walk
halfway. I said this was fine, but knowing Jim I thought he would actually
refuse to stop until he'd done the full distance, no matter how much pain
he was in. I resolved to offer him a way out by pointing out each potential
LOOP exit station when we reached them though. At least it should be fairly
easy going; it's possibly the least hilly bit of the LOOP, barely going
above 40m above sea level.
It was a fine day when we started out, with the bright colours of the
spring bulbs gleaming in the sun. We marched through Kingston with a spring
in our step, laughing at the "pi" shops we'd seen at the end
of day 3 ("that one sells steak and kidney"). In the clear light
of day it was clear it was a chain of clothes stores, although why they
have so many different shops in the same town is beyond me.
We returned to the LOOP at Kingston Bridge, and while crossing it we
briefly joined the route of one of the more famous National Trails - the
Thames Path. I'd been walking the Berkshire sections of this with my wife
- the river had certainly grown in size in the intervening miles.
On the other side of the Thames, the LOOP headed out into Bushey Park.
This was supposedly a deer park, but we held out little hope of seeing
any on a busy Saturday - we thought they'd all be hiding away from the
hordes of Kingstonians ambling through the park.
 Indeed,
our first view of the Park was of an unremarkable, rough, area of tussocky
grass completely devoid of redeeming features and deer. The LOOP soon
bore off of the main path across the park and headed down across the grass
to the Leg of Mutton pond, which I assume was named after its shape. There
was no character to the pond, and little vegetation around its banks,
and the park still felt barren and lifeless (apart from hordes of dogwalkers).
This was soon to change. We followed the Leg of Mutton Pond as it slimmed
down to a narrow channel and then opened out again into the Heron Pond.
There were no herons in sight, but this lake somehow felt a bit nicer.
Once again we perambulated ponderously around the perimeter, enjoying
the sunshine and watching families of ducklings taking to the water. As
this lake also narrowed to an end, our duckling (aka "nuggets")
watching was interrupted - Jim let out an exclamation and pointed across
the slim channel. There, watching us with some curiosity, were three red
deer, no more than ten metres away from us. Some people with a dog approached
the deer on the far side of the lake, and the deer made their way gracefully
across the shallow lake, passing unconcernedly within just a couple of
metres of us before heading off to "safer" dog free areas. We
could literally have reached out and touched them as they passed, &
we realised that the Bushey Park deer, far from being timid and elusive,
were actually pretty much tame.
Following a long thin channel leading away from the north of Heron Pond
we were even more surprised to walk pretty much slap into the middle of
a herd of twenty or so red deer. As we halted to take photos, an even
larger herd of fallow deer streamed passed at high speed and vanished
off down a nearby ride. This place was deer heaven - I'd never seen anything
like it!
I could have stayed and watched for longer, but we knew we still had
19 miles to go today. We reshouldered our daypacks and headed off across
Chestnut Avenue (leading to a Diana Fountain and Hampton Court Palace
- we didn't fancy the diversion to see them) and into the Woodland Gardens.
These are fenced off from the rest of the park, presumable to avoid the
predations of the deer.
 The
deer herds had made me fall in love with Bushey Park, but the woodland
gardens were still more stunning. A twisting path winds its way lovingly
between tranquil, shade-dappled glades, yellow with daffodils. Mirror
like pools lie to one side - at one of these we found the heron that had
been missing from his earlier eponymous pond, perfectly reflected in the
water. The edges of some pools were delineated by the bizarre upward-thrusting
tips of swamp cypress roots. I had seen more extensive swamp cypress groves
in the Italian Lake Maggiore, but to see such an alien feature in a British
park was truly surreal!
It was with great regret that we followed the LOOP out of the beautiful
Woodland Gardens, and shortly afterwards out of Bushey Park altogether.
Unfortunately it led us straight into suburban Teddington and the best
part of two miles of constant road walking (broken only by a brief stroll
across the corner of a golf course). Nearly a mile of this was walking
along a dead straight and featureless B-road, which felt like it went
on forever. The Romans may have got places faster by building straight
roads, but they must have been tedious for the army to walk with not so
much as a corner to mark how far they'd travelled! After the quiet beauty
of Bushey Park, it was a timely reminder of the sharp contrasts you experience
as you walk the LOOP.
If you fancy only walking the section of LOOP through Bushey Park, you
can leave the path just a short way into Teddington and catch a train
from Fulwell Station.
(b) Fulwell to Hatton Cross (5 miles)
It was good to finally get off the roads and walk through the open woodland
of Crane Park alongside the River Crane. Halfway through the long linear
"park" we came to a tall grey tower called the Shot Tower. This
taught me something I'd never known before - that lead shot is made by
dropping a tiny drip of molten lead from a great height - by the time
it reaches the ground it has cooled and solidified into a small round
ball. Obviously you can't get a decent sphere if the molten lead is resting
on something solid (although would a liquid work?)- I'd never really thought
about this before. Unfortunately the name of the tower is a misnomer -
according to the book, experts say that this particular tower isn't high
enough. There is, however, no doubt that the area was important for other
aspects of the armaments industry - high banks near to the "Shot
Tower" were apparently to contain the frequent explosions from former
gunpowder factories.
The book says that the tower is now a museum for the nearby nature reserve
- unfortunately when we visited the tower was locked up and looked like
it had been for a long time. It would be a shame if such an unusual, fine
and prominent landmark were now permanently closed to the public.
 Unfortunately
Crane Park soon came to an end and we had to endure another noisy half
mile of roadside walking, this time along the A314 and past a cemetery,
before finally turning off into Hounslow Heath - once again huge contrasts
in a short space. Our first impression of Hounslow Heath was one of unkempt
grassland, loomed over by ugly tower blocks - even in the daylight quite
a forbidding place, and one that well deserved its old-time infamous reputation
as the haunt of highwaymen and other undesirables. It wasn't helped by
the fact that the morning sunshine had now given way to weather much more
in keeping with the ominous heath - thick grey cloud, a cold wind and
occasional showers of icy drizzle. Nowadays it is supposedly a nature
reserve, but still managed to exude the air of a place where blackbirds
mugged passing mice for their cheese!
Ever since Bushy Park we'd been vaguely aware of the Heathrow planes
flying in the skies ahead of us, but it was on leaving the noise of the
A314 behind that the presence of the Heathrow flight path struck us. A
constant line of planes waiting for their landing slot hung in the sky
above the heath (we could usually see at least four at once), and there
was the omnipresent roar of jet engines.
Despite its scary and noisy nature, there is still a certain charm to
Hounslow Heath. Perhaps it’s the contrast of the open grassland
set against a backdrop of tower blocks and planes. Perhaps it's simply
the openness - despite being less than 100ft above sea level, you have
a sense of being in a much higher and more exposed location. I don't know
if it was these factors or simple base hunger that made Jim suddenly declare
that he had to stop for lunch here, despite not yet being the statutory
halfway through the days walk. Whatever it was, we found a bench on the
far side of the heath sheltered by a rare copse of stunted trees, and
stopped to eat our sarnies & play "guess the airline". Whilst
there we watched a chap arrive in a van a little way off, do something
we couldn't quite make out and then drive away. He was probably a conservationist,
but we preferred to imagine him as a modern-day highwayman, maybe called
the Heath Ranger…
After lunch, we rejoined the River Crane and followed it up the far side
of the heath, soon leaving the heath via the A315. It was no longer the
rippling reed lined stream of Crane Park - it was hard to believe this
was the same river. It was often lined with concrete, and always completely
choked with rubbish, which I guess at least meant it matched the surroundings.
The woods we walked through were absolutely filthy - at one point there
was even the burnt out rusted wreck of a car, and were puzzled as to how
it had managed to get that far into the woods. I don't think I've seen
so much litter since the aftermath of the giant Oasis gigs at Knebworth
House, and at least you knew that would be cleared up. I guess we should
have been grateful though - it was quite amazing that the LOOP designers
had managed to find a woodland route through the continuous conurbation
between London and Heathrow.
There was a puzzle in the woods though. Although there were buildings
close by (at some points the LOOP barely squeezed its way between the
river and the back of giant warehouses) the path was overgrown and clearly
used very little, which begged the question of where had all the litter
come from? The only answer seemed to be from directly hard, but somehow
we couldn't see any of the airlines daring to scatter litter over western
London!
 The
planes were certainly astoundingly low here, as we were pretty close to
the end of the runway. You could see all the features of the undercarriage
very clearly; many of the planes already had their landing gear unfolded.
We felt like Wayne & Garth in the bit of Wayne's World where they
lie on their car bonnet at the end of a runway. We stood and looked upward
with interest until we got stiff necks, then walked onwards knowing that
from now on we would be thankfully walking away from the reverberating
thunder of the jets. Walking under the flight path had been fun for a
while, but I certainly wouldn't want to be there for any length of time
- I really don't envy the people who live near here.
Instead though we would have to get used to the roar of traffic, as we
now had to cross a sequence of busy roads. First up was the A30; this
was a bad crossing, consisting essentially of a sprint across a high-speed
dual carriageway. Even the book, normally so positive, felt moved enough
to describe it as "rather hazardous" - a distinct understatement,
the drivers probably saw the whites of our eyes! I think a footbridge
is in order, please! If you enjoy walking aside roads like this, Hatton
Cross station is about a kilometre to the west, otherwise you might want
to stay on the LOOP a while longer.
(c) Hatton Cross to Hayes (4 miles)
We would have gladly moved away from the A30, but had trouble proceeding
due to the Piccadilly line being in our way. We were "between sections"
in the book and therefore halfway through our days walking. Whilst the
book is very good at guiding you through a section, it doesn't recognise
that some people may actually walk more than one section in one go. It
gave very good instructions of how to get from the end of the previous
section to Hatton Cross, and also how to get from Hatton Cross to the
start of the next section, but no details of how to simply continue walking
along the LOOP without visiting Hatton Cross. The OS map in the book was
too large scale and made it appear that you simply walked across the railway
(not a good idea as it was in a deep channel, surrounded by high fences
and no doubt electrified. Eventually we worked out that we had to go a
few hundred metres down the road, around the end of the railway channel
where it vanished underground, and then backup the other side of the railway
on a very private-looking road (it had signs up saying things like private,
no public access). This lead to another footpath along the Crane.
This part of the Crane was altogether nicer, a reed-lined meandering
channel occasionally bounded by what looked like ox-bow lakes (my wife
would have approved, she has an unaccountable love for these geographical
oddities). There were plenty of seats too - it would have made a good
spot for lunch, if we hadn't already had it.
The rather posh surfaced path along this stretch soon ended, and we walked
through a small housing estate to anther dual carriageway, this time the
A4. At least this time there was an underpass, which despite being decorated
with brightly coloured art still had the normal subway smell of wee. The
book said you now went under an archway into Berkeley Meadows, but the
archway had disappeared, and the meadows seemed to be disappearing too.
Earthmoving equipment was parked all over the place, and muck of the park
had been churned up into deeply furrowed mud. We negotiated our way around
the edge of the morass, across Cranford Lane, took a barely perceptible
path through a small area of woodland, emerged into Cranford Park, a huge
area of lush grassland, and heard the roar of the traffic on the M4 ahead.
What could have been a pleasant open space, with the Crane meandering
between tree-lined banks to our right, was ruined. Although cars might
not be as noisy as jets flying directly overhead, they're also of less
interest to the casual walker. Perhaps this was why the path once again
disappeared. We knew from the maps that we had to pass a church, and seeing
its tower ahead to the left, set off diagonally across the park, our legs
getting spattered by the wet grass.
The church used to form part of a now defunct manor estate (I wonder
if the proximity of the M4 had anything to do with its decline?). There
are still some wonderful features though, such as the ha ha ditch, a landscape
feature I've always loved as much for the name as for anything else -
watch you don't fall in though!
The LOOP passes the M4 via St Dunstan's Subway (named after the nearby
church), a curiously quiet passageway compared to the tumultuous crossings
of the A30 and the noisy underpass of the A4, especially when you consider
how much larger the M4 is!
On the other side the LOOP (now also the Hillingdon Way) rejoins the
Crane for one final short stretch. You don't see it much though, as its
mainly hidden behind trees. It's a nice area though - the noise of the
M4 subsides surprisingly quickly, and you emerge into a surprisingly wild
area of heath and open woodland. Here the book is for once not very helpful,
as its directions don't seem to tie up with what is on the ground, and
the map doesn't show as many paths as there actually are (although probably
some of them aren't "official" public footpaths. We primarily
navigated by ear - heading directly away from the noise of the M4, and
therefore northward, in the direction we wanted to go.
We emerged onto the busy A312 (why doesn't it have an "A4"
prefix, now we're north of the A4?) and followed it around an even busier
roundabout and over the Grand Union Canal, which we were to follow on
and off for the rest of the day. We descended to it via a most peculiar
ramp. It used three enormous rectangular spirals to descend gently to
the canal - on our pedometers we measured a distance of nearly a third
of a mile just to take us down ten metres. Now I'm all for giving better
access for the disabled and for cyclists, but I'm sure they could cope
with slightly steeper slopes to cut the distance? Given the obvious huge
cost of this structure, surely the designer could also have included a
small set of steps to one side to save pedestrians having to walk this
ridiculous and surreal distance?
Despite the fact that we were still walking by water, the Grand Union
Canal was a complete change from the River Crane that we had followed
for so long. For a start we could see it; unlike the Crane it was no longer
hidden below tree-lined banks. Gone were the meandering curves of the
river - the canal was straight as a roman road. This was clearly a waterway
made for work - the banks were lined with industry. On the plus side,
the towpath exceptionally easy going, the passing barges made for plenty
of interest, and the direct route means that you cover huge sections of
map very quickly - blimey, would you look at that, we've just whizzed
past the turning off the canal to Hayes & Harlington Station.
(d) Hayes to West Drayton (3 miles)
Hayes & Harlington station does have some romantic connections for
me - it was where I used to change from train to bus one my way from Reading
to Harrow to see the girlfriend who has since become my wife. Despite
this, I had no intention of revisiting it, as I knew from experience that
Hayes wasn't actually a very nice place, and instead we continued our
headlong pace along the canal.
Now, it has to be said that, nice though canal walking is, if you do
it for too long it does achieve a certain degree of monotony. Given that
the LOOP could potentially follow the Grand Union Canal for over 10 miles,
the LOOP designers have thoughtfully diverted the path away from the canal
wherever there is pleasant alternative walking. Whilst this does make
for a longer route, it probably actually makes it feel shorter.
The first of these diversions came at Stockley Park, a modern business
park. This might not sound like pleasant walking but this is a modern
business park and not the industrial monstrosities of yore. The designers
have had the unusual idea that nice surroundings and recreational opportunities
will help employers to work better (personally it would make me more likely
to head out for walks and therefore work less!). The offices in the centre
are therefore surrounded by a golf course, newly planted woodland and
low hills. The book said that these hills were artificial and made out
of refuse, and given that they would be the highest point in today's 20
mile walk I could well believe that they were unnatural.
We ascended first through the golf course and then along the edge of
woodland before unexpectedly emerging onto a startling suspension bridge
dangling precariously high above a dual carriageway. I'm a great fan of
unusual bridges, so congratulations to the architect of this one.
Beyond the suspension bridge we reached the highest point of today's
walk, a huge 40 metres above sea level. The view was reasonable, but certainly
not spectacular; our main feeling was not one of awe, but that it was
jolly cold and blowy and we'd do well to get back down to more sheltered
regions. We headed back down through a cluster of trees and left the business
park onto a minor road. It has to be said, if you're going to work in
an office, you could do a lot worse than one of these modern "campus"
style ones. It was also an admirable development given that it had according
to the book previously consisted of derelict buildings and rubbish tips.
Occasionally, just occasionally, planners and architects manage to come
up with a design that merges profit with an improvement to the environment;
Stockley Park is testament to what can be done.
It had been a long time since we'd had a break, and the slight climb
in the business park had made Jim's damaged ankle throb painfully. One
thing the business park lacked completely was seats - obviously the "recreational
facilities" were only for employees to keep physically fit, not for
them to lounge around and chat in! We therefore ended up resting in a
bus shelter, one of those awful glass modern ones with the uncomfortable
sloping seats which make life worse for passengers without ever achieving
their presumed aim of stopping rowdy teenagers (or dirty hikers) from
hanging out there.
Opposite the bus stop another site is being developed into an extension
to the park, and the LOOP will eventually run through it to the canal.
For the moment, however, you have to follow the minor road through some
fairly run down buildings, eventually joining the canal a little further
west. Soon afterwards you can leave the LOOP at West Drayton Station.
I suggested to Jim that we finish here so he could rest his ankle, but
with 4 miles to go he was determined to push on and finish the section.
He assured me that after the break his ankle was better again, but he
still looked like he was limping a little.
(e) West Drayton to Uxbridge (3.5 miles, plus 0.5 mile station link)
From here it would have been possible to push straight on up the Grand
Union Canal to our end destination of Uxbridge, but the LOOP designers
had once again found a more interesting and varied route to take. A little
way north of West Drayton you leave the Grand Union proper and head off
down the Slough branch of the canal, presumably once bustling with industrial
barges, but now a completely deserted backwater (after all, what pleasure
barges would choose to head to Slough nowadays?).
On the map this area seems completely covered by various bodies of water
- lakes, canals, rivers and (fortunately someway from the LOOP) a sewage
works. There's so much water that occasionally one bit gets in the way
of another. This soon happened on the Slough canal, as it had to pass
over a small river on a small aqueduct. I always love aqueducts. They
must have been tremendous feats of engineering when originally built and
today it's still a thrill to stand by a body of water held artificially
above another, in complete defiance of the laws of nature.
Just in case we got bored of the Slough branch of the canal, the LOOP
designers almost immediately took us off of it, first crossing it then
skirting a small lake to join yet another waterway, this time the River
Colne, which soon meanders passed Little Britain Lakes. These could look
divine on a summer's day, but the now overcast skies cast a gloom over
them that even the presence of the many and varied waterfowl couldn't
lift. You will notice I only said they could "look" divine -
they could never have the peace and tranquillity that so many other lakes
enjoy, for the LOOP had bought us within a couple of field's width of
the M25, and there was an ever present rumble of traffic noise.
The book said that the path onward along the Colne from the lakes was
narrow and overgrown, but it must have since been cleared since the book
was written - we found it very easy walking. We soon reached a point at
which the LOOP makes its closest ever approach to the M25 - just three
or four hundred metres away we could see the thundering juggernauts. We
were glad when the LOOP suddenly took a ninety degree turn away from the
motorway and headed back to the Grand Union Canal first via a bijou industrial
estate and then through the pleasant backstreets of Uxbridge Moor. This
was a point to celebrate - I'd calculated that we were now, by distance,
approximately halfway around the LOOP. Somehow it didn't have the same
true "halfway" feeling as when we'd reached the Thames at the
end of day three though!
A ten minute stomp up a depressing warehouse-lined section of canal bought
us to a pub called the Swan & Bottle, where we left the LOOP and headed
off to Uxbridge Station. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this part
of the LOOP. It's varied, has lots of pleasant waterside walking, and
Bushey Park was simply stunning. I'd recommend the whole lot though, and
was looking forward to continuing our waterside odyssey on day five…
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