The Walk
(a) Uxbridge Lock to Harefield West (5.25 miles)
This was going to be a strange bit of the walk for us. For the first
time on the LOOP we weren't getting the train into London & back out
to the LOOP. For the first time we would have a companion joining us on
the LOOP. For the first time we would have a support team bringing us
tea en route. For the first time we would be picked up at the end of the
section and delivered directly to hot food & showers, rather than
having the normal 2 hour wait for these luxuries. It sounded great!
This celebrity charity walk level of support was due to the fact that
this section of the walk ran close to my in-laws' house. My wife, Ali,
was going to drop us off & then go to spend the day at her Mum &
Dads. She would return later bringing refreshments and her Dad, Dave,
who was to join us for part of the walk.
The walk itself was definitely one of two halves. The first part of the
day was to be dominated by water - both in the landscape and in the air.
The second part was woods and sunshine. We had previously tried to persuade
Dave that the first part would be the nicest but he insisted on walking
his local section. In the event, he chose the wrong section for scenery
but certainly the best part weatherwise!
Ali dropped us off at the Swan and Bottle, where we had left the Grand
Union canal at the end of the last section, thus saving us the half mile
walk from Uxbridge station. Given that today would be the furthest we
had ever walked in our lives, it was probably just as well!
The rain started the instant we left the car; I think Ali was a bit worried
about us. Or at least about me - Jim had insisted on bringing a brolly
but I had decided that the undoubted benefits of dryness were outweighed
by having to carry the rotten thing for 20 miles - I'm no fan of carrying
umbrellas even at the best of times. However, it brought him great satisfaction
as ever since he's been able to brag about the day he stayed dry while
I was soaked to the skin.
We were lacking in cookies for the first time on the LOOP (having not
been through a station with a cookie shop), but as cake would be delivered
later, this was no great hardship. In fact, despite the rain and deficiency
of cookies we were feeling bright and confident, and eager to start.
The best bits of the LOOP always seem to coincide with it following watercourses,
and I was therefore looking forward to this section because the first
5 miles were along the canal. We'd tried to persuade Dave to join us for
this bit but he wanted to stick to his local woods.
 Even
in the rain it was beautiful. There was always plenty to see - canals
always seem to be a bustle of activity. There was a narrowboat powered
by a brightly coloured rear-mounted paddle wheel. At Uxbridge Lock we
watched a couple of narrowboats squeezing through the lock at the same
time. After passing under the M40 we came to another lock, Denham Lock,
where the canal rises to pass over Frays River. The River Colne also flowed
past just to our left, and squeezed between the Colne and the canal was
a lovely little tea garden. We would have stopped if it had not been (a)
outside in the rain which was by now pretty heavy (b) too early in the
walk to need tea and (c) closed due to it not being lunchtime yet. I'll
definitely have to go back to visit it on a sunny day though - when, of
course, it will be over-run with day-trippers.
All the bridges over the Grand Union are numbered, and after Denham we
crossed at bridge number 182. Lakes (former gravel workings) started to
open out to our right and despite the torrential rain we felt pretty happy
with life.
The next landmark was a railway viaduct, which for us was more exciting
than your average viaduct. This one carried the mainline railway to Marylebone
station, the line we used to get into London at the start of each LOOP
section, and somehow it felt quite significant to walk under it! We were
doubly glad now that Ali had given us a lift - it would have been demoralising
to walk under something we had got the train over a couple of hours before
and would have to go over again that evening.
After the railway, naturalised gravel workings opened out on both sides
of the canal, almost seeming like one massive expanse of water. To break
the linear nature of canal walking up a bit, the LOOP designers here diverted
the path out around a marina and small lake, rejoining the canal after
about a kilometre.
It was here that we met a strange character - short and squat, with a
magnificent black beard, clad in mud bespattered green and carrying a
plastic bag. He lacked the white beard of a narrowboat captain, and did
not have the garb of a hiker. So what could he be doing out and about
in the rain? We decided he must be the troll that lived under bridge number
182, and were glad that (a) he'd been out when we crossed and (b) we weren't
billy goats!
At Harefield the path left the canal. We took brief shelter and hot soup
from our flask under a bridge (thus feeling distinctly like tramps), as
we felt it might be our last chance of dryness for some time. It had been
raining hard for over 2 hours, and though we had thoroughly enjoyed this
part of the LOOP we were starting to feel a bit chilled and fed up with
the rain - it had been forecast to stop by midday and that time was now
past.
(b) Harefield West to Moor Park (4 miles)
 It's
a stiff climb up through woods away from the canal at Harefield, and if
you don't fancy it you can always get the bus from here back to Uxbridge,
having enjoyed one of the best parts of this section already. However,
the woods offered shelter from the rain and held a stunning display of
bluebells, making the climb well worth it.
Emerging from the woods the path crossed a road at Hill End and then
entered rough and undulating agricultural land where the soft ground made
for quite tiring walking. Being at the top of a hill, we were also badly
exposed to the elements, and rainwater started seeping in at the neck
and sleeves of my waterproof.
No doubt city dwellers walking the LOOP find this sort of landscape excitingly
rural. To a non-Londoner like me, it seems very average and therefore
wearying on the soul. When walking the LOOP I look forward the exciting
contrasts and interesting features - the rivers, the big houses, the parks.
But I guess the "good" bits are enhanced all the more by these
agricultural trudges between them. This one was probably made all the
more depressing by the glorious canal walking we'd started the day with.
Bishop's Wood Country Park follows, and this isn't too grand either.
It's a dank dark depressing wood (okay, maybe this was due to the weather).
The path weaves about a lot, and due to the complete lack of visibilty
and landmarks in a wood, it felt like we weren't getting anywhere at all
- the wood seemed. In fact, it reminded me a lot of Bilbo Baggins' traverse
of Mirkwood in "The Hobbit".
After fighting our way out of the far end of the wood, where the path
seemed to disappear, we emerged at Batchworth Heath, 108m above sea level,
to a glorious sight. In the distance, a dead straight line running across
the sky was the back of the front (doesn't that sound strange) that had
brought all the rain. And beyond that - blue sky! It seemed like it would
stop raining soon.
For the moment though, the rains continued, and we took advantage of
a bus stop for a snack break. Also sharing our bench was a full pint of
lager, presumably waiting for a bus. We both declined to drink it, and
by the time we restarted, the rain had ceased and the lager was still
waiting. I changed out of my soaking mac into a nice warm fleece which
I'd been keeping dry in a plastic bag at the bottom of my rucksack, and
started to feel better about myself.
A strange little path squeezed through a narrow wood shoehorned between
the suburbs of Northwood and Moor Park. Apparently this path used to represent
the border between Middlesex and Hertfordshire, a quality important enough
for someone to consider paving it. In fact, a few small bits were actually
paved, but the majority of it just had piles of moss-covered unused slabs
by the side. You got the impression that a gang of council workers had
knocked off early one day & never returned. They'd been there for
a fair while, as they were mentioned in the book, which had been published
three years previously.
At any rate I was pleased not to be going through Northwood itself. I
used to get the bus through it, and it was one of the nastiest looking
places I've seen. Some imbecile threw a brick at the bus once and showered
glass all over a mum and her baby right in front of me.
Fortunately, after the woods we turned into Moor Park instead - an altogether
nicer place, with plenty of large houses to gawp at. Passing under the
railway line here you could turn left to reach Moor Park station, but
we had to hurry on & meet Dave.
(c) Moor Park to Hatch End (4.75 miles)
We now entered a rather pretty golf course, and thought it would be a
good place to stop for lunch (assuming we could find a bench). There were
in fact little round huts with benches, but they all seemed to distant
from the LOOP (a horrendous 50 metres or so!) for us to consider deviating
from the path. Jim was particularly vehement about this - he seems to
have a real problem with leaving the specified route, and expects benches
where he can simply turn on the spot and sit down with his feet still
on the path. Needless to say, this attitude leads to us missing a lot
of good lunch spots.
I wasn't too worried this time as I was sure we would find more benches
closer to the end of the golf course. Needless to say we didn't, and I
was getting a bit worried about finding a lunch spot - it was getting
late in the day and the map didn't hint at any other likely spots for
a long long way ahead.
Fortunately, after wading across some very deep and wet grass we came
to a children's playground with a wet and broken bench that at least gave
us somewhere to squat, whilst we regretted missing the great spots in
the golf course.
At this point we received a call from Dave wondering where we'd got to.
The cold and wet had slowed us up quite a lot - it was already past our
designated time to meet up and we still had a fair way to go. We sighed,
packed up our stuff and headed off for our rendezvous point.
Oxhey woods were terrible. Dark, dank, and knee deep in mud. I came very
close to falling head first into a walk-ending mire, much to Jim's amusement.
And, as we had read elsewhere on the web, the LOOP round these parts ain't
too easy to follow. We took a speculative left turn far too early, and
ended up forcing our way through thick scrub behind some houses for a
while until we eventually emerged on a bit of path that I recognised having
previously walked it with Ali's family. From there I was able to negotiate
us safely back on to the LOOP, and we re-christened the area "Poxy
Woods".
It was now a quick stroll down through a horse farm (sorry, equestrian
centre), past some expensive-looking houses with their own ponds and across
a field to reach our meeting point, a stile leading to an alleyway into
a Hatch End housing estate.
Our support team arrived at the same time as we did, bearing a flask
of tea, cake and Dave. Amazingly, they'd even bought china cups. This
veneer of civility did nothing to appease the local neighbourhood-watch-type-woman,
who stood and glared at us disapprovingly for the whole time we were there!
(d) Hatch End to Stanmore (4 miles) - "Dave's section"
So, now refreshed and joined by Dave we strode confidently out across
some fields, under a railway and then along what seemed like an interminably
long stretch of road - the B4542 - possibly not the best introduction
to the Loop for Dave. Eventually, however, it came to an end and after
a short ascent on the lovely soft springy grass of a golf course I reached
a bit of the Loop I knew and had walked many times with Ali's folks.
Jim vetoed my suggestion that I get a taxi past this bit I had already
walked and meet them at Stanmore. He said it wouldn't count if I didn't
walk the whole Loop in order. We therefore carried on through the woods
of Old Redding and Harrow Weald Common, past the ancient Saxon boundary
ditch of Grim's Dyke, past the lovely Case Is Altered pub and past the
pond where Mr Gilbert (of Gilbert & Sullivan fame) drowned.
As you've probably guessed by now, I generally dislike woods, finding
them dank and dark with no chance of a decent view. These woods are, however,
more open & light than, say, Poxy Woods, and have the distinct bonus
of bringing you to Bentley Priory, which I've always loved. A big open
space of heathland and low scrub with a deer park and a lake, and surprisingly
once host to Fighter Command HQ in the Battle of Britain, it's simply
a joy to walk in. Sadly, the Loop does little more than skim the edge
of it before emerging on the A4140.
Here Dave left us. He'd enjoyed it, and I think would have liked to continue,
but he'd promised to be home… it was now after 6pm, and we were
clearly going to be later finishing this section than any previously.
We felt very guilty about Maureen's (Ali's Mum) dinner being held up,
but we had to get on to finish at Elstree station or we would have no
easy way of rejoining the Loop at the start of our next walk.
We bid Dave farewell and told him to make sure that the rest of the family
got on with their dinner. Here we were within a kilometre of the "county
top", or highest point, of Middlesex. We did discuss nipping up to
it so as to save returning here when we start County Top bagging, but
decided not to due to (a) time constraints and (b) feeling it wouldn't
be right half-heartedly starting the tops whilst we were still doing the
Loop. Instead we plodded onwards…
(e) Stanmore to Elstree (2.75 miles)
This last section seemed very much longer than the mileage suggested
- not because it was dull (it was actually rather nice!) or because we
were tired (we felt surprisingly sprightly!), but more I think because
we were worried that we were late for dinner and that we were abusing
Maureen & Dave's hospitality.
However, our immediate concern was to have a snack-and-water break and
a sit down - we hadn't stopped all the time Dave had been with us, and
had been on our feet since lunch. Of course, as soon as we wanted a bench
there weren't any - nor even anything we could use as a substitute bench.
On Stanmore Little Common we came across Caesar's Ponds, an absolutely
delightful spot where I can imagine benches would be intensely popular.
There were none there - councillors please note…
Neither were there any benches (or raised flattish surfaces) as we passed
a few houses, a hospital and headed out into fields towards the M1. The
final field was enormous and especially verdant (read: long, wet grass,
tiring to wade through). The field ended at a busy A-road that took us
under the M1, and here we finally abandoned our search for a seat by squatting
amongst building rubble at the roadside. Jim had an upturned oil canister,
that he professed was better than a bench; I could make no such claim
about my lumpy chunk of concrete.
Strangely the M1 was probably the least noticeable and noisy of all the
major roads we'd crossed so far on the Loop, despite being possibly the
most important. I don't know if this was because it was above us on an
embankment; if so perhaps more roads could be made in this manner?!
Partway along another long roadside tramp Jim realised his umbrella was
missing - I'm sure this was just a ploy so he could revisit his favourite
oil canister. While he retraced his steps, I took his rucksack and ambled
onwards, thinking that if I walked slowly he'd soon catch me up. Unfortunately
I didn't communicate this too well and on his return he was annoyed to
find both me and his rucksack missing. It has to be said, I did expect
him to spot the very obvious Loop signage, but one mobile call later we
were reunited somewhat acrimoniously.
We eventually left the road at Aldenham reservoir where, of course, there
were dozens of benches. We sat on one and had a quick chocolate break
just for the sheer novelty of it. There was no physical need of it - we
were very close to the end now. We crossed a couple of fields, made a
short loop through another golf course, then a short spell of urban walking
bought us to Elstree station, where we called Ali's Taxi's. She quickly
delivered us to her Mum's where a lovely dinner and hot showers awaited,
despite the guilt we felt at the time (now getting on for 7.30pm).
Overall, despite the weather and this being the furthest we'd ever walked
in a day, we thoroughly enjoyed this section. Looking back this may have
been a false impression though. The first part of the walk along the canal
was gorgeous, despite the rain, but after that the section was fairly
average apart from one or two highlights (eg Bentley Priory).
We felt physically pretty chipper when we finished it - both Ali and
her sister Fiona commented on how sprightly we looked compared to previous
sections. And I think herein lies the key - we hadn't had to deal with
a gruelling two hour plus journey on public transport at both ends of
the walk. So thanks to Ali's Taxi company for makingthis such a splendid
section!
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