Section 15. Hatch End to Elstree

 

  

Section 15 in yellow.  8.5 miles they said.  Ummmm......

Finally I had a weekday where I could attempt the London loop.  I have had the Easter Week off with my sister and we have been doing other walks.  This walk is just for me.  I don't think sitting on a train for over an hour into Marylebone and then dealing with buses, overground trains and underground trains just to START the walk is for everyone.  Nearly 2.5 hours after I left home I was ready to start the walk. (Honestly it was a shlep this one plus I had to deal with the architectural horrors of  Euston Station.) 

 I had it all mapped out on my OS map app.  God, I love this app.  £20 a year I think and well worth it. The woodland elves I met in some forest back in another section told me about this app and I am forever grateful to them. Here is the route again from an OS kind of perspective.

Mapped out in purple if you're interested!

The reasons I like these walks is because you see beauty and oddness that most people would just see as the forgotten about green/ brown  belt of London. The one thing that really gets to me on these walks are the intense bird and butterfly life, especially around the motorway sections. Plus the isolation and the moments of great beauty. This walk was definitely a mixture of hard walking up the sides of busy roads and the blasts of unexpected beauty. I love all the contrasts.

The start was all overgrown .  Thank god I didn't get too stung. It didn't last long but it was a bit crap and then I got into open space.

Good signage in these parts.

Grimsdyke is a feature around these parts and is the name of the golf course I had to walk along and a hotel nearby, but the real Grimsdyke is a man made ditch from about 2000 years ago, built by the Celtic Catuvellauni tribe of SE England to keep the Romans out.  (Spoiler...it didn't work.) Unlike Grimsdykes around Oxfordshire and Berkshire this one has mostly  been built over but it's remembered and still a part of the countryside. 

Grimsdyke to the left .

In fact no one really knows why these ditches were created by the Celts.  It's all a mystery and to be honest  they are hard to locate!

The green signage was pretty good on this route

Gilbert Lake

I then came to a rather grotty looking lake (needed some money spent on it.)  This Lake was where Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame died trying to save a woman from drowning.  Pretty sad especially as this lake was part of his own land at the time and now is looking a bit underwhelming. 

Behind all the trees was Bentley Priory,  The Battle of Britain was directed from here.  It reminded me of walking around Chequers or when I walked around Broadmoor. All very high security and fenced off.

I entered Harrow Weald Common and suddenly bumped into these purple beauties!  Probably the most beautiful part of the day. Shame they were all barbed wired off.  Part of the military owned land I think.

I had lunch on this bench looking out over North West London.

 

Funnelled along the edge of fields.

Lots of the rest of the walk involved walking up the edges of fields.  It wasn't the best fun as I felt a bit claustrophobic and couldn't see much!

Walking towards the M1 motorway

Crossing the M1 motorway was strange.  It was odd that I couldn't really hear the traffic. It was an underpass so no photos going over but my god it was a paradise of bird song and butterflies. The life around motorways is amazing.  I don't think farmers do much to the land near motorways so it's a mecca for wildlife. 

Elstree in the distance

The other side of the motorway was pretty.  Going up the meadows with Elstree nearby. Then up to Aldenham Country Park and reservoir and then down to the ancient Roman Road of Watling Street.  I was getting tired by this point so I stuck to the road and headed straight into Borehamwood and had a pint. The map says it should have been 8 miles but I had clocked up over 11 by this point. I'm sure I hadn't gone wrong.  I think the LOOP maps from the website are rogue.

Information about the 'British Hollywood' at Elstree at the underground station. 

Barbara

Can't say this was the most inspiring section but at least I have done it.  Well over half way now!

Section 14: Moor Park to Hatch End

 This section was very short so I decided to do it in an afternoon.  To be fair it was probably the quietest and most uneventful of all the LOOP walks so far.   No getting lost, no historical houses, no crossing busy roads. It was all mostly a huge golf course at the beginning followed by ancient woodlands and ending with a horse riding school.  Right from the start  I barely saw a soul.  This amazes me about these walks as I'm stuck in the middle of high density outer London.  This time sandwiched between Pinner and Watford.

Yellow blob was my afternoon walk

Here is the route on my new OS map subscription on my phone. I love this new app. I have access to every OS map in the country. I can snap my walk to any path, check the length, see the elevation and track myself so I can't get lost!

The blue line is the walk.

As this walk was about 5 miles(one of the shortest) I did it in one afternoon. Leaving Moor Park (the only london underground within a private gated housing estate) I was straight away in the woods running parallel to the Metropolitan Line

The route outside Moor Park Station

Walking next to the metropolitan line

Typical over signage. London Loop in three directions is very confusing.

Starting the walk and hoping the rain would stay away. Which it did.

Then I entered a huge golf course.

I had to be so careful as I walked through this golf course. It was a work day but hey these guys don't work, this course was PACKED with middle aged guys whacking their balls. I felt like a walking target but luckily I got through without being knocked out.  The website for the golf course...how the 2% live!

Sandy Lodge Golf Course

Into Oxhey Woods

Not a soul in these woods.  Not even dog walkers. It was a a bit creepy. I expected an elf, pixie or tree spirit to appear at any moment.  When I'm walking through woods it's the supernatural that freaks me out far more than bumping into humans! In fact meeting another human would have been a welcome relief. 

On the Oxhey  Woods website they say

Some parts of the woods

 are ancient woodland, having been continuously wooded for at least four hundred years, and possibly up to ten thousand years.

That's hell of an old wood!

Happy to be out of Oxhey Woods

Oxhey Woods

The ancient woods

To be honest, the woods were lovely. It is amazing that they haven't been destroyed. An oasis sandwiched between Pinner and Watford.

Soon I was in horse lover land.  Lots of horses and horse shit and horse smells. I was lucky it was dry as I'm sure this part of the walk would be a total shit, mud fest in wet weather. 

Found this poster informative.

I then passed by the gated carriage way to Pinnerwood house.  It's currently for sale.  Savills doesn't say how much it is being sold for but hey, what's money?!

Pinnerwood House

Looking back at the woods I had travelled through.

I then ended up in Hatch End town centre.  The pub there looked a bit unwelcoming so I went straight to the overground station..it was cute

Hatch End Station

The line through Hatch End  is named after the England Women's football team

I decided to get off the train in Queen's Park just because I had never been to that part of London before.  I liked it.  I went to a great little craft brewery place which was jammed (Beer was great) and found a fab looking Malaysian restaurant which was empty as it had only just opened for the evening.   I might go back again.  Queen's Park is only a short distance up from Marylebone on the Bakerloo line.  That's what I really like about this walk, investigating random new places.     Sudu Malaysian restaurant review.

I think my travelling was longer than my walking today. Next time I'll make up for it. It's a longer one.

Section 13. Harefield West to Moor Park

 

Top left, yellow blob was my afternoon walk

I finished my pint at the Coy Carp and headed off into the Bucks/Hertfordshire countryside and I wasn't disappointed. It was such great weather and it was so beautiful. I was in a wealthy part of North West London as I was on the edge of London's largest golf course but I was able to get away quickly and into the countryside.

It was all a big change from my earlier walk along the canal.  I suddenly had space and field after field. In fact it felt very much like walks around the countryside in Oxfordshire. 

There were also loads of stiles. I know that as I get older stiles will become more and more difficult to navigate, but at the moment I am in peak stile climbing form1  11 years ago when I started this walking adventure I realised climbing stiles was fucking painful. In fact to be honest this kind of movement has been painful most of my adult life.  Wonders of wonders...when the doctors finally removed two orange/melon size growths on my ovaries I realised I could turn and get over stiles without feeling like I was going to be sick.  Oh the joy. It's a really pronounced difference and makes me feel great. 

I finally entered a wood and again the atmosphere changed. I met two guys eating lunch on a bench and realised they were doing the London Loop section too. It was so rare to meet fellow loopers. (In fact my first time!)   We had a little chat but I quickly left them to finish their sarnies.  About 20 minutes later I was well and truly lost in the wood. The route signs had vanished and the paths were all coming to dead ends. I only had my google maps and written map instructions to guide me and I was getting nowhere.  I was almost on the verge of slight panic when I could hear the 2 guys behind me. It was such luck to see  them again.  Luckily they had the Ordinance  Survey map downloaded on their phones and we were able to GPS our way out of the wood together. Trees had fallen down in storms and completely blocked the path.   I couldn't believe my luck to have bumped into these guys just minutes before I got lost for the first time on this walk.  Maybe they were walking spirits sent to help me out when I needed it. (Yes, I do believe this has happened to me a few times whilst out walking!) As we were walking along together talking about different sections they had done. (They weren't doing it in order like me.)  I kept thinking are you real or are you spirit entities sent to get me out of my first problem on this walk?  I was on the verge of asking them but I thought it would be socially unacceptable, so I kept my mouth shut. After 10 mins or so I left them to continue ahead as they were walking much faster than me. (Much faster!) and I stopped for a bit to catch my breath and take some photos.

I was soon out of the woods and into Moor Park. (No sight of the men ahead.) This part of London is very exclusive all gated streets and massive houses. Walkers can get into the streets but drivers have to be invited by residents. It was all so ridiculous and uber wealthy.   I was walking in one of the most exclusive housing estates in London. I've googled the area and it's home to lots of media types and TV producers. I was getting tired as I had done over 11 miles by this time, but luckily Moor Park station wasn't far.  I was walking alongside the metropolitan line towards the only Underground London station within a private, gated community. All very different to my start in  Uxbridge! 

Here is a link to more information on how the 1% live!   Moor Park Information

Got to have a road named after Oxford in such an exclusive enclave. 
They obviously don't know the Oxford I know

Original Victorian lamps on the streets supposedly. I didn't feel comfortable taking photos of the houses. Not my thing. All very weird.

walking parallel to the Metropolitan line

Moor Park Underground Station is on the left..

 

Direct to Baker Street! What a great day!