A less scenic route to Feltham

This was another simple plan for a walk and, to be honest, it did not really work.

Recent and planned long walks headed from Richmond north, north-east, east and south-east so it seemed fair to give south-west another try. We had been that way a few (three?) times either following the Thames or the Mole. This time I thought that we could head for the two large reservoirs near West Molesey. Feltham was chosen as the end-point simply because it is in Zone 6 so we could get home for free.

The walk started well enough as we went through the centre of Bushy Park. There was more traffic there than we would have liked despite the through route being closed as cars were still allowed to access the two car parks in the centre. Still, it was quiet enough for us to walk along the road.

We followed The Thames west for a while before heading for the reservoirs. The roads there were too busy for the walk to be relaxing and the pavements left a great deal to be desired. That proved to be the case for most of the rest of the walk and ultimately led to the failure of the plan.

There were some good points along the way, such as when we rejoined the river just before Walton-on-Thames. BP's International Centre for Business & Technology in Sunbury had some impressive modern buildings. An unnamed area of heath in Lower Feltham was a flowery delight and we took a slight detour to enjoy it. We took another short detour for Grosvenor Park in Feltham but as that is just a recreation ground this was scant reward for the extra steps.

The final ignominy was having to have my end of walk beer in a Wetherspoons in Feltham.

Far from the greatest walk ever but not the worst either, at least the weather was good, and covering 21 km was a decent result for four hour's effort.

Once more to Feltham

There are several reasons why I keep walking to Feltham.

It strings together several parks and while urban areas and main roads cannot be avoided the wild beauty and peace of places like The Lower Crane Valley, Hanworth Park and Feltham Park more than compensate. These parks follow the River Crane or The Duke of Northumberland's River which brings adds to the natural beauty.

It is also a nice distance for a walk with options to jump in an out of the route, by bus and train, if the time or the weather demands it.

The final excuse, I have to admit, is that I am chasing gold badges in some Pokemon Go gyms along the route and so I have to revisit them regularly.

I had walked every section of this route several times before but this is the first time that I had strung them together like this. My choice or route kept changing on the day depending on my mood as each decision had to be made.

One important decision was on where to stop for coffee and with not many decent options beyond Hampton I thought that I would give Lisboa Loja in Feltham another go. I had been there only once before and that was when I had got lost following the wrong river (there are three in the area). Lisboa Loja came up trumps with possibly the best cake that I have ever eaten! It was something like a Mango Coconut Bundt Cake but with more fruit. I will have to go back and have it again.

The final decisions were to keep walking and not to take a bus part of the way home. I could do this as I had started early, around 8:30am, and so despite walking for just over five hours I was still home in time for lunch. In those five hours I walked over 25km, a great start to the day!