Looking for Longford, finding Feltham

Having got somewhat lost on Tuesday I was determined to do better on Friday and set my target for only a little lost.

My plan was to try and follow Longford River as much as I could to Feltham then come back the way I went on Tuesday alone Crane River but following the river more closely. I think it worked.

I picked up Longford River as it left Bushy Park, having followed it through the Park many times previously, and to start with a coffee and cake from a usual refuelling spot, Paws for Coffee.  That part of the plan failed miserably as a medium-sized queue put me off Paws and I decided to get a coffee at the next cafe that I came across, which turned out to be in Feltham a couple of hours later.

Longford River proved to be as elusive as my coffee, certainly in the first section of the walk from Bushy Park to the multi-lane horror of A316.

I knew that the river ran along Windmill but then hid behind Uxbridge Road. I tried going down Ringwood Way but that was a dead-end and I had to go back. The promisingly named Longford Close fared better and led to a footbridge over the river. Crossing that confirmed that there was no path along the river, in either direction or on either bank.

I then tried the housing estate on the west side of the river and while I got to see it a couple of times, e.g. on a spur off Wordsworth Road and Stourton Avenue which also crossed it.

The next step was to cross the hideous A316 using a very elevated pedestrian crossing. Then things looked up. 

From the footbridge I could see the river and it seemed to have a path alongside it for the next section. It was not much of a path but any path is worth following, so I did.

I was a little concerned as the path was not on any of my maps (Apple, Google and OS), the river zig-zagged so I could not see that far ahead and there were no ways through to the nearby streets, but everything worked well and I was soon at the A314 and in  Hanworth Park.

With a park to play in the river chose to run underground and I had to walk above it until the far end of the park where it reappeared in a pond. There was bit of scramble through an industrial estate and then I was back on the river and approaching Feltham.

Crossing the river again gave me this view of the manicured river.

After that it was a plain sailing, the river remained above ground with a path following it all the way to East Bedfont (possibly) where I picked up Northumberland River for the journey home.

The next bit I wanted to improve on was following Rive Crane past Hounslow Heath. Again the maps were not much use here and to stay close to the river I had to use paths on them and a certain amount of trial and error. I am not sure that I followed the best route, i.e. the one closest to the river, at all times but it was a big improvement on last time when I followed the main path which diverged from the river by some distance.

It was still very muddy in places!

The final section, back through Crane Park, was autopilot.

I got home just in time for lunch, about 3:30pm, having covered 28 km in five and a half hours. A good walk.

I was disappointed that large sections of Longford River were hidden and are probably best left out of any formal routes that I map. The middle section from A316 to A314 was a positive and I'll do some updates to Google Maps and Open Street Map so that other people can know about this route.

Renaissance is superlative Science Fantasy

I have been reasonably successful in widening my comics reading by deliberately trying books that are not about superheroes (I subscribe to just two superhero titles now and one of them is about to finish) and not from North America.

In continuing that policy I bought the first volume (60 pages) of Renaissance, prompted by a sale. Words are by Fred Duval and Frédéric Blanchard , and art by Emem, all new names to me.

The premise sounded interesting, "The Complex, a federation of extraterrestrial civilisations decides to launch a vast expedition to save a planet that has exhausted its resources: Earth." A friendly invasion if you like.

Apart from that I did not know what to expect and the cover did not give much of a clue, then a very early splash page (below) told me everything. I had made a good choice.

The main picture when stripped of dialogue would make a great posted to sit alongside those of Chris Foss, Roger Dean or Rodney Matthews. I love the way that the iconic Eiffel Tower is cleanly transmuted into a weird future. Fantasy, I think, is at its best when it is grounded in reality as that make it both fantastical and believable.

The story lives up to the art and we are treated to earnest aliens trying to save us while having to content to things like budget pressures at home and rogue robots here. It read like Science Fantasy should read and I loved it, leading to the immediate purchasing and reading of volumes 2 and 3. I am now hoping for further volumes which could come as, in some ways, the story has barely started.

b.t.w. I am not going to get too hung up about categorisation here, you could just as easily call this Science Fiction, or even Space Opera once the complete story has been told, but I have gone for Science Fantasy because of the fantastical images of the alien worlds.

The story kept me engaged and in suspense throughout (slight spoiler, some of the good people die). I liked that the story was centred around 2 aliens, recently married, with different roles in the rescue of Humanity as this gave the story an additional dimension.

But it was the art that really grabbed me, I've picked just one panel to make my point, chosen as much as anything because it has no dialogue.

 

The setting is so obviously alien yet it looks functional too, you could sit on that chair or climb those stairs. The detail is staggering for just one panel that does not even mage dialogue to slow the reader down. It is gorgeous and makes me want to hunt out more of Emem (Matthieu Ménage)'s work.

The closest comparison I can think of is the original Dan Dare with its long storylines and unique Frank Hampson art. From me, that is high praise indeed.

Exploring the Feltham Loop (badly)

I have walked along River Crane several times, and written about it here, but there is always something new to learn and having been alerted to Feltham Loop by Twitter I had to give it a go.

The basic plan was to swap a right turn to Hounslow Common for a left turn that took me to another section of River Crane Walk,  one that I had not known about. That's the little zig-zag just to the right of "Feltham".

There is no signage in that section, or I missed it, and I got a little lost, and very muddy, before I joined Capital Ring, a section I was familiar with .

On a previous walk I had mistaken Duke of Northumberland's River for River Crane and had ended by climbing over a pile of rubbish and a fence to get on to a main road. This time I was on the other side of the road where a new path had been created alongside the river and I followed that. Partially because it was new to me this was my favourite section of the walk.

After that it was time to find a coffee (Costa, sadly) then head home.

Unfortunately the Feltham Loop map had not made the jump from my Apple Mac to my iPhone (it has now) so I took the wrong route and missed most of the Longford River, though I did pick it up in Feltham. That's another excuse for trying the route again.

In the late 90's I worked at IBM Bedfont Lakes, which meant catching a bus from Teddington Lock to Feltham Station and then the shuttle bus to the business park, so I had some knowledge of bits of this route and it was good to be able to retrace some old steps slowly.

I meant to go through Hanworth Park and that was a good decision. Hampton Common / Buckingham Park was more an accident and a good one. Then it was autopilot through Bushy Park and home.

With a little bit more planning beforehand, and fewer distractions on the day, it would not have taken seven hours and covered 34 km. I shall try to improve on that soon.

To close, a couple of photos taken along the way.

This is when I knew that I was wearing the wrong shoes.

This is when I knew I was on the right route.

This is when I crossed the Duke of Northumberland's Rover turned for home.