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.