30km to Uxbridge

I had walked to Uxbridge before and had also done the local sections of London Loop but I had not walked with the Ramblers before, despite being a member for a few years, and I took the opportunity of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Loop to do all three.

The Ramblers part of the walk was all of section 10 and most of section 11 which went from Hatton Cross to West Drayton. I supplemented that by walking from home to Hatton Cross, which is sort of section 9 of the Loop, and then continued on to Uxbridge completing section 11.

I made no attempt to follow the Loop to Hatton Cross and my route was determined more by having to get there by 11am and the location of some target Pokemon Go gyms. That meant more main roads that the Loop but it also took me through Hanworth Park and let me get a coffee and another excellent cake from the deservedly packed Lisboa Loja cafe in Feltham.

I arrived at Hatton Cross at 10:58 feeling suitably smug at my timing and pleased to have taken a key target gym in Hampton and two more in Hanworth Park. The day had started well.

The walk to West Drayton went much as expected and was mostly a route I had taken several times before.

There are always options on routes like these and after crossing Bath Road in Cranford I headed confidently to Avenue Park only for everyone else to go to Cranford Park. I conceded defeat and joined them.

We joined the canal soon after and I was expecting us to follow it all the way to West Drayton so the detour via Stockley Park was unexpected though understandable.

It is both a strength and a weakness of London Loop that it often takes a longer route to include parks when the direct route is already pretty. That was the case here in leaving, and then rejoining, the canal and also in section 9 where it goes through Hampstead Heath when the path along River Crane is both shorter and, in my opinion, prettier (though, to be fair, it can be closed due to flooding). The conflicting requirements of walking for pleasure (prettiest route) and for travel (shortest route), and attempts to mix the two, make designing walking routes difficult with no right answers. I think that is the main reason that I prefer to walk alone or with a friend, we get to choose the route at each point rather than somebody else.

The Ramblers abandoned me in West Drayton where the effects of the sun drove me into a pub for a beer. As advised, the pub by the station was pretty dire - the London Pride was off and the substitute bottle of Tribute was (just) out of date. The crisps were ok but basic.

Short beer break over I continued uneventfully along the canal to Uxbridge. I probably should have checked the status of public transport before making these plans as my expected route was unavailable due to no District Line trains running to Richmond but two Piccadilly Line trains to Acton Town then South Ealing and a 65 bus did the trick, eventually.

With a couple of short breaks the 30km walk took something under seven hours. That is what I call a good walk.