Capital Ring 7 - Sudbury Hill to Wembley Park

At the beginning of the year, I returned to to the Capital Ring, a 78 mile circular walk around London which I originally started from Woolwich back in 2016. 

I walked from Hanwell to Sudbury Hill in February and picked up the path again in March. I had been planning to finish it this year, but that plan is now on hold for obvious reasons.

I caught the train from Marylebone out to Sudbury Hill Harrow, an hourly service on a stumpy two-car train, and watched from the bridge above as it pulled away.

A bit of road-walking, a muddy footpath 

and a bit more road-walking took me to Harrow-on-the-Hill, where I knocked off a couple of finds for the Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt. 

The High Street was upmarket, much as you would expect, with a pocket-sized village green to one side,

and a nineteenth-century fountain which has recently been restored to provide drinking water again.

The town is dominated by Harrow School, with many blue signs on the buildings which belong to them. This one in particular made me smile at boys' taxis being paired with deliveries:

I caught a glimpse of Wembley Stadium's arch across a school courtyard, and would have loved to go closer, but the 'no trespassing' signs were out in force. I can't really blame them as the number of tourists swarming around in the summer must be a constant irritation.

Heading further into town, I picked off an impressive array of school buildings:

Druries, one of the boarding houses,

the school chapel, designed by George Gilbert Scott

the library, another George Gilbert Scott design,

and the Speech Room, their main assembly hall and an events venue.

My route path continued steeply down Football Lane and then across the school's playing fields (via a permissive path).

Looking back, I could clearly still see the school buildings mentioned above, and also the parish church of St Mary's.

I then climbed over the only stile on the Capital Ring

and crossed the road beyond to join the Ducker Footpath (which takes its name from the school's swimming pool)

soon regretting my decision to wear trainers rather than walking boots today. This path runs between two fences with hospital on the left, golf course on the right and no escape in either direction. I trudged onwards as the path became more and more pond-like, eventually giving up picking my way from island to island and just wading through it all.

I eventually emerged into Northwick Park, surprising a litter-picker who probably didn't expect anyone to use that path in those conditions. In many ways it's a pretty standard suburban park with playground equipment, an outdoor gym and some playing fields,

but it does have a special view, one of the Wembley Arch curving up above the local buildings.

More squelching as I crossed this waterlogged field and thankfully moved on to a bit of pavement-walking towards South Kenton underground station which marks the end of Section 9 of the Capital Ring. 

I ducked through the underpass and embarked on Section 10 following roads and alleyways to Preston Park

where I checked my progress towards the ultimate finish point at the Woolwich Foot Tunnel. 

Leaving the park behind me, I encountered this fellow

en route to Preston Road, which was a sharp contrast to Harrow earlier in the day.

A bit more pavement-walking took me to what my guide describes as a grassy pathway,

which was an ominously squelchy introduction to Fryent Country Park. The path crossed a field, climbing steeply, and then looking back I was surprised to still have Harrow in sight.

I followed the path through sparse woodland 

and emerged by a pond atop Barn Hill

where this heron wasn't bothered by my presence in the slightest.

Finding a handy bench with a decent view,

I ate a late lunch while watching the adverts scroll on Wembley Stadium below me. The clouds rolled in and a breeze picked up so I decided to check my phone for a weather forecast; the first drops of rain fell on the screen as it loaded, so I decided to abort my walk here and head for Wembley Park station.

My walk is on hold for now and I'm not sure when I'll get back to it. Travel on public transport is permitted again and I have been on a train, but I am in no hurry to get back on the tube if I don't have to.

Anyone Home?

Anna's Page

I've sat on this page for a while so as not to interrupt the flow of Far East album posts. It's one that I made at the beginning of February when For the Love of Pretty Paper and Scrap Squad teamed up for a scraplifting challenge. We were asked to lift a page made by Anna Uhras for Paper Issues  back in May 2017 with the additional requirement of using turquoise.

I organise an Advent Calendar Swap each autumn, and received a page kit in 2018 which I hadn't used yet, but the 6x6 papers were a good size for the layers on this page. I arranged them as shown and then topped them with a photo of a ring-necked parakeet, a bird which is getting to be quite a common (alien) species in London.

Supplies
Cardstock - My Mind's Eye, Bazzill
Paper - My Mind's Eye Cut & Paste
Letters - Studio Calico
Word Sticker - American Crafts
Gems - Simply Creative
Ink - Ranger
Mist - Cosmic Shimmer, Docrafts, Heidi Swapp

Capital Ring 6 - Hanwell to Sudbury Hill

The Capital Ring

I've started each of the last four years with the intention of walking/completing the Capital Ring, a 78 mile walk around London and each year I've done a section or two before letting it fall away for the rest of the year.

This year, I really do want to get it done (and I have the next long-distance path planned out too), so after a busy January at work I headed out to Hanwell on my first free day in February to pick up the trail where I left it last March.

That was by the Wharncliffe Viaduct in Brent River Park, below the Great Western Main Line.

My route started out on a path through Churchfields Recreation Ground following the river on my left, with St Mary's Church over to my right, its spire showing up well among the leafless trees.

Moving on into Brent Lodge Park, I now had Hanwell Zoo and the Millennium Maze somewhere on my right though looking deserted today.

My route followed the river, but over grass rather than a path; luckily it was only stickily soft ground rather than the quagmire it might have been at this time of year.

The river was mostly invisible behind the shrubs on the left, until it was time to cross over it via a small footbridge.

This took me past Hanwell Cricket Ground and then onto Brent Valley Golf Course, with the path alternating between running across open land and through short stretches of shrubby tunnel.

Returning to the river, I crossed over it again

and followed the opposite bank along a narrow muddy path which passed under the arch of a fallen tree.

Reaching a small weir,

there was a fence across the path (which clearly used to continue next to the river)

so I had to divert up the bank and along Bitterns Field, a reclaimed landfill site,

before descending again to follow the river to Greenford Bridge where I crossed over again. No danger of flooding that day, but I wonder how high the water rose after Storms Ciara and Dennis hit.

Another waymarker now, as I pushed on towards Greenford and Harrow-on-the-Hill,

entering Perivale Park, which appeared to be little more than scrubland between the backs of the houses and the River Brent (over to the right now).

I crossed over Costons Brook (a tributary of the River Brent), 

and the park opened out to be more pleasant with a golf course in the distance. Following the path in the opposite direction I could hear lots of bird calls and realised that there were quite a few ring-necked parakeets in the trees, including this one that might have been nesting here.

My instructions tell me to go past a bowling green, but the land appears to have been repurposed since they were written.

Then I passed something not mentioned in my directions, a bench dedicated to session musician Nicky Hopkins, who played with The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Who among others.

Leaving Perivale Park, I crossed the A40 (London to Oxford) via a footbridge

and entered Cayton Green Park, in reality a path between two fences 

running round some football and rugby pitches.

The next 'highlight' was Westway Cross Shopping Park

where Section 8 of the Ring ends and Section 9 begins. I ducked into the tunnel under the access road to the Shopping Park, and passed through Paradise Fields Wetlands en route to the Grand Union Canal. 

I followed the very good towpath down to Ballot Box Bridge 

where I crossed the canal 

to the opposite bank. I had a choice of routes now, the main route through the woods to Horsenden Hill, or an alternative route via the Visitor Centre and a trail of wooden sculptures that double as seats. I chose the alternative route, attracted by those seats, and plonked myself down on a narrowboat for lunch.

Once past the Visitor Centre and in the woods, I came across a Gruffalo trail.

I was slightly tempted to explore further but decided not to, and then discovered that my path took me past Mouse and Snake anyway

before starting the climb up Horsenden Hill.

I could almost believe that this wasn't London, but then the trees opened up to reveal this view, and destroy the illusion.

A final flight of steps

brought me out on to the summit of Horsenden Hill, 

a very wide, flat summit which conceals a disused reservoir. I detoured over to the trig point,

checked out the signpost, 

and headed off down the other side on a pleasant path through the oaks trees of Horsendon Wood

with more parakeets overhead and squirrels scampering from tree to tree.

I hit suburbia again at the bottom of the hill, then turned away briefly to follow the path beside a stream (or drainage channel) which took me onto main roads and to Sudbury Hill tube station.

Today's Route