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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Thursday 6 May 2021

Bluebells in the Evening (VI) - Osterley Park (a stately home, a park, a canal, a flight of locks, a river, a grand viaduct)

Greenford to Osterley - in reverse and shortened
 
Length: 6.5 km, Ascent/Descent: negligible 
Net Walking Time: ca. 1 ½ hours, Toughness: 1 out of 10.

Meet at 18.45 outside Osterley Station on the Piccadilly line. Journey time from Hammersmith is 17 mins, from Green Park it is 32 mins. 
Return trains from Hanwell to Paddington: every 15 mins on xx.11 (journey time 15 mins).
Osterley and Hanwell are in Zone 4. 
 
From Osterley Station through Osterley Park past Osterley House (NT), where bluebells ought to be found “in the Great Meadow and on the Long Walk”. Continue for a short section along the towpath of the Grand Union Canal, passing the famous “Hanwell Flight of Locks” and a point where road, rail and canal bridges pass over one another in an intriguing manner. Turn left along the River Brent to the Wharncliffe Viaduct, which carries the original line of the Great Western Railway across the Brent Valley, just before which you turn right to Hanwell Station’s Grade II-listed building. 
 
 
For walk directions, map, photos, height profile and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.42.a

2 comments:

Marion said...

I live close by and walk this area all the time but never seen any bluebells! Will join you and check this out.

Thomas G said...

n=11 walkers in w=dry-but-cold weather
Initially we didn't spot many bluebells at all in the park, but then, slightly off route - along the 'Long Walk' as per the NT website - there were patches: small ones at first, then larger ones, then a very large one, all good. And looking at a detailed map of the park, there may even be more areas with bluebells, pending closer investigation...
Later we saw some more bluebells in a small wood, but then the walk route goes a bit flat, while it's just following some sports field boundaries, before coming to life again via the Three Bridges, the Flight of Locks by The Asylum and the River Brent.
All went for a drink at The Viaduct and then found their respective ways to Hanwell station or a bus stop.