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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.

Saturday 16 February 2019

Saturday Walk – The Colne Valley & Batchworth Heath (LOOP 12 & 13)

Sections 12 & 13 of the London LOOP – Uxbridge to Moor Park
Length: 16½ km (10.3 miles). Toughness: 3/10

Take a Metropolitan line tube to arrive at Uxbridge by 11:15 and meet in the booking hall. It's a 40-minute journey from Baker Street, with tubes every 7-8 minutes.

At the end of the walk Moor Park is on a different branch of the Metropolitan line, again with tubes every 7-8 minutes. Both stations are in TfL Zone 6.

There are plenty of SWC walks in the Chiltern Hills just outside the north-western arc of the M25, but the map also shows a large rural area inside it which ought to be worth a look. This is the Colne Valley and as the London LOOP goes through it there's an easy way to find out.

§12 is described as “the bluest section” of this waymarked trail, alongside lakes and the Grand Union Canal on firm and level towpaths for much of the way. In contrast §13 is more undulating, through “remote countryside and luxuriant woodland”.

At the end of §12 you should reach a waterside pub in West Harefield at around 1pm: The Coy Carp (01895-821471) looks well-placed for a lunchtime pub stop. I'm not sure what there is around Moor Park station (apart from golf course club houses) so if you want some mid-afternoon refreshment it might be worth stopping at one of the pubs on Batchworth Heath.

As always, there will be no leader for this walk. You'll need to download the directions for these two sections from the TfL London LOOP page.
T=LDP.24

3 comments:

David said...

For those who like tea and cake at the end of a walk, there is the option of finishing at Batchworth Heath and hopping on the 331 bus (opposite Ye Olde Greene Manne PH) for the short ride to Northwood tube, where there is a Costa. Thanks for posting this walk, which offers a lot of variety and is an excellent taster for those yet to try out the LOOP.

PeteB said...

As a London Looper completist and as David is inferring there is no tea option near to Moor Park station which is a wealthy N London suburb. His suggestion sounds a good idea. These 2 sections make afine winter outing.

David said...

n=10 walkers set off from Uxbridge on a w=mild_and_overcast day, ideal for walking. It's worth mentioning here that the LOOP has regular muddy stretches over its 154-mile length, so boots are generally advisable and, in winter, gaiters are also useful. We made good progress alongside the Grand Union Canal to the Coy Carp, where four walkers partook of the pub food on offer (which looked very tasty) and the other six munched sandwiches, sat at the picnic tables between the car park and the pub. The pub had a nice log fire burning, which is always welcome, even on a mild February afternoon. After lunch, we enjoyed very different scenery. It was rather muddy underfoot on the approach to Batchworth Heath, so we walked along the road for about 200 yards to avoid the worst of it. With no-one desperate for a Costa coffee, we headed to Moor Park tube, arriving there just before 4. Overall, a most enjoyable walk.