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Weekend: 11/12 June 2022

It was very late when I set out on Saturday, so I decided to catch a train up to New Barnet, then the 107 to Arkley, to repeat a walk I’ve done many times before – from Arkley Lane to Potters Bar via South Mimms service station. It was a beautiful evening – nicely warm but not too hot. However, as I approached Potters Bar, I had to cut it short, otherwise I’d have been getting to the pub well after 9.00 pm. I wished then that I’d set out earlier. But if I had, I’d have had to deal with the hotter, more oppressive middle of the day, which increasingly I find intolerable, and the walk – up Arkley Lane, through Saffron Green and round the side of Dyrham Park, then Wash Lane – would have been much less magical.

Beer-wise, I seem to have hit a lucky streak. I haven’t had a bad one in ages. At the Admiral Byng I had Elgood’s Cambridge Bitter. I’d not heard of it before, but on the pump clip it said it had won a prize, so I chose it, despite several other tempting ones being available. It was very good.

I promised myself that I’d start much earlier on Sunday, and while I did leave the house several hours earlier, I had to cross London by Underground (rather than a fast train), and I was delayed. At Manor House I found the station closed. I hadn’t seen anything about it on the TfL website but it turned out that selective industrial action by station staff was causing a number of stations to be shut for the day. Others I heard mentioned in announcements on trains were Russell Square and Pimlico.

With Manor House closed, I had to catch a bus to Finsbury Park, so it was nearly 4.00 pm by the time I reached West Acton.

I knew from past experience that I’d want a urination stop fairly early on, and in the midst of all the suburbia and heavily trafficked parks I figured that Hanger Hill Wood would be a good spot. It’s a very nice fragment of ancient woodland, with the busy North Circular on one side, but quiet within and hardly anyone around. However, there were no desire paths branching off the main paths, and the forest floor was fairly heavy on nettles, brambles and other, carpet-like undergrowth. I didn’t fancy getting stung or pricked, or stepping in hidden dog shit for that matter. After some searching, I was on the point of giving up, so I exited the wood at the southern end of Chatsworth Road and walked up the hill along the North Circular, but then found a little ingress point back into the wood, with a faint desire path leading to a spot that was perfect for my needs.

Continuing on my way, I felt a bit out of sorts, with some niggling pains at the back of my right leg. The pains seemed to go away when I walked fast, but kept coming back when I stood still to look at the map or take a photo.

Low on energy, I had a pleasant rest on a bench in the churchyard at Perivale, eating an Eccles cake while enjoying the sunshine amid the graves and with the sounds of people playing golf on the adjacent course.

My original plan was to walk all the way to Uxbridge. That would have been about 15 miles, but at nearly 8.00 pm I was only at about 7.5 miles. My furthest extent west was Islip Gardens, Northolt, where I was trying to reach the Dog Rose Ramble/Hillingdon Trail via a short section of footpath between houses. But the path was inaccessible due to a locked gate, so I decided then to turn back and make my way to Northolt station.

I had intended to go to the Wetherspoon’s at Uxbridge, or maybe even the General Elliott, but now decided to head to the nearest Wetherspoon’s I could think of that could be reached quickly – the Plough & Harrow in Hammersmith. Northolt is on the Central line, but there’s a permitted Oyster transfer at Hanger Lane, where I got off and walked about half a mile to Park Royal (Piccadilly line).

At the Plough & Harrow, my good luck with beer continued with Lancaster Black stout. I had one pint and a meal then left.

As it was only 10.00 pm, and I was dissatisfied with the 8.5 miles I’d done from West Acton to Northolt, I thought I’d walk some more. Had it been a couple of hours earlier, I might have walked all the way home, but that would have taken three to four hours, so I calculated that I could maybe make it as far as Trafalgar Square, then catch the 29 home. It’s a simple, straight, flat walk, more or less east – King Street, Hammersmith Broadway, Hammersmith Road, Kensington High Street, along the south side of the park to Knightsbridge, Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly, then down Haymarket. I reached the square at 11.30. The distance was 6.23 miles (that figure included about half a mile I’d already walked from Hammersmith station to the Plough & Harrow). Total distance for the day was about 16 miles.