GOC London – A post Eunice wet day! Saturday 19 February 2022

GOC London have been walking the London Loop, London’s outer orbital path, in stages since last May. Today we would be walking from Uxbridge to Moor Park, the 9th of 15 sections. We had postponed the walk from two weeks ago because of rail engineering works. It looked like we might have to put off the walk yet again because of storm Eunice the day before, but the weather seemed to have calmed down sufficiently and the trains running again,  so we decided to go ahead. Although there were some drop-outs, seven doughty GOC walkers assembled in Uxbridge station ticket hall on Saturday morning. We noticed some interesting stained glass in the station hall roof, which  represents the coats of arms of Middlesex and Buckinghamshire. The group set off just after 11 at a good pace to get some warmth coursing through our limbs.

We followed the Grand Union canal for several miles, and encountered a barge and crew working on removing a large tree that had fallen in the storm and blocked the canal. We were warned not to climb over the tie rope to the barge on the grounds that if it snapped 'we could be cut in half'. This section of the walk was dominated by water, with the parallel waterways of the Grand Union Canal and River Colne at different levels, and a number of impressive reservoirs. A fourth volume of water was the rain that was by now falling on our heads!

We reached our planned lunch stop at Jack's Mill café. We'd had the idea that some of us would want to eat inside in the warm, while others could eat packed lunches on the public benches outside, or even if we were lucky that the cafe might allow them to eat under the awning if they ordered a cup of tea or coffee. However, the young lady serving us told us we could all only eat outside as we were wet! We decided we were not really welcome and would find somewhere else for lunch.

On the next section of the walk continuing along the Grand Union canal we encountered more fallen trees, which completely blocked the towpath. I was very impressed by how intrepid our group was as they tackled these obstacles without any prompting! Another walking group we encountered decided to make a detour. Another potential lunch spot was outside the Coy Carp pub where there were some benches, and we noted members of the other walk group eating their packed lunches sheltering under some fir trees. This looked miserable as our arrival coincided with a particularly bleak wind. None of us were upset at the idea of trying to find somewhere better.

We finally left the water which we had been following since crossing the River Thames at Kingston. We climbed steeply away from the Colne Valley into a rural area, still in Greater London, which was attractive but unsurprisingly muddy. We finally chose to have lunch on a wooded slope - but this was really the best of a bad job, as it had only limited shelter from the bare trees. It also started raining more heavily as soon as we arrived. We ate our lunches quickly and did not hang around. To reward our endeavours, a wan sun appeared for the last couple of miles of the walk. We arrived at Moor Park station at about 3:30, which unfortunately has no hospitality facilities of any kind - a pub or cafe would have been appreciated! By this time also the Metropolitan line seemed to have succumbed to the poor weather. We had to wait for over half an hour for a train while three passed in the other direction, which was a fairly cold and miserable experience.

Despite the difficulties of the terrain and weather, there was something of a Dunkirk spirit among our group. I think we all enjoyed having completed the walk and looking forward to our various home comforts later.

Andy Fisher

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