Horsenden woods

Capital Ring walk - Greenford to Hendon.

2 more sections completed. First there's the commute to the start - train to Richmond, tube to Turnham Green, change, tube to Ealing Broadway, then train to Greenford.

Leaving Greenford, we went through Paradise Fields Wetlands and then picked up the Grand Union Canal fir a stretch, where we saw some coot chicks. Then up Horsenden Hill and down the other side where this pano was taken in Horsenden Wood. There are some fantastic old oak trees here.

After going through Sudbury as fast as possible, we headed on to Harrow, which is, indeed, on a hill. I've never been there before. It felt like a village and there was absolutely nothing going on there. The first section finished at South Kenton, where there is a pub that's on Camra's national register because of its Art Deco interior. We were planning to go in, but it was one of those pubs that doesn't look safe, let alone inviting..

After negotiating South Jenton and Preston Park, we headed up Barn Hill - a whole 282 feet above sea level. We stopped for a picnic on the way up the hill and took in the view northwards. Later we climbed to the top and had a view of Wembley Stadium and the City.

Today's section contained a lot of meadows. There were more in Fryent Country Park, which we almost had to ourselves. The final section was along the Welsh Harp reservoir. At the end of this, the route emerges onto Cool Oak Lane, where there is a narrow bridge, complete with pedestrian crossing lights that stop the traffic in both directions to allow people to walk across the bridge safely. We enjoyed using that crossing!

The weather was much sunnier than the met office suggested. All in all a very good day out, and about 12 miles walked.

The commute home was tube from Hendon to Waterloo and then the train.