London LOOP- Uxbridge to Moor Park 18th May 2012

Firstly I apologise now for the amount of photos on this blog, this section was so lovely I couldn't resist it.
On the 18th May 2012 I set off from home for Uxbridge Underground Station on the end of the Metropolitan line.
On leaving the station I walk out onto the high street where I see the Market House of 1788 and the local parish church.

I walk along the high street cross Harefield Road and see a Jacobean gabled end Crown and Treaty Pub. Here on the road to Oxford was the logical place for the commissioners of Charles I and Parliament to meet in 1645 to try and negotiate a treaty. After 20 days of debate they parted,with no treaty agreed and around 1800 what remained of the treaty house was converted into what you see today.

 I now cross a bridge over the Grand Union Canal by the Swan and Bottle Pub and down onto the canal path to join the London Loop.

Swan &Bottle PH

Grand Union Canal-The start of my walk.

 I now walk along the canal making my way up to Uxbridge Lock.

A narrowboat with an adapted paddle,very unusual!

A Moorhen

A horse Chestnut lined tow path

As I approached Uxbridge Lock I saw two narrow boats from a Black Country Living Museum it would appear from the adverts on them.

Uxbridge Lock

These locks were built wide enough for two narrow boats to squeeze in,side by side, and in the days of commercial traffic they were worked in pairs in this way. The powered boat would tow the unpowered 'butty' behind.

 

I spoke to a man at the lock and asked how long it took for the lock to fill,he said about 10 minutes. I thought that must take a while to travel by narrow boat!

I continue along the canal.

Some way after the lock I cross the canal via a bridge numbered 182 and then there no signs indicating which path to take, I take the worng path passing the lakes until I reached the golf course.The whole area was flooded and bog like! Thankfully my boots didn't leak. I doubled back to the correct path and addeda mile to my walk.

Great Crested Grebe

Now back on the track I walk up to a majestic greta skew bridge of dark brick, a Railway viaduct.

 

 

Now with the canal beside me and a lake with a sailing club to my right I continue along the path to a marina full of colourful narrow boats.

The HS2(High speed train track) is going to rip right through many tranquil spots!

The path now turns through some woodland where an old boat has been pulled up into and trees and other vegetation is now growing through its rotting body.

The path leaves the wood and a very short piece of road walking before crossing over the canal again and joining the towpath again by the Horse and Barge Pub.

I walk under the bridge I'd just crossed and up to a lock, where I meet up with the narrow boats from earlier. They are travelling at slower than my walking speed. Must take some time to travel from London to Birmingham!!

Widewater Lock

Looking back to Widewater Lock

The tow path now passes some housing that sits on the canal. What gorgeous homes!

Sign with mileage to Braunston

A beautiful buttercup meadow just before Black Jacks Lock.

I now reach Black Jacks Lock and Mill. Black Jack's Mill is a Victorian property on the bank of the Grand Union Canal, and there has been a mill on site since being recorded in the Domesday Book. For many years there was a well-regarded restaurant in the adjacent building, but this had closed by June 2006 and is now a private house, Mill Cottage. The main house itself is a luxury bed and breakfast.The former Victorian mill is named after a slave who worked there and delivered the flour ground there by donkey and cart.

Doctor Who,The Doctor and Ace at a pub was filmed at this location.

Following on along the canal......

I now pass an elaborate weir carries the waters of the Colne leaving the canal.

 I follow the path pass more homes towards the Coy Carp PH.

I now reach the spot that was once the Fisheries Inn now renamed the Coy Carp PH and the spot long known as copper mill. The big mills here were converted in the early 19th century from paper to the making of copper sheeting.Its prime use was protection of ship hulls from the dreaded marine worm,legend has it that the copper orb on St Pauls Cathedral came from here.

  Now crossing the bridge by the Coy Carp I take another picture of the canal as I leave it.

 I now enter the borough of Hillingdon.

I turn left into Summerhouse lane,and after a while I nip back down to the canal for a final picture before I head off up a path following the Hillingdon Trail.

I head up a road towards Park Wood.

And finally into the beautiful Park wood,big contrast to the canal scenes.

After leaving the woods I turn left and across the road is a children's centre that clearly once upon a time was The Plough pub!

I follow the road before turning right into a path pass some bungalows and across a stile at the end of the road. I am now walking across White Heath Farm.

A gaggle of Canadian Geese

After leaving the farm fields I turn right onto Harefield road and up to the Rose and Crown PH.

The Rose & Crown.

I cross the road opposite the pub and cross Woodcock Hill towards Bishops Wood Country Park.

Now I enter Bishops Wood Country Park.

After a bit of a walk in the woods I exit out onto Batchworth Heath.

Batchworth Heath

I cross the road opposite The Olde Greene Manne PH. I turn right and follow the road to the Prince of Wales PH. Where I cross the road and into another wood.

I then walk through an estate thats an conservation area and eventually to the wood that runs alongside the golf course at Moor Park where I started my last walk.

I emerge at Moor Park Station for the journey home.About 11 and a half miles in total....I loved this walk!