I made something of a late start so didn’t get walking until about 13:50. This section was supposed to be 18 km and I expected it to get dark about seven so hope it would be okay; but only just.
It was a nice sunny day with patchy clouds and blue sky. The train journey was a bit of a pest though as it is quite far to trek across London. Train from Sydenham to Canada water, change to Swiss cottage, walk to South Hampstead then another train to Hatch End. It all took a long time.
The railway that comes from central London to Hatch End is actually very busy and carries a lot of seriously heavy and fast trains. The path goes quite near it for a while and is it very noisy!
The path goes on the footpath along a road that crosses the railway and heads up to the A4008. It is a rather long stretch and the road is quite busy and is gently but continuously uphill, which gets a bit tiring. They’re also flying Union and Union Jack flags on lamp posts along there in response to the recent flurry of opinion against immigration on small boats. So that says something about the neighbourhood!
Once the path crosses the A4008, it tracks along the side of the Grim's Dyke golf course and is pleasant enough though still uphill. But it was a sunny autumn day so everything looked nice. You do have to watch out for the path making some sneaky left turns where it departs the golf course into some woods. The woods are really nice, provided you don’t miss the turning.
The pond in the woods seems to be a lot lower than it was last time I came through here. I'd have to check the pictures to see.
I also seem to remember last time I came through these woods that they had quite recently gravelled the path all the way through and it was very obvious and conspicuous and quite easy to walk on. But now, a couple years later, all that seems to be left is a path with round pebbles on it that are about an inch and a half across, which is fine if you’re wearing tough boots as I am but if you were wearing softer shoes, they would be hell to walk on.
Anyway, when you come out of the woods, you find yourself at a main road directly opposite a car park with a huge viewpoint with views right over the whole of London. It’s right next to a pub called The Case Is Altered but that appears to have permanently closed; though it is still marked on the map.
The path soon takes another left into some woods just to the east of, of possibly forming Harrow and Weald Common and they are really nice. Reminiscent of the mature woods around Leith Hill.
Through Bentley Priory, the path is unmistakable but once you emerge on the other side, there is some possibility of missing a few turns so take care. This is especially true where it runs along the boundary fence of the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital because there is a stables at the end of the road and you have to veer into a hidden track on the right a hundred metres before the closed gates of the stables or there is no way through, and there is no sign. Also, the stables seem to have pushed the fence between the path and themselves into the path making it somewhat overcrowded and difficult, especially as they have barbed wire on the top of it.
I found it by the end of the day for the last hour or so when I was tired and dehydrated, I needed to get a hiking pole out because I was getting quite wobbly. Don’t really know why that is but it does seem related to either exertion, calorie deficit or dehydration or some combination of all of them.
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