Train tracks...

Before I forget, yesterday The Man saw a pretty little fox cub alongside the rail track when we were on our way out to that meeting. While we were at the meeting we spotted a green woodpecker hunting for grubs on the lawn opposite.

Another magic day. Blue sky and relatively warm. So, with lunch stowed in our packs we wandered down to crystal palace station and caught he train to Victoria. It was pretty mad there as usual. Hoards of people all trying to get somewhere. We know all the short cuts now and rather than fight the crowd to get through the first gate we wandered casually up to the one further up the stairs.  A few stops later and we transferred to the Northern line and were on our way to Mill Hill East.

Ages a go I downloaded a lot of walks and this is one I have been saving up for a nice warm spring day. Most trains have a recorded announcement telling you what the next stop is, and in our case that ‘This train terminates here. Please take all your belongings with you as you leave the train’ so we hoisted our packs onto our shoulders and checked that we had all our gear before getting off and following the directions, turning left as we left the station. We could see that the train certainly did terminate there. At the end of the platform the lines run on for a hundred yard or so, petering out in a tree lined space.

Forty years ago steam trains continued along the track for another few miles. World war two put an end to the work that had been done to electrify the line. There are no tracks here anymore. Following our written guide we walked away from the station and were soon wandering down a dappled country lane that was where the old rail line used to run.

 Here and there looking like skeletal scarecrows the disintegrating concrete posts that were being installed to carry the electrical cables now provided support for clinging ivy and other climbers.

Suddenly The Man stopped. Very quietly he said ‘step next to me and look over there to the right’ there in the greenery alongside the track a fox stared back at us for a few seconds before slipping silently away. He’s got very sharp eyes does The Man. He spotted another fox a bit further along too. It was casually sauntering towards us along the track but melted into the shadows before I could get the camera out. It was a very pretty walk and not too strenuous so we there was no problem to retrace our steps for part of it to complete the circular route.

 It was only about two o’clock when we got back to the station, a bit too soon to be heading homewards, hey look there’s a bus, lets hop on and see where it goes. These impromptu bus tours can be very interesting, today's was no exception. The areas we went through looked very affluent, expensive cars parked in huge front yards and plenty of standalone houses too. After winding its way through these nice streets the bus finally finished up at Edgware Station, which is exactly where the old steam trains used to take that now dismantled railway line.