Sunny Saturday walk...

What better thing to do on a sunny Saturday than put together a picnic lunch and go out for a walk. And where did we walk to. Well initially down to the station at Crystal Palace and on to Victoria. From there we joined the crowd thronging through the station and made our way to the underground and caught the tube to Boston Manor Station. I’ve been saving this ‘tube walk’ for a really nice sunny day such as this.

A short walk from Boston manor and we were in the very pretty park that surrounds Boston Manor. We follow the path around the pond and look for the signs that will take us to the canal tow path. Hang on the sign thee says nature trail lets go explore down there. We could hear music, and it got louder as we walked. Then we saw him, a chap about our age sitting under the bridge of the A4 motorway plying  a saxophone. Not something you come across every day in a country park.

We had to retrace our steps for bit, cross a wobbly baily bridge and wander through a pleasant wild meadow to get to the bridge and cross the river. The large glass fronted building on canal-side was GSK. I got a couple of nice reflection pictures. We started off down the towpath alongside the canal keeping an ear out for the many cyclists who were also using the path.  Growing beside the path were many a prickly plants with ripe plump berries. And we chose not to resist them, Yummy blackberries. We did a similar canal walk about this time last year because I can remember picking and eating some of the luscious sweet berries.

It wasn’t long before we came across a bridge to cross onto the other side. I was going to say moored on the other side, but mooring implies a floating boat, well I think it does. So resting on the bottom just on the other side of the bridge was a sad lokoing vessel that’s better days have long gone.

 Two swans and their cygnet followed s hopefully for a while, but bread is not good for them, and we didn’t feed them. Further down we came across much more well-kept craft and it looked as though they might have been lived in.

Ahead of us was a closed lock gate partly in the shade and it made a perfect sheltered spot to sit to have our lunch, and we did. Just as we were finishing our sammies a longboat chugged up. Once the water level was up The Man and I helped open the gates to let it through.  Then we walked long past a high brick wall that went on and on and on. According to the travel guide I had printed this was the wall of the old Hanwell Mental Hospital. When it was functioning the hospital was self-sufficient and  it’s excess produce was taken to the local market. Behind the walls now private houses and their gardens take up most of the space.  

A little further on and we left the canal at a place called Three Bridges, and here believe it or not the railway runs under the canal. I kid you not, well look at the picture.

We were getting a bit warm by now so decided to look for a hostelry, the thought of a shandy was very appealing. Couldn’t find one, unfortunately, but what we did see was a sign pointing towards the golden arches eatery. It was a welcome sight as were the choccy milk shakes and fries that we refreshed ourselves with. 

 We spotted a couple of buses going past and noticed that some of them were headed towards White City. That’s a very large shopping mall, and we know how to get home from there. So cooled and rested we walked a little way down to the bus-stop and caught the next one that came along. White city didn’t seem as crowded as it has been on past visits and we meandered around enjoying the cool. 

Time to wend out way home so down to the station and back towards Victoria and we were just in time to pick up the Southern back to Crystal Palace.

And what a great day out we have had.