London Loop Segment 4
Tuesday was our longest walk, at 9 miles. It began at Hayes Station, deep in the suburbs. We took the Tramlink service from in front of our hotel. One of the lines terminates at Elmers End Station. From here we transferred to National Rail. We crossed a rail footbridge from within the tram station to get to our platform.
Another tram arrives at Elmers End Station. This wonderful service stops at our hotel, and this line terminates here. Our train to Hayes arrived seconds later.
Today's walk from Hayes Station to Hamsey Green. We ended at "You are Here."
The Loop crosses 0 degrees latitude near the start of Segment 4,
marked by this mini-Dalek.
marked by this mini-Dalek.
There is about half a mile of linking to do from Hayes before the Loop is resumed. Though there was some urban walking today, a vast portion of it was across open fields and through deep woods.
St John the Baptist Church sits high on a hill.
The Loop soon passes through adjoining woodlands; Spring Park and Three Half Penny Woods.
Deb tries to find the yellow brick road.
Just when you think the woods will never end, they do. What's that up ahead? Do I see a pub?
After an hour or more of walking we came to our first pub stop of the day. The Sandrock was a really nice mix of traditional pub and modern one. Deb enjoyed a J2O (juice), while I sipped on a glass of Sharps Doom Bar. We also ordered some spring rolls to share. This is the kind of cozy pub in which I could spend an entire afternoon.
After our rather long stop we resumed our walk, soon finding ourselves deep in several more parks and woods. It is a steep climb to Addington Hills Lookout, but the view that awaits is a splendid one!
View to central Croydon from our lookout atop Addington Hills. Our hotel is near the central
dense area of tall buildings, and we could actually see it from here with our binoculars.
Looking deep towards central London from Addington Hills Lookout. London now looks like an
American city!
Sheep, cows, and in this photo, horses; the London Loop has it all!
London green spaces often include several smaller parcels that combine into one large area. We entered from the top right (red dot), ate our lunch on a bench in the middle of Foxearth Wood, then continued south and exited at Foxworth Road Entrance. Our next pub awaited.
It was raining, cold and miserable as we entered the Julian Huxley Pub, a Wetherspoons. We got cozy in the back conservatory. Sir Julian has ties to Selsdon, where we now were. He helped establish the nearby Selsdon Nature Preserve, and he was a founding member of both UNESCO and the World Wildlife Fund. It was an honour to toast him with a glass of Adnams Broadside Ale in my hand! Deb enjoyed espresso. Our seats gave us views into the lovely back garden, which today was rain-soaked.
By the time we were ready to depart the rain has turned to a fine mist. We decided to push on and complete the final one third of the segment, and soon had rejoined the main path.
Another deep, dark woodland awaits.
The Loop path descends a steep, slippery slope into this beautiful, wide valley. Way off in the distance we noticed a very large country house overlooking it all.
A telephoto shot of the house, which turned out to be a hotel and golf resort in Selsdon. It was a country house many years ago.
Of course after descending into the valley we had to climb out of it on the other side! Then came some very muddy field crossings before we emerged into a lane which led us eventually to a main road and the end of the segment. The Good Companions Pub used to stand on a corner here, but no longer exists. We took a bus a few stops north and came to Warlingham Green. Once a little independent village it is now part of the London metropolis. Our travel cards still worked way out here.
Two pubs awaited our arrival. The White Lion is a classic old pub, filled with dark wood, low ceilings, tiny snugs, cozy fires, and of course several fine ales on hand pull. We had a tiny room all to ourselves, down a few stairs. The room would hold perhaps 5 people, but no more than two were in it today. We had our own fireplace, but luckily it was not on. We were plenty warm enough from our walking.
Deb prepares to enter Ye Olde White Lion, Warlingham.
With our long walk complete we had now finished five segments of the Loop. One more segment remained for Thursday and Friday (we split it into two because of its length), with ten more needed to complete the circle. We got a bus from the Green and it took us right to our hotel! It was a bit of a long ride. To begin the next segment we would have to catch the same bus and get off where the Good Companions used to stand.
Tuesday evening was a rest night, a well-deserved one at that. Tomorrow was our visit to London, and would be a somewhat easier day on our bodies. We were looking forward to it!
Continued in Part 3....
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