For the past 18 months or so i’ve started taking long walks in and around London. Last year I completed the Capital Ring, a 75 mile jaunt around the capital. Last summer I started the longer (160 miles) suburban walking route, The London Loop, starting at Erith and finishing on the opposite side of the Thames at Purfleet. Each leg is between 9-12 miles long, with stopping points at various stages if you get fed up, or if it starts pissing down with rain.
In the last few years i’ve suddenly found a love for walking. I wasn’t always that keen as my parents would testify. We would often take a day out to walk 4 or 5 miles somewhere. A day trip to Derbyshire, or a camping weekend in Yorkshire. The AA’s ‘No Through Road’ guide was extensive. A thick tome of walks through the British Isles incorporating helpful guides to wildlife and vegetation.
As winter came I realised that I desperately needed new footwear if I wanted to continue walking. Fortunately in the sales last weekend I found a pair of North Face boots available for £60, reduced from £114. I did do some research and my preference were a pair of Hi Tec walking shoes but after several visits to various outdoor clothing companies I couldn’t see any available and only a couple of stores seemed to be having January sales. Walking shoes, good ones are extremely expensive for the likes of me on a poor public sector wage.
Armed or footed with my new shoes, I departed for Moor Park on the Metropolitan Line on Sunday. Weather was very good, bright yet cold. Fortunately I had bought extra walking socks too. The walk to Elstree was 11.5 miles and unfortunately it wasn’t one of the best on the Loop. It started on a golf course, meaning one has to be wary of a sliced tee-shot to the cranium and there was a further course to cross halfway through.
Some of my route was blocked by fallen tress, probably as a result of the strong winds we had earlier in the month but nothing. In one wood I thought I spotted a jay. In fact i’m pretty sure I did, but the bugger was so swift that I couldn’t whip my camera out and get a good shot. I recognise the plumage however and i’m sticking by my story. Fortunately, I found some other things that were much easier to photograph, like this motorbike.
There were scarce moments of interest. I had some nice views of London, particularly of Harrow on the Hill and Wembley Stadium. One could also get a nice view of the London skyline, with the Shard dominant. 
I met some friendly horses on my way across open fields and in my typical fashion managed to get lost on more than one occasion. The problem I find is that the signposts for the Loop route aren’t always clear, or put in stupid places. One has to keep an eye out for them, whilst also reading from David Sharp’s guidebook. I frequently find myself going down the wrong route as what happened when I came to the pretty house that once belonged to W. S Gilbert. It is now a hotel. 
Gilbert died in one of the pools surrounding his home, apparently from a heart attack.
The more one spends walking by roads on these walks, the less enjoyable they are, and this route went under the M1 before turning off to circle round part of Aldenham Reservoir, which looked pretty as the sun began to disappear 
Unfortunately by this hour, I had pretty much all I could stand of this leg, what with there being very little to appreciate. I ventured off course, avoiding another walk by a golf course, to take the road for the last stretch all the way to Elstree and Borehamwood Station. Compared to the walks alongside the Union Canal or those South of the capital, the routes at the top of the Loop fare badly. I sense the next leg, from Elstree to Cockfosters contains a lot of walking by roads too.
