London Loop: Section 3: Petts Wood to West Wickham Common

Weather: Hot and Sunny
Playlist: LastFM Playlist
Time: 3.5 Hours  (plus a 1/2 hour lunch break)

I chose a gloriously sunny July day to walk the ten miles between Petts Wood and Hayes stations. After a relatively long link through suburban streets you join the main route through a wild flower strewn heath a sign of things to come. After more suburban walking (one of the advantages of walking at this time of the year is that I can see what other people grow in their front gardens). The next part is the first of many attractive woodland sections on this leg of the Loop. I like the smell of woodland, the smell of damp rotting wood is comforting when you are out of doors (but not when you are poking around in your house). After crossing the busy A232 and the A21 you arrive in Farnborough. An attractive village but no time to stop as there is a gentle descent alongside woodland to the High Elms Country park. This section boasts wide open skies and gently rolling downland with dense woodland to your left. I kept in the shadows as it was now very hot!
I got a little lost in the grounds of the High Elms Country Park and ended up at the very nice cafe in the grounds - they do a very nice sausage sandwich as well as a selection of other hot and cold meals and drinks - worth a visit if you time your arrival for around lunchtime as I did!

Poppies amongst the grain

Moving on the landscape becomes more and more unlike anything you would think was within an hour or so of London. Walking along Bogey Lane you have fields of grain spattered with crimson poppies and on the crest of a rise Holwood House.

I love silly names!

A gentle, but long, climb leads you up past the Wilberforce Oak (where Wilberforce and Pitt debated the abolition of the slave trade) and gives you more views across the countryside.
Descending towards Keston you pass a string of lakes and a brick lined spring. The water was surrounded by fishermen and the water was alive with dragon and damsel flies. The spring in its modern brick lined surround has not lost any of the magic that is associated with such features. People have probably been taking water there for hundreds if not thousands of years.
Past the lakes, more forest walking but the sounds of the road traffic is never far away. All too soon there is another long link to the station at Hayes, mostly uphill and quite tiring especially as there was the long train journey back to Greenford to look forward to.