Weather: Overcast becoming sunny and very warm.
Was worried about doing a walk during the Olympics as dire forecasts of travel congestion and crowds of people out in the east of London had been made. However it was just a traditional signal failure that delayed me at White City! After standing all the way from there to Liverpool Street I was more than warmed up ready for the walk.
From the start it really felt like summer for the first time this year with lots of flowers in the hedgerows and even in the concrete channel of the Turkey Brook. However the blackberries in the hedgerow spoke of the autumn to come so with the days getting shorter I kept up a rapid pace.
The short stretch of riverside walking made me think I should walk more of the Lea Valley as it was very pretty with lots of irises and numerous dragon and damselflies including a gorgeous indigo one that was so dark as to be almost black. Lots of fish in the water as well. Then across an open space filled with skylarks seemingly attached to the dome of the sky by lengths of elastic as they bounced up and down singing their tiny lungs out.
Some fantastic views over the huge reservoirs that provide London with much of its drinking water. Despite living in London for 25 years I still prefer the water from home out of the chalk downs, so hard that almost used to have a chalky head on it!
After passing a pretty cottage and pond (covered in a carpet of green algae) you come to a short stretch of busy B road with little or no pavement until you turn up into the drive to the Scout headquarters. The track gets very muddy in places particularly around the vehicle barriers and other places where bikes and horses have been through churning things up into a thick brown stew.
More nice views hove into view on the stretch up to and beyond Queen Elizabeth's hunting lodge but so did a particularly heavy shower! Buckhurst Hill is a very pretty little village within London's sprawl and I had a pleasant chat with the owner of a neatly tended garden that looked more Sussex countryside than a London suburb.
Had to laugh as I approached the lake as not only was there a couple of toddlers chasing some bemused Brent geese but a dog chasing a large motorised lawn mower.
A dull and hot stretch of road walking follows, enlivened only by the size of some of some of the houses as you wind your way down into Chigwell ends with the the very pretty Chigwell station. Again this feels like a country station rather than part of the London Underground. The Village Deli, in the parade of shops nearby, is worth a visit if you are peckish and thirsty after the walk - very good salt-beef bagels!
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