Weather: Overcast, warm and humid
Distance Walked: 30.1 km
Distance By Tube: c. 19.8 km
Stations Visited: 6
Fantastic Place: Batchworth
Sitting at home looking at a pile of OS maps there seemed no simple way of doing the last few stations in a simple way. Starting from Moor Park was out as there was a nasty bit of road walking to be repeated hence the start from Croxley. The next question I asked myself, am I walking all the tube lines or visiting all the stations? In the end I decided that I would, at least on this leg, visit the stations rather than walking the lines otherwise I would have to either do a zig-zag journey on the tube or walk back from Amersham or Chesham to Chalfont and Latimer.Even when I had made that decision there was the doubt that I would be up to doing the whole lot in one go and I worried that I would be left with one or two stations with a long journey to and from.
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| Difficult to take photos of some of the stations due to crowds of commuters! |
So it was back to Croxley to start the walk and I would see how I would get on. The walk starts with a very pleasant stroll along the Grand Union canal. One day I may look into walking the length of it, assuming there are sensible public transport options. Lots of people fettling their boats, mainly traditional narrow boats but there were a few larger barges, more permanent houseboats and assorted 'floating gin palaces'. As I approached Batchworth there were more and more boats and on the far side large garden shed like constructions. Lots of people shooting the breeze walking dogs and doing repairs. This was a real community of canal boat people almost like a small floating town. At one point a man was ferrying three large dogs, labrador crosses by the look of them, in a small rowing boat when one of the dogs spotted a duck and all three jumped out, nearly capsizing the boat!
Shortly after Batchworth I turned away from the canal, passing a canal information centre, to reach Rickmansworth, pleasant enough but the station is in the middle of a busy road junction and it was difficult to find the correct road out towards Chorleywood. The next stretch was mainly along suburban streets but it became more and more rural until I was walking along narrow country lanes. One of these lanes passed under the M25 which was supported on a forest of concrete pillars and I could glimpse the tube line running just below the carriageway high above me. Once away from the M25 the open space of Chorleywood Common beckoned and despite getting twizzled around in Chorleywood Bottom the station was soon reached.
Onward from Chorleywood through more suburban streets until passing through some woodland where I joined the Chiltern Way for a short distance as it headed north till you reach the grounds of the Tudor manor house of Chenies. Here you turn west and walk on a level track through woodland and then the views across the Chilterns and the Chess valley open up to your right. Eventually you drop down into Chalfont & Latimer.
At this point I made up my mind to carry on, the walking had not been too difficult up to this point and as I had aspirations to do a long distance walk with some of my walking friends next year, pushing myself onwards seemed like a good idea.
The path turns northwards through streets until you emerge into woodland and then descend into the Chess valley towards a farm. This is on the site of a former Roman villa but nothing remains above ground. on the hills above stands Latimer House, quite an imposing pile with impressive water features and swans on the river.
The path runs in front of the house and gives spectacular views across the Chess Valley.
The path runs level for the most part before dropping down into some small hamlets and narrow lanes before following the river and ending up in Chesham which has a fine range of flint and brick buildings and an attractive high street.
Getting tired now I stopped for a coffee and a sandwich at one of the many coffee shops before stiffly returning to the road.
Following the railway after leaving Chesham then heading through the woodlands near Chesham Bois was hard work. Some climbs and deep muddy tracks from the recent heavy rains made the going tough but eventually I arrived on the A4154 which leads into Amersham. I have visited Amersham several times as it is where I get my needlepoint panels made up into cushions but it was interesting to come in from a different angle. The station was a very welcome sight but has a confusing layout. Seeing a tube train on a far platform I ran up over a bridge and down the other side only to be told that the trains leave from the platform I had just left and so I had to run back over the bridge again and then wait for some time before the train came to take me back home.
So that's the end of the Metropolitan line. Next time I'll be starting at the northern end of the Bakerloo line which will return me once more to the heart of the city.
