16 hikers turned up at Rickmansworth on a glorious sunny day.   We started by making our way to the Aquadrome, part of the Colne valley regional park.  The wildfowl were making the most of the spring weather.  On the far side we followed the grand union canal and then made our way to Moor Park. 

Moor Park still has a magnificent house with gardens designed by Capability Brown and was once used to house Katherine of Aragon after Henry VIII divorced her.  It is now a Golf Course with the footpath going right through the middle with warnings of balls from all quarters.   Fortunately we survived the ordeal with no damage.

Onto Bishops wood and Ruislip woods which were surprisingly dry after a very muddy walkover.  A lovely walk through the woods took us to Ruislip Lido and the miniature steam train could be heard tooting away.  We lunched at the Waters Edge hostelry and then made good progress to the Celandine Way which follows the river Pinn to pinner.  The bulbs were out and flowering including some Celandines.

We had a quiet 5 minutes in Eastcote House gardens and on to Pinner Memorial Park where the Heath Robinson Museum is located.   

For those not going to the museum the walk ended here, but a few stayed on to tour the museum, with an introduction by a friend of Ida.  Amazing how Heath Robinson has been forgotten by anyone under 40!  What a talent and some of his contraptions had been made into models.

We finished off with tea and cakes in the Café, a fine end to an enjoyable day.

Stephen

Photos by Ida and Joyanna