It was  ideal weather – sunny but not hot – for this 7-mile walk continuing our circle around London on the Green London Way. Fourteen Poly Ramblers met at Richmond tube station and made their way to the Thames through busy shopping streets. We followed the shaded river path northbound along the Old Deer Park, the Royal Mid-Surrey Gold Club and Kew Gardens. There were quite a few walkers and cyclists, some with bells and some without (the cyclists – not the walkers announcing they were lepers!). We walked at different speeds and met at Kew Bridge where two speedy walkers were already having lunch in a café. We crossed the bridge and some of us had a picnic, others went to a café or a pub. I lost three walkers after lunch; one who could only do a short walk and two who had planned to stay in the pub.

So, eleven of us continued the walk southbound on the other side of the Thames, passing the Musical Museum, along Watermans Park and Brentford Ait (Ait being an old word for the Thames islands) and the abandoned Watermans Arts Centre. The tide was very low at this point and the channel separated from the Thames by the Ait was a sea of mud. We left the Thames and walked along residential streets and through St Paul’s recreation ground. And then we happened upon St Paul’s Church with a sign saying: café open. So we went inside – just to have a look. From the outside, it is a traditional church; but inside, it is modern and spacious with a café, meeting rooms, a nursery attached to the church, toilets and – we were told – in the evening, the space becomes a basketball court. And we stopped for a cup of tea/coffee.

Afterwards, we headed towards The Butts, a square with 28th century houses and the 1904 Boatmen’s Institute – now a private house but originally a London City Mission serving the boat people who worked on the nearby canal. We passed the place where JMW Turner lived before he was famous, crossed the River Brent and walked towards the Grand Union Canal, passing the Toll House. It was open and Canal and River Trust volunteers were sitting by the entrance, waiting for punters. We were given leaflets and one of the volunteers explained how the boats’ loads were measured. We followed the Grand Union Canal towpath, crossed the canal over Clitheroe’s Lock 99 and passed under the M4 before reaching Boston Manor and its park. After a quick look inside the manor, we made our way to Boston Manor tube station where the walk ended. Next stage in November.

Dominique.  Photos by Ida