River Brent Walk – Perivale to Hanwell

The walk originally planned for today, Sunday 5th October 2025, was cancelled due to the walk leader not being available, so I decided to lead this one, which I had planned for a while, but have had to defer on several occasions.

Arriving at Perivale on the Central Line, I met up with Louise and we were soon joined by Cathy S and Lorraine. We headed left out of the station, crossing over the busy A40 by footbridge with the Hoover building visible along the road, past a very old church, and soon entered into a park, crossing over the River Brent, stopping to watch the ducks and then turned right to follow the river on our right.

We passed an old recently demolished sports centre in Perivale Park, passing under a railway viaduct and continued along the footpath between the road and the river until we almost reached Greenford. We rejoined the road and crossed over it to continue alongside the river which had now decided to head south. We soon came across a tree which looked to have been recently knocked down, possibly by Storm Amy a day or two earlier, but it was a wide expanse of grassland so we were able to continue. At the end of the path there was a children’s playground with seats, ideally situated for a lunch stop.

After our stop, our path diverged; we could either follow the river through the golf course or take a path uphill, before entering another park and rejoining the river. Not wanting to be hit by a golf ball, we took the latter route and rejoined the river following it to where it passed under the magnificent Wharncliffe Viaduct, which was designed by Brunell. It now carries the Great Western Railway and is also home to a colony of bats which roost in the piers. We then continued next to a hay meadow to reach and cross under a road, to follow the river to its confluence with the Grand Union Canal at the bottom of the Hanwell Lock flight, a set of 6 locks.

At the canal we got talking to an angler, who was watching a massive Koi Carp over the other side of the river, and he said that he had caught it last week. I thought this a “fishy” tale (pun fully intended) however, he had the photos to prove it, and it was a whopper of a fish, so well done to him.

We then retraced our steps back along the river to the road and crossed over the Hanwell bridge to head towards the railway station, making a well-earned stop at a nearby pub to quench our thirst before catching the train back. It had been a lovely gentle downhill walk of just under 6 miles with beautifully sunny weather. Well done to those who came and made it so enjoyable.

Trev (Pathfinder) Eley,  8th October 2025

Epping Forest and Copped Hall Walk

We started our walk at Epping Station (a bit later than intended, but that gave people a chance to have a cup of coffee from the stall).  It was a well attended walk with 16 members taking part.

We commenced by taking the pedestrian path near the car park and cutting through to the Forest, walking parallel to the Epping New Road where we crossed over, past the Bell Hotel, onto a path through meadows on the Copped Hall estate to eventually reach the estate road up to the White House.  We then crossed a stile and followed a grassy path to reach another small estate road which led to the entrance to The Selvedge, a fairly narrow wooded strip with a deer tunnel underneath the M25, and up to the Warren Plantation near Crown Hill.  

We sat on fallen trees to have our lunch, but as we were about to set off again unfortunately one of our members felt unwell.   As a precaution,  we called an ambulance;  thanks very much to our Chairman who took care of that.  We've now learned how to use What3Words (very useful).  Thanks so much for the support of other members waiting and obtaining  chair and blanket from the very helpful people at the Lodge near the gate (we didn't need them eventually).  Some members had to go on ahead as they had prior engagements and a number of others went along with them to meet us later at the Forest Gate pub in Ivy Chimneys.  As it happens the ambulance was with us in under an hour (that must be a record).  They were very efficient and took our unwell member along to the hospital for further checkups  (thankfully they were feeling a bit better by then) but it was the best thing to do.  I am delighted to say that they were feeling better by the following  day.

The remainder of us then carried on the walk across the main drive and through the other section of the Warren Plantation. We then walked across the field and crossed the Epping New Road to walk along through the Forest to join the others at the Forest Gate pub.  After refreshments we carried on our walk back to Eppimg Station. 

We had fine weather and some walked a bit further than others (so I understand), having done a bit of a detour back to the Pub.

Anyway, everyone got back safely and it was a very pleasant,  if eventful, walk.

I made it round about 5 1/2 miles.

Lynne,  2nd October 2025

Chipping Ongar and the Roding Valley

Length - Walk – 6.5 miles approx

On 20th September 2025, eleven of us went in three cars to Chipping Ongar, where we regrouped near the library. As we drove into the town a couple of us saw the steam of a steam engine but the locomotive itself was hidden by the carriages behind it. By the time we’d exited the cars and headed up the road for our walk the train had left the station.

We therefore cut through the old cemetery to Lyn’s café at the sports ground for a bit of refreshment before the main walk.

Leaving the café, we turned left onto a footpath which passed the scout hut, turned left into a field, then immediately right round the edge of the field, then headed up towards a children’s play area. Tempting though the zipwire looked, we kept on through a couple of fields to reach the A414 near a bridge over the Roding. Crossing the road, we roughly followed part of the Essex way, but keeping nearer to the river than some of the official path. After crossing several bridges, mainly over dry tributaries and having covered about 3 miles, we elected to stop for lunch, using a bridge as a bench to sit/relax on. I was asked how far it was to the pub and estimated about 1-1.5miles or ½ hour. After lunch we carried on heading roughly north over a couple more bridges till we came to footpath signs marked ‘Fyfield’ and joined the Three Forests Way to head south to High Ongar and The Forresters Arms pub. On the way some fields were fairly recently ploughed so we had to go round rather than across them. In doing so we saw a sign for a Care Home up the road - the final line of which was ‘No Exit’ which was a bit ominous. Further on we saw something white near the hedgerow, some thought it might be a skull, my thought was an ostrich egg, but no it was a giant puffball mushroom. Probably the first time any of us had seen one. We were also glad we hadn’t waited for lunch as it had taken about another 1.5 hours to reach the pub, probably nearer 2 miles, where we had more liquid refreshment, then did what Google maps said was about 1.25 miles in ½ hour back to the car park, where a sign showed we were near the site of the old Motte & Bailey Ongar Castle.

The weather had started dull and there were a few spots of rain as we finished lunch, but towards the end of the walk the sun was coming out. So a pleasant walk with good company.

The length of the walk was approximately 6.5 miles.

Richard, 23rd September, 2025

V&A East Storehouse visit

On Tuesday 9th September, eight of us managed to beat the tube strike and get to Stratford station via alternative routes in order to visit the new V&A Museum nearby.  Phil was less fortunate, having given up after waiting half an hour and not seeing a single bus.  

We had a pleasant 20 minute walk through the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, following the path alongside Waterworks River and then over the River Lea, before veering off, down Waterden Road, to the V&A East Storehouse. A tea / coffee break was required immediately. Marian and Brian also tried cardamon pastries, that were apparently much nicer than they looked; Annick tested out one of the rocking armchairs positioned by the huge windows overlooking the street.  

The museum is not like any that I've been in before: industrial shelving, industrial steel, mesh walkways (and glass floors in places) and huge open spaces. You're also immediately struck by the diversity of what's on display as artefacts are stored based on size, weight materials and fragility, so furniture from the 1600s is next to a Piaggio scooter which is near huge ceramic plates, for example.  Whilst most of us looked on from the edges, Brian happily stood on the glass floor, above the Agra Colonnade - five columns / arches that once formed part of the portico in front of a bathhouse built for Shah Jahan (of Taj Mahal fame) in the Red Fort at Agra. Nearby, photographs show close-up detail of the inlaid designs that decorate the pillars.  There is also the 9m high facade, stairwell and lobbies of two flats that was rescued from Robin Hood Gardens, a brutalist East London housing estate that was demolished in 2017, as well as the only complete interior (of an office) designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that is on permanent display outside the USA; elsewhere, there are ergonomically designed chairs underneath the Torrijos Ceiling so that you can recline to look up at the fabulously carved woodwork and an ante-room is dedicated to the largest Picasso work in the world, a 10m x 11m stage cloth used for Ballet Russes production Le Train Bleu.  

We visited all three floors, explored side rooms, looked up, down and out, watched conservators working on items (either below us or on the other side of glass walls) and were all amazed at the variety of what we could see before us. It's very, very well done and is a fascinating place to visit. I'm quite sure that on a return visit, each of us would see things we hadn't noticed previously.  For most of us, our only gripe is the lack of descriptions - boards with QR codes are placed around for you to scan to find out more info, but that means you either spend your visit staring at your phone or just gazing at the artefacts; we mostly gazed at the artefacts.  A few hours later, we reconvened in the cafe downstairs for a bite to eat before making our way home.  

Jill S, 17th September 2025

Below: Photos by Jill S.

Below: Photos by Madeleine