Walking the London LOOP - part 18 and 19
After a month long hiatus, we started with another few walks to finish the LOOP within our one year goal. I made an extra few checks to make sure I was recording a trace with my GPS (successfully).
Section 18
Starting at Enfield Lock station, our first highlight was, as you might guess, Enfield Lock itself. After the lock, we continued first past the river Lee, and then the King George V reservoir, and finally the Rammey March Flood Relief Channel. In a field we found some very tiny horses as well.
Crossing a road, our route was disrupted by a car boot sale. Instead of traversing a field diagonally, we had to zig zag around it avoiding cars and vans. At the end of the field we started climbing up Daws Hill which gave some nice views over the King George IV reservoir. At the top of the hill, we got minimally lost, as our path continued through a hole in a hedge that was quite overgrown. Once we found the path through, we ended up in a meadow.
After a while we got to the Gilwell Scout Centre, which was rather empty looking. Some fields later, we made our way to Chingford. Instead of following the LOOP through a car park and past a road, we continued along a field directly to The Royal Forest for a refreshing pint.
Section 19
After the beverage, we continued, now on section 19 of the LOOP. Near the pub we passed the Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge and a café. We then had to push through some undergrowth to continue our way towards Buckhurst Hill. Not long thereafter we had a quick snack at Simply Seafood on Epping New Road. A rather "local" establishment, serving a multitude of various seafood dishes. We stayed on the safe side and had a fish finger sandwich.
After filling up, we walked to Buckhurst Hill, where we crossed the Central Line section to Epping. The walk through Buckhurst Hill was nicer than I thought it would be. Instead of walking through a town, the LOOP guided us in between residential areas through a patch of green ending at a pond (or reservoir).
After going around a David Lloyd sports centre the last part of the walk crossed the M11 and got us past a road into Chigwell, were we celebrated yet another successful walk at The King William IV for a few snacks and another pint. On the way to Chigwell station, I did a spot of mapping to get some more shops, and a postbox, onto OpenStreetMap.
The weather was rather cloudy and it wasn't very warm, at about 20°C. We took 3¼ hours for the 15km that both sections took.
The photos that I took on this section, as well as the photos of the other sections of the LOOP, are available as a Flickr set.
Life Line
Updated a restaurant
Created a bench
Updated a cafe
But I think my favourite photo was of this Carrion Crow in flight.
The new birds I saw, were mostly too far away to get good photos.
But I saw my first Spoonbill, Corn Bunting, and a flock of Black-tailed Godwits.
I had a lovely walk around RSPB Bowers Marsh yesterday, where I saw some expected birds, and a bunch of new species.
When I got there, there was this welcome committee of Starlings.
#BirdPhotography #nature #BirdsOfFediverse #Birds #Photography #RSPB
RSPB Bowers Marsh
Created 2 benches
I hiked 11.3km in 3h31m08s
Updated a pub
Updated a pub
Updated 4 pubs; Confirmed a pub
Created a restaurant
I walked 0.8km in 9m31s
I walked 2.1km in 16m42s
I walked 4.7km in 48m42s
I walked 7.4km in 1h16m10s
Updated a fast_food
Updated a cafe, a pet shop, and a bench; Confirmed a cafe, a convenience shop, and a motorcycle_repair shop
I walked 5.0km in 1h2m27s
I walked 1.1km in 10m08s
Updated a cafe; Confirmed 3 convenience shops, a fast_food, and a laundry shop
Created a fitness_centre; Updated an event_caterer office and a social_facility; Confirmed a restaurant and a pharmacy
I walked 7.6km in 1h29m58s
Updated a pub




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