An early start making for Boston Manor on the Piccadilly Line to join the Grand Union at Osterley Lock and walk to Greenford.
The six locks in the 'official' Hanwell flight takes the canal up 53 feet in 600 yards which is some going!
You 'officially' leave the canal (on its way to Birmingham) between the first and second locks and drop away to follow the River Brent. The first part is called the FitzHerbert Walk after the 'leading light' who was key in the establishment of the Brent River Park.
The river skirts around Ealing Hospital and seems to find considerable peace in its journey towards Hanwell Bridge and the famous Brunel Viaduct.
The bridge which takes the Uxbridge over the river is amazingly historic.
There has been a bridge at this point since the 14th century and part of the current bridge dates from 1762.
Under the bridge you are out into a wide meadow with the viaduct straight ahead.
What a magnificent structure...........
It is actually called the Wharncliffe Viaduct after the person who steered the Great Western Railway (GWR) bill through Parliament.
The walk now follows the meanders of the Brent as it loops across meadows and parkland
It is brilliant green and bright and not a sole around.
Today the river levels are surprisingly low and there is plenty of gravel to be seen on the parts of the river. But in reality the Brent is not a small tired river with little flow.
Give it a few days of heavy rain and part of it become a torrent.
I have experienced it first hand nearer Brentford where it gushed into the Grand Union and took Hallmark on a 360 degree turn one day after a night of torrential rain!.
So you can see why parts below have had embankments constructed.
The walk along the river takes you a considerable distance but then you swing away through parkland. First a a golf course, then sports grounds and even and athletic track The green suddenly ends and you are at the main A40 trunk road and walk for sometime down what seem like alleyways and streets alongside the Greenford to Ealing railway line. But there is a purpose. This bit of walking is setting you up for the next stage back along the Grand Union Canal north of Greenford.
But that is another day!
A blue and green walk awaits.
A bit of the Grand Union and plenty of the River Brent and then parkland and streets to Greenford station to finish off the five miles.
After Osterley Lock the walk follows the canal as it snakes through typical west London industrial wasteland and semi-reural bits where the Brent joins and leaves the canal.
The six locks in the 'official' Hanwell flight takes the canal up 53 feet in 600 yards which is some going!
You 'officially' leave the canal (on its way to Birmingham) between the first and second locks and drop away to follow the River Brent. The first part is called the FitzHerbert Walk after the 'leading light' who was key in the establishment of the Brent River Park.
The river skirts around Ealing Hospital and seems to find considerable peace in its journey towards Hanwell Bridge and the famous Brunel Viaduct.
The bridge which takes the Uxbridge over the river is amazingly historic.
There has been a bridge at this point since the 14th century and part of the current bridge dates from 1762.
Under the bridge you are out into a wide meadow with the viaduct straight ahead.
What a magnificent structure...........
It is actually called the Wharncliffe Viaduct after the person who steered the Great Western Railway (GWR) bill through Parliament.
The walk now follows the meanders of the Brent as it loops across meadows and parkland
It is brilliant green and bright and not a sole around.
Today the river levels are surprisingly low and there is plenty of gravel to be seen on the parts of the river. But in reality the Brent is not a small tired river with little flow.
Give it a few days of heavy rain and part of it become a torrent.
I have experienced it first hand nearer Brentford where it gushed into the Grand Union and took Hallmark on a 360 degree turn one day after a night of torrential rain!.
So you can see why parts below have had embankments constructed.
The walk along the river takes you a considerable distance but then you swing away through parkland. First a a golf course, then sports grounds and even and athletic track The green suddenly ends and you are at the main A40 trunk road and walk for sometime down what seem like alleyways and streets alongside the Greenford to Ealing railway line. But there is a purpose. This bit of walking is setting you up for the next stage back along the Grand Union Canal north of Greenford.
But that is another day!
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