Hello All,

It’s time to continue the London Outer Orbital Path (LOOP) again from where we left off last time at Donkey Wood near Hatton Cross, just east of Heathrow Airport.

We will go as far as West Drayton, about 8 miles in all, taking in Cranford with the remains of its house (ha-ha and stable-block) and church (if open), Stockley Park and a stretch of the Grand Union Canal along the way (no locks on this stretch, so no need to bring your windlass handle with you!).

Please meet me by 11am at Hatton Cross station (combined bus and u/ground) in the main hall (there’s only one) for an 11.15am departure.

There are many different opinions of how to get there, so I am leaving it to you to decide how to get there! I think it’s all ‘6 or 2 threes’ in the end. I shall be going by the SL7 bus from Sutton leaving there between about 9 and 9.15am – I am going deliberately early, and if there’s time I’ll go through to Heathrow first to make use of the facilities and then tube back to Hatton Cross.

An option from Croydon is the SL7 bus:

West Croydon bus station, stop B3 at  9.22

Dingwall Road / East Croydon, stop E8 at 9.28

Returning from West Drayton will again be up to you depending on where you want to get back to. I shall be catching the Elizabeth Line to Paddington and u/ground to Victoria and so on.

And while we are talking about Transport: I was not aware until very recently (and found out quite by chance a few weeks ago!) that the one day LONDON TRAVELCARD has been reinstated, some time ago, in fact, but it wasn’t well publicised…almost as if they don’t want people to know about it. Depending on what you’re doing it’s much cheaper to get this card (especially if you are doing lots of different journeys on trains and tubes, etc) and – if you use any discount card you have – it can be as little as £10.40! So go shout it from the rooftops!! Or am I just the last person to know about it?!

I should bring some food and drink with you, but there are shops along the way and , I believe, a cafe at Stockley Park golf club open to all.

Have I forgotten anything? Date, time, place, minor rant – that should do it!

PAUL. 07968 223589