Walking the London Loop - Moor Park to Uxbridge (4K)
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- A walk along sections 13 and 12 of the London Loop from Moor Park to Uxbridge taking in Batchworth Heath, Bishops Wood, Park Wood and the Grand Union Canal.
Filmed on 20th January 2019
Walk from West Ruislip to Seer Green mentioned in the video • Walking out of London ...
Previous London Loop walks • London Loop
Shot in 4K on a Panasonic GX80 (affiliate link) amzn.to/2QUrtXo
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Tupelo Train by Chris Haugen
Fresh Fallen Snow by Chris Haugen
John Stockton Slow Drag by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (creativecommon...)
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Little Drunk, Quiet Floats by Puddle of Infinity
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Hey John just to let you know that I had my first open heart surgeries at Harefield Hospital here in Uxbridge when I was only 3 days old. So I visited this hospital over the course of many years to come. It wasn't till I hit the age of 27 that they discovered that I was living with a 2 inch hole in the heart over at the Sister Hospital the Royal Brompton when they eventually carried out 2 more major surgeries on the Heart and eventually closed the hole.. So I just wanted to say a warm thank you for sharing this divine walk memory lane for me and for my family and friends.
I love that idea of meeting yourself at parts where you cross previous walks. Like synapse nodes in your mental map.
That’s a brilliant metaphor (or is it a simile?)
That would make a cool movie
In our town we had an older lady who walked everywhere. I used to see her when I was driving and sometimes she was absolutely miles from town center. I used to wonder where she was going and wondered why she walked so much. Now I realize it was probably therapeutic.
Thanks John........whenever i need a break, just join you on a walk and afterwards the world seems a better place.
John, well done another cracking video. Thank you for taking the time to do it. I look forward to the next one.
Thanks John I've been waiting for the latest walk ..As usual 30 minutes of pure relaxation. Thanks again it got my mind away from the minus 11 temperature outside here in Selfoss south Iceland.
London is more rural than I ever imagined . Thank you for showing that xxx
Another great video again John. I wondered why your videos work out so fine and my conclusion was these videos are based on 'one man, his camera, his perspective'...so simple so very effective.
I love that summary Theo - thanks
@@JohnRogersWalks "One Man & His Vlog"
It's funny, lived in London all my life and never heard of the London Loop! Always learn interesting stuff on your videos John
Wonderful to watch your films
Thanks Ralph
Great walk, thank you
Another wonderful thought provoking walk!
Your walks now make the whole of my Family get up, and get into the local woods/fields at all times of the year (not just good days either!)
Thanks again
Hi John
Thanks for all the walks you post, really interesting. Have you ever done a walk including some of London's lost stadiums. Particularly Greyhound and Speedway ones?
Best Regards
Dave
That’s a fantastic idea Dave - I only really have one on here - Leyton FC and also Upton Park as they were tearing it apart. But I love the idea of the Speedway and Dog tracks
Yes indeed I have some photos and a clip of the sign
Enjoyed our walk today!!! Thanks. As always a lovely time.
Hi John! Finally on my former stomping territory. Couldn't help but wish you'd walked up the hill to the pub you shot above the narrowboat. Its called The Old Orchard and the views are amazing up and down the Colne Valley and its many lakes and reservoirs.
Can't wait to come walking again with you!
Thank you John for another beautiful walk that I walk with you vicariously. Appreciate you posting these wonderful videos.
Thanks so much Humble, I love making them
Excellent as ever!
Thanks Jack
Watching again - one of my favourites! A glorious day out.
As usual a lovely film, John. The Braunston milepost at 23:49 contains a dedication to Kit Gaylord who I’ve since discovered was a very interesting person. Your videos provide so many jumping-off points for us viewers. Thanks for continuing to publish your travels. Cheers 👍🏼
Thanks Mick - I need to go and look-up Kit Gaylord now.
'This is quite a good place to have a heart attack' Lol John.
Thanks for another great video.
Glad to have you back, Great Walk SMILES
Thanks C Gj
Hello again John, I've been going through withdrawals not having a new video from you each week. Happy to have you back again. Cheers.
Thanks Scott - sorry it’s slipped a bit, hope to be back on course soon
cool I did not even know London had all these walks thanks great video
Thank you, John, I did enjoy that - but then I would : I live in Harefield. It has been a long while since I last watched one of your excellent videos - far too long! Do you like poetry? You certainly talk like a poet.
btw, for future reference, that point on the Ricky/Harefield boundary where you said you were obliged to walk on the road - you didn't need to. If you cross over into the Rose & Crown car park, you can turn right and follow the path parallel to the road. Stay safe. 🙂
Weren't you lucky with the weather John, lovely to see you again brightens my day up,great video as always, nice to accompany you,thanks
Thanks john lovely walk. Cheers
So much to catch up on. Thoroughly enjoyed Ramsgate. Bob of Bob and Roberta Smith made a comment 'all schools should be Art schools'! He's right! After this, I have to go back to section ten. Love your work john!
Ah... trois gymnopedies... a perfect accompaniment. Again, I enjoy your videos so very much!
Thanks Carole - I love it bit of Satie
Amazing lovely views John another goid walk nothing more beautiful than winter sunshine and beautiful British landscape
Superb. Loved the Satie and the term "acoustic footprint".
Thanks Tim
Another gem. Thanks John x
thanks for watching Tracey
I agree - stop and not walk John. Gotta breathe it in! No chance of standing still drunk though. Another good walk. Mark
thanks Mark, I try not to walk and drink if I can help it
So enjoyed this lovely walk - thank you, John! If life is a journey, then this could have been a lesson on life - Look for the signs to guide you; sometimes one needs a little discipline to stay on track (although leaving the path to explore has its own benefits); stop and take in the scenery; the entire point of the walk is to (enjoy it and) arrive at sunset...
As always John thank you for taking us along on a glorious walk, take care.
thanks Darrell
I've missed your walks in January.
Snowed in just now. Enjoyed this in front of the fire with. glass of whisky.
that's a wonderful vision Rob. I've already shot the next two videos so uploads should be a bit more regular in Feb
That looks a grand walk along the canal-2 of my friends live on a narrow boat on the Leeds-Liverpool canal they moved from a semi next door to us in Otley- they love it and have said in winter it is really cosy
Walking past the narrow boats this winter I thought they looked incredibly cosy, like floating hobbit holes
Lovely video John. I was watching this on the TV and switched to my phone to read the comments. To see if anyone has walked the London Loop in one go. A great wild camping challenge - leave no trace of course.
Thanks. I’d be really curious to see if it’s been done - someone surely must have
Another catch-up walk for me....really enjoyable.
Dear John ,
Another great video and it was good to hear you say the memories of your earlier years spent in High Wycombe. Seer Green one of my Cousins lives there and I have very fond memories of my youth in High Wycombe and also Beaconsfield.
Your walk stage 12 and 13 ….very nice and we enjoyed every minute of it.
Kindest regards
Dave and Lyn ….. from Australia.
again, this was a main haunt of mine when i was a younger lad. still got many friends that live in and aroud uxbridge high street :)
Fantastic walk John. Always great to watch. There is a lovely couple who like you do short films on UA-cam, but on a narrow boat. Worth a watch, it called Floating our boat .
Thanks John, I’ll have to check out that channel
Looking at your 'walking snacks' reminded me of when my friend and I would walk the first (or last, depending on which direction you're heading) part of the Ridgeway Path from Ivinghoe Beacon into Wendover; a good 12 mile hike.
We'd often take a few snacks and drinks along, but mainly I remember stopping for a break when we got to Tring Station, munching on packs of mini cooked sausages and watching the trains going past for a bit.
Great walking with you John! I would love to frame some of those wonderful picture worthy views! Thank you, really brightened my day, loved the music choice as well...take care...
thanks K that's really kind of you
Just stumbled across your videos as i'm studying Patrick Keiller's film London as part of my degree. Love your videos. I am also from Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, so it's lovely to see the familiar routes of Uxbridge. All the best
Best of luck with your studies, Keiller is a great person to focus on. My next video skirts close to Beaconsfield so you might recognise some of it
Broxbourne sculpture trail..truly amazing pine woods. Great vid again.
Thanks John! Fantastic as always! And well done on sticking to the path and not veering off down that track to Bishops Wood country park, it looked very enticing indeed!! Looking forward to your next film.
Thanks Henry, I’m tempted to go back and see where it leads
I walked this today from Harefield, jumping off the U9 at the Dovedale Cl stop and taking the Hillingdon Trail to the canal before picking up the Loop and climbing back up the valley through Park Wood, 8 years and 2 weeks since I did it last (according to my notes, don't ask). Not much seems to have changed, the memories came flooding back. As has been mentioned below you don't need to road walk at the 12 min mark. There's a path in the fields behind the houses that leads to the pub carpark. From the direction I came from this seemed to be signed as the "proper" loop.
A delight and all close to my wife's childhood area of Ickenham
Thanks for giving me a chance to take in some of what I missed in November while running the towpath half marathon from Uxbridge to Watford. Too busy dodging puddles to savour the scenery. I'm back in Watford this weekend for another half marathon, having done a cross-country race there a fortnight ago. Can't keep away from the place. Maybe it's filling some psychological void. Maybe this is 'The Watford Gap' I've heard tell of…
It’s a magical landscape Scarlet
At 20.16 is the Old Orchard pub in Harefield as mentioned by an earlier commentator. Also the noisy light aircraft above your head as you had your sandwich was from nearby Denham aerodrome. The waterways around you are Broadwater, Widewater, the Colne and the Misbourne. Really enjoyed the walk in my home patch, many thanks.
Thanks for the notes Johnno
@@JohnRogersWalks Thanks for the videos, really enjoyable. I live very close to the footpaths you walked on that part of your journey. As with all walks, there are many different paths around that lead to new places and Harefield is no exception, lots of history here and as you will know, many more out into the chalfonts and beyond. Hope to catch up with you sometime, to quote Robert Frost, on the road less travelled, in fact, he wrote that famous poem whilst living in Chalfont St Giles. 👍
Some really nice photography in this, esp the ferns. Cheers !
A truly delightful video john. I haven't been out for a walk myself for a while now as I have been unwell so it was great to sit down with a cup of tea and watch yours. Cheers. Bob.
Great walk John, thank you for taking us with you, your walks really inspire me to keep walking 👍🙂🚶
That’s brilliant to hear - thanks Ronnie
Another fantastic walk, it must be said - I'm always most appreciative of the ones that end when it's dark / dusky at the destination for some reason! The last place I lived in the Hillingdon area was just up the road from Uxbridge tube station. An interesting walk would be following the River Pinn from where it joins Frays River at Yiewsley to it's source at... actually, don't even know where it's source is. A walk I always meant to do when I lived there 25 years ago... Maybe I'll come back and do it one long summers day...
Fantastic suggestion - I did set out one day to walk the length of the Pinn but it absolutely bucketed down all day
I'm sure you meant to say 'blessd by horses'. Thank you again for walks that mean so much to me, especially when I know the area. Walk on brother.
thanks Gerald
Hello John. I have some thoughts about presence and place, how we all influence and are influenced by the place we are in at that moment in time. Sacred places are empowered by the presence by the visitors and so empower following visitors and, of course, for the negative dark side this also holds true. I believe it's vital that we, as people of light, and I think you're one, continue to make a presence felt in our living and journey. What you are doing is so much more than making entertaining and educational walks; you tread the path of light, sharing your insights a d feelings with us who follow you but make that path easier and cleaner for those who follow. This is a process which is eternal. Walk on dear brother and I send my blessings to you and yours. Respect G
Forgive me but I should have said 'know' you are a person of light.
John I have now caught up and have seen them all. Lots of fun, keep it up.
Another fantastic video, John, and in my current neck of the woods too. Shame you couldn't digress to Mount Pleasant in Harefield, which provides a stunning overview (especially at sunset and with creeping mist). The horses there, with that kind of setting, remind me of Tarkovsky films.
At around 29:38, when you're standing in Uxbridge high Street, there is a book store if you were to walk to the right, that's where I went looking for This Other London (they didn't have a copy, though). :)
You've really sold that view to me Chris. I now feel like hand delivering a copy of my book to that shop
Some ignorant people do annoy horses, also some area do have plants growing that are poisonous to horses as though they usually graze they are tempted to browse inadvisabley. Nice walk.
Thanks for that perspective Jacqueline
Nice video John. I am enjoying travelling with you.
Thanks Tomas
Another grand walk, thank you. I love canal walks too, my home town is on the Leeds Liverpool canal, and has the spectacular five rise locks on it👍😊
That's excellent! - an interesting walk and a well produced video
I found The London Loop while I was Surfing t'Net & UA-cam, but I live near Manchester so it is unlikely that I'll ever walk it. It would be nice to, but there are so many things to do that it would be the walker's equivalent of 'your eyes are bigger than your belly'.
I have done some walking through and around urban areas of Manchester, Lancashire, and West Yorkshire, on secluded paths, disused railways, canals and so on, so this sort of thing can be done. I'm sure it would be possible to make similar circular walks around cities like Manchester or Birmingham, but it would need a fair amount of homework & co-operation, say between The Ramblers and local authorities, to work out the routes
I have thought myself, and as you have implied, you could do longer walks through these sorts of areas perhaps by bivvying; there are all sorts of nooks & crannies where you could tuck yourself away. Search UA-cam for 'urban camping'
Fine stuff John. Many thanks.
thanks gilly
This was a beautiful walk - I can't believe there are so many fields and open spaces around London. I do hope it stays that way. I've been doing my ancestry and a lot of my family are from around the area you are walking. I've not really been up that way, so it's wonderful to see it. A lot of them were farm workers, so I have been imagining them working in the fields you walked through. I was also wondering, what is that piece of music that plays at about 3:05? Can I find it somewhere online to listen to? It's so lovely.
That’s one of the best things about the London Loop I reckon, how it highlights how green and rural London is.
All the music credits are in the video description and if you can find them in the UA-cam audio library - there’s some great music
fantastic as always john love the coalpost do love the wonderful winter colours how many miles was that one really looking fdorward to the next one thanks agai steve you woul not reconise west ham's ground mow mate thanks again steve
thanks Steve - yes the coalposts are great - there's one near West Ham's training ground as well. That walk was about 10 miles in the end. I must go back for another look at the old ground
Nice video. I come out of the station when walking the dog. Turn right, then right again at the bottom of that road. if you go under the bridge and follow the road towards Watford/Northwood and go past the public school, there's a public footpath on the right that takes you through a lot of nice scenery.
Thanks Jason, I’ll note that for the next trip out that way - want to finish walking the Metropolitan Line one day
@@JohnRogersWalks What gear do you use to make your videos?
What a beautiful video of a truly great walk. I did this walk in the opposite direction in January 2017 (there is a video of it on my channel) and remember arriving at Moor Park shattered! There is a guidebook to the London Loop published by Aurum Press but the route description is in the clockwise direction. Have you heard of the London Countryway? This is another long distance footpath which encircles London- its a bit further out than the London Loop. Looking forward to your next adventure!
Hello John, many thanks for producing so many great videos. I was prompted to write a comment after you mentioned the Beat Poets and wondered if you're familiar with Nanao Sakaki... a friend of Gary Snyder who spent a large part of his adult life doing long distance walks and writing poetry?
Thanks again, Craig.
Thanks for the tip Craig never heard of them
HI JOHN LOVE YOUR VIDEOS HOPE WILL DO A WALK FROM LEAGRAVE TO HARPENDEN SOMEDAY?
Thanks Asaf- yes I really want to do that walk
Great walk thanks
Wonderful!
Visit Leytonstonia, there is also a Frestonia in North kensington began by my cousin and it still exists!
really? Where's Frestonia now - would love to visit some time
@@JohnRogersWalks yes you must visit it!! It still exists as it was founded my my cousin Nicholas Albery, son of Sir Donald Albery who produced along with Lional Bart the famous musical 'Oliver' wich was at the then Albery Theatre London. Frestonia is sort of located nr Ladbroke Grove in the Notting Hill area, they have their own community there, unfortunately my cousin died in a car crash although i did not drive and someone else was driving, he was one of the true original hippies from 1967 and did practise what he preached, quite an intelectual who wrote various articles, i still really admire him and miss him, i would love you to do a walk around 'Frestonia' i'm sure it still is a tight knit community and still retains its identity, i am not sure if i ever visited him there while he was still in residence ,he kept it all together, and would love to know what you would think of the area, best of luck and keep your fabulous videos comming ,they are do interesting and containing a wealth of knowledge as i do some walks myself as i love history and even find old disused factories for example fascinating-God Bless!!
John, I too in my late teens and 20s, was influenced by On the Road and the Kerouac vibe, and I still respect Jack and his faith struggles. If you read The Dharma Bums (highly recommended), as I recall, there is quite some walking as they go and take work in the remote mountains as Fire Watchers, in the State Forest of Northern California, there is also a bit of hoboing (train riding). Not sure which book includes the camping and cabining on the Big Sur Coast, but that includes a lot of God in nature thinking and feeling, and a bit of walking too!
I walked a canal path near Rickmansworth in 1981 - not sure how that fits, but I saw Rick. mentioned on a sign as you set out.
I only read Dharma Bums a couple of years ago and loved it, you’re right though there was a bit of walking, particularly the streets of San Francisco
much more enjoyable than the train from Moor Park to Uxbridge
Love it
Wonderful. For most of the time, you could have been miles from civilization.
that’s one of the revelatory thinks about the London Loop
I need to go for a walk with this guy
Hi John nice walk as always.
Wonder if you might consider 2019 the year to visit the site / ruins of Nonesuch Palace?
One other humble request - have you ever done a walk of the boundary of Londinium / The London Roman walls? Unfortunately, when in London last April I ran out of time and was unable to do the walk. The London Museum offered maps of the walls but alas not to be in 2018.
Take care John.
What are these trees 7:33-7:39, with zigzag branches and thick trunks? Look like northern scaled-down baobabs to me ...
So you’re going “widdershins” John! . Is it ‘unlucky’ to go widdershins, I wonder? ( had an experience once that made me think that)...
I used to work at the post office at st martins le grand
Lovely video. I’ve done the Loop twice now, first clockwise, then the other way, to recuperate after treatment at both Mt Vernon and Harefiled, so this stretch meant a lot. It’s wonderful having done the loop as every time you return to London from whatever direction you’ll pass a part of your loop route, a great reminder of a wonderful walk. That bit where you walked down the road, in fact if you walk through the pub car park you can follow a path behind the few houses parallel to the road. the land owner kindly allows this, though it’s not a full right of way. I guess that’s the advantage of having done it the ‘proper’ way round before. The shot of the Moor Park shows a place that featured in the Genieve film, with vintage cars breaking down. On the next section you’ll pass by a church, near Heathrow where Tony Hancocks memorial was placed on the boundary wall, as he was a suicide victim he wasn’t allowed one inside the churchyard, sadly...
Re: Beat Generation walking: Gary Snyder's your man for spiritually informed travel by shank's pony, though most of his perambulations would really be in the category of "hiking," since there's more mountainous terrain involved. At any rate, Snyder's still alive and kicking - possibly the last of the original Beats - which might go to show how good a regimen of brisk strolls are for longevity ...
Snyder introduced Kerouac to The Sierra Nevada & Cascade Mtns. See Kerouacs novel "Dharma Bums".
bishops wood is named after the bishop of lichfield. fyi
Interesting little walk John. Love those old Coal-tax posts.
Although most of them were only erected in the 1860s and 'form an irregular loop between 12 and 18 miles from London to mark the points where taxes on coal were due to the Corporation of London', there is evidence to suggest that they have their antecedents in a similarly elliptical enclosure of Medieval origin linked to, among others, Sir William Walworth, killer of Wat Tyler, leader of the Peasants' Revolt. Although there were nowhere near the number of 280 or so Victorian posts, of which around 210 still remain, in Medieval times, these largely forgotten mark stones have left a lasting legacy in the form of sites such as the celebrated Whittington Stone in North London:
historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1298038
Although the present structure is predominantly Victorian, there is evidence to suggest that it was a boundary marker in Medieval times, and its association with Dick Whittington may have more to do with coals from Newcastle than the celebrated cat of seventeenth century legend:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittington_Stone
The stone is considerably closer to Charing Cross than any of its Victorian equivalents, but its distance from that ancient mark point corresponds pretty much to that of some of the sites that you have visited in terms of Medieval equivalence:
www.distance.to/Charing-Cross-London/53-Highgate-Hill,Highgate,London-N19-5NE
As you will see from the page linked directly below, the legend of Dick Whittington and His Cat in English folklore 'may come from the word "cat", another name for a coal-carrying boat which Whittington may have engaged in his business'.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Whittington_and_His_Cat
The business in question being Whittington's inheritance of the London Coal Monopoly from his predecessor John Lovekyn, whose speculative ventures in this particular line of endeavour are likewise recounted below:
en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lovekyn,_John_(DNB00)
As you will see from this, Lovekyn's protege and successor Sir William Walworth was from County Durham and may have had involvements with the first inland colliery in England, at Cockfield in County Durham, which first appears in the records in 1375:
en.wikisource.org/wiki/Walworth,_William_(DNB00)
Hope this was worth the wait!
Interesting stuff Rupert - makes for an interesting alternative boundary of London
@@JohnRogersWalks If you check the old maps John there were lots of old toll houses along the roads in that part of North London where mainly Pre-Reformation Ecclesiastical landowners could charge people coming in and out of London; of which Highgate is one of the best known. So, these boundaries have always been there. The only thing that changes is that the tax boundaries for local authorities such as the Corporation of London to draw in their tax revenues tend to get wider! Where have I heard that before? :) lol
I am from Harrow down the road, and we always used to joke about the name Moor Park. Say it backwards and you will see what I mean. :-)
Hahaha
SORRY JOHN YOU ARE WRONG, THIS CHILTERN RAILL ROUTE JOINS TE RHEADING BIRMINGHAM LINE JUST SOUTH OF BANBURY.
The perfect antidote to Brexit . . .