LIFETIME of WALKS by DEREK HARWOOD

I arrived at Richmond off bus No. 56 to start the second leg of the Ring. Starting from the bus stop in George Street I walked down the quaint Brewers Lane to Richmond Green, with its ancient paths across the Green. I took a short cut through Friar Lane to Water Lane and the Thames river bank, past apartments with gardens so manicured they could easily pass for a town park. From the finger post on the river bank I walked towards Syon Park, 1¾ miles, passing the bare trees on the river islands full of cormorants and herons all preening themselves. I soon reached Twickenham railway and road bridges, with the unknown and strange fenced circular building hiding between them. After the bridges my attention immediately turned to the 'Old Deer Park' and Richmond Lock. Two stainless steel park information pillars and an obelisk on the right are inscribed with a map and on the left the impressively engineering lock. At first I thought I would have to make a large detour because the river crossing was closed, but close inspection revealed another set of 'open' steps on the north side of the lock. I crossed the lock to the Thames north/west bank and continued north, passing the end/start of the river crane walk and several rowing '8' boats on the river around Isleworth Ait. Watch carefully for the 'Ring' signs as the 'Loop' meanders around the wharfs and the Duke of Northumberland's river, of Old Isleworth to 'The London Apprentice', a famous and old public house dating from Tudor times. Here the walk leaves the river and heads to the Grand Union Canal as the many planes pass directly overhead on their flight path to Heathrow, as they land from the east. I passed through the entrance gates of Syon Park (closed at dusk) to the impressive Syon House with its even more impressive Great Conservatory. Nature called in the garden centre (cleaned it up honestly), then on to the Grand Union Canal at Brentford Lock, an area recently modernised.

Location Map: - www.streetmap.co.uk
Start: Wimbledon
Finish: Greenford

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