The LOOP (London Outer Orbital Path) - Part 1 of 2

Background

Over eight or nine days I'm running round the LOOP - the London Outer Orbital Path. A 152 mile circuit around London split into 24 sections and designed for walkers, with the start and finish of each section being convenient for public transport.

The route starts at Erith, on the southern bank of the Thames estuary, and runs right round London in a route that takes in many green spaces and less urban areas, to finish on the North bank of the estuary at Purfleet.

The purpose of this post is partially to record the journey, but mainly to share some of the photos I took on the way round. So far I've done half of it, I'll publish another post for the second half when I've done it.


Day 1, Monday 12th December 2016
Sections 1 and 2 - Erith to Petts Wood, 26.5km, 03:16:53

I'm starting where the LOOP officially starts. It's a short run out East, then South West - skirting round Dartford and heading straight toward Bromley.

Not too many navigational challenges today

General upward trend, as you'd expect heading away from the river and towards Kent

On a cold December morning I hopped on an early train to get the LOOP underway. With Christmas coming up, and Country to Capital soon afterwards, I know I'm not going to get the whole lot done within the same fortnight, but let's get started anyway.

First LOOP sign

Although I had the route well planned in advance using my mapping app of choice, OS MapFinder, and I'd spent some time thinking about the route, I was still surprised at quite how industrial and remote it felt at the start of this first day.

Looks a bit unloved out here

The LOOP follows the Thames Path Extension, the extra bit that runs from the Thames Barrier out to Crayford (if the previous 184 miles weren't enough Thames Path for you).

The commemorative marker signalling the start of National Cycle Path 1

It also shares its first few miles with National Cycle Path 1, though to be honest I wouldn't bother unless you're on a mountain bike. The first mile or two are well surfaced, but it gets a bit muddy after that.

This is where your recycling goes, along with old cars, white goods, and all sorts of other stuff

It's a fairly smelly and deserted industrial zone out here. There's plenty of machine activity in the recycle and waste processing plants, but I couldn't see many people. I saw no other walkers or cyclists on this stretch.

The Queen Elizabeth II bridge

I have looked down from the top of the Queen Elizabeth II bridge many times, at the widening Thames and grey brown industrial areas - I like the bridge, and it was a pleasure to see it from this side for the first time. I've never been on foot in this part of London before.

Looking behind me, back towards the Thames

The path curves to the right and heads up the River Darent, a tributary of the Thames flowing in from South East London.

<Insert usual rant about accessibility>

You know you're on a National Cycle Way when you reach a horrific anti-cycling machine and this one was no different. I never cease to be amazed by the bizarre scaffolding contraptions designed to keep everyone off the path apart from able-bodied humans with no luggage.

Nano-horse

Shortly after the annoying scaffolding, I came across some muddy but friendly miniature horses. A couple of them trotted along side me for a little while - it would have been a spiritual experience had it not been for the big chainlink fence in between us.

2D bar codes get everywhere

The route took me over the A2 and through Bexley Village which was beautiful, I must go back and explore properly. A final climb up and over Scadbury Park Nature Reserve and then down toward Petts Wood station. The day was drawing in, I just about made it without being caught in the dark!


Day 2, Tuesday 13th December 2016
Sections 3 and 4 - Petts Wood to Croydon, 20.8km, 03:02:42

I like routes like today - where although it takes about ninety minutes to get to the start, and I have to go via Central London mainline stations, the finish is pleasingly easy to get home from - in this case just a tram from Croydon to virtually the end of my road.

The LOOP heads West now, across South London and towards Croydon

As every South Londoner knows, this is where they keep the hills

I set off bright (dark) and early (very) and almost over delivered as I arrived back at Petts Wood in the first rays of the day.

Bit dark in the woods, plenty of fairy tales start out like this!

Thankfully the first mile or two was on nice spongy leafy trails and not a root-laden trip-fest. It soon brightened up to a slightly lighter shade of grey and the pace picked up.

There was an eerie feel to the morning, still dim and misty

Running in the morning through parks is lovely, so quiet and peaceful. I saw remarkably few people, only the occasional dog walker.

Going for some kind of adventuring/manic/Blair With Project look here

Pausing briefly to remind myself why I don't take selfies very often, the day was now well under way. The route was a bit fiddly, but worth it - staying nicely in parks and away from major built up areas as much as possible.

Don't blink

Great change comes from innocuous chats in the forest

One of the best views in London, apparently... Addington Hill viewpoint

Coming up to 2/3 of the planned 30km distance I was starting to lose the love for the day - whilst deciding if I should cut short or not, I rounded a corner straight into a tram stop. There's a tram stop just a few hundred metres from my house - I couldn't resist such an easy journey home, so I called it a day at 20km.


Day 3, Friday 16th December 2016
Sections 5 to 7 - Hamsey Green to Ewell, 31.2km, 04:10:06

Continuing the tour across South London, from East to West

Bit bumpier today

Today was supposed to be 25km or so, but I had the end of Day 2 to complete first (which turned out to be almost 7km). Good job I got cracking early on - it's a bit distracting for evening commuters when a sweaty runner arrives in their midst.

I love the way these headphones make my ears stick out

A brief pause for another selfie (my last, I promise) and then I found myself on more familiar territory. The LOOP follows a small section of the Vanguard Way, which I've run most of, and this section in particular as it's also part of the Croydon Ultra route - the first Ultra I finished).

Full marks to who did this - a choice of three paths, and I've got the wrong one more than once

I was delighted to find some guerrilla signage on one of the trickier junctions, I know I've gone wrong here before and I always have to stop and double check. I made good progress here on familiar territory - spirits are high!

Roundshaw Downs  parkrun venue, and one of only four events I've done more than once

It was to be a day of familiar places as before long I came across Roundshaw Downs parkrun venue. I have fond memories of this place, it being the parkrun I made by the skin of my teeth on the famous New Year's Day triple in 2012.

Nonsuch park, home of the first inaugural parkrun I attended

Round a few more corners and another parkrun was before me - this time Nonsuch Park and another one of the New Year's Day triple events.


Day 4.1, Sunday 18th December 2016
Sections 8 to 10 (part 1) - Ewell to Kingston-upon-Thames, 12.6km, 01:38:18

Somewhat truncated today, but nice and local from Croydon through to Kingston

Mainly downhill for this section, with a lump at half way

Today's run just never got going. The first few km went well, but quickly I felt fatigued and uncommitted - a rare run experience, but it happens from time to time.

Launch tube 13

As I wasn't running particularly quickly, I had trouble warming up. It was a cold Sunday morning and it wasn't showing any signs of warming up.

Another cold and misty morning in a London park

I decided to stop at the next convenient point and get a coffee. Shortly I arrived at Kingston-upon-Thames where there are a multitude of coffee options. Stumbling coldly into the local Bill's Restaurant I found myself ordering a breakfast as well as coffee. Only 10km in, but that's enough for today - time to warm up, and feed up.

Yup, this was the right decision today

Day 4.2, Thursday 22nd December 2016
Sections 8 to 10 (part 2) - Kingston-upon-Thames to Hayes & Harlington, 23.9km, 02:39:40

Heading up the Western side of the LOOP, some very familiar areas today

Gradually rising, but only 25 metres in almost as many kilometres

Back to Kingston-upon-Thames, a convenient 15 minute train ride away, and on a much brighter and clearer day it was time to pick up my Day 4 route in a more positive frame of mind.

Don't stray from the path

The famous Bushy park parkrun starting straight - imagine a thousand parkrunners thundering bye!

Before long I had arrived at another parkrun - this time at the spiritual home of parkrun and where it all began over a decade ago - Bushy Park. With around a thousand runners every week Bushy Park needs a wide and straight first kilometre, and some military precision when it comes to managing the finishers who arrive at a rate of 100 per minute at the peak.

It's no wonder many parkrunners have a run at Bushy Park on their bucket list. There's something special about this course, and it's well worth the parkrun pilgrimage.

Guerilla Christmas decorating in Bushy Park

A little further on I came across some decorated bushes. There didn't seem to be anything special about the bushes, they were just the lucky recipients of some festive colour.

Hard to run in London without being saddened by all the rubbish

One thing it's hard not to notice is the amount of rubbish on the route. Most of the parks and forests are clean, but as the LOOP grazes more urban areas the rubbish gets really obvious. The volumes rarely get as bad as in my photo, but I felt sad and wanted to capture the mess.

Maybe on these long runs I should take a big bin liner and fill it up each day? Maybe if we all did that we could make a difference? Of course, it would be far better if everyone cared about their environment in the first place...

Board walk across the marshes

The closing few miles of today's route go right past Heathrow. You don't really understand what a plane every 45 seconds is like until you run under the approach path (or live there, of course). I live under one of the final approach routes, but I don't get every single plane. Living here must be very draining.

Almost literally running past the end of the runway at Heathrow

Full disclosure: Yes there's a little digital zoom in the pic above, but not much!

Launch tube 7

That's the end of Day 4 - and the first half of the LOOP. Some familiar areas, and some very new and different. I am enjoying these runs - London can be a lot greener and pleasant than you may imagine. Get out there and run, walk, or cycle and see for yourself.

Bring on 2017 and the second half!

The North Downs Way in six days #NDW153

Mrs ran the Centurion Running North Downs Way 100 last weekend - a 100 mile race along the North Downs Way national trail starting from the Western end in Farnham in Surrey, and finishing near Boughton Lees in Kent where the path splits with a choice of two routes to go all the way to the Kent coast at Dover. She did very well - her race report is here.

I don't entirely recall when, but the discussion about going for a look at the full course a week or two before the race came up some time ago, and Mrs did a bit of homework about how many days it would take and where we might stay.

Then, one weekend in a hotel bar after enjoying a bit of parkrun tourism in Jersey we decided to commit, and booked all the accommodation for a six-day trip to cover all 153 miles on foot. The shortest day would be around 20 miles, and the longest well over 30.

We were travelling light - just a few kilograms each in a small pack each with essentials, a change of clothes, and very few luxuries.

Over the six days we ran, hiked, and walked a total of 272.9km (169.6 miles) in 47 hours (47:13:15 to be precise), and gained an impressive 5,755m (18,881') in height.

The official distance of the North Downs Way is 153 miles, we went a little further due to getting to B&B/hotels and one or two wrong turns!


Day 1, Farnham to Dorking
41.1km (25.5 miles) in 6:22:18 with 655 metres (2,149') of climbing

I was a bit nervous on day 1 - this was due to be far and away the biggest mileage week I'd ever attempted, with longer back to back running days. Plus it was hot. This combination my be why with barely 10km completed I felt weak and light-headed and barely able to run downhill, never mind on the flat. Mrs was really understanding, and we stopped for an early drink and took a walk for half an hour.

For the remainder of the day I gradually felt stronger, and was able to run at a good pace in the closing stages. I ached and was tired, but was pleased to get day one ticked off.

It's over there

The "before" shot

My view for the next six days

Poor horses :(

First of many fields to cross

Quite a bit of sand under-foot

We found a cheese and chilli festival!

Beautiful woodland

Found a deer

Denbies vineyard

Day 2, Dorking to Dunton Green
48.0km (29.8 miles) in 9:10:09 with 1,326m (4,350') of climbing

Woke up quite achy today and it took a while to get going. Nothing damaged or hurt, but I clearly had done some running yesterday. We started very easy with a 1km jog back to the North Downs Way, and the fun of the stepping stones followed by the never ending stairs of Box Hill.

The going was slow due to all the steep climbs, but we made steady progress. The second half of the day was faster. There was no repeat of yesterday's light-headedness, and I was pleased that once I'd warmed up there seemed to be no sore spots on my feet or elsewhere.

It took a long time to get through the day, the slow and hilly start definitely took its toll. We were tired when we finished, but we'd got through it in good spirits. We knew the first few days would be hard until we got into a routine.

Skipping across the stepping stones

Today's theme: steps

Impressive roots

Box Hill is all about the view from the top - lovely on a clear day

Steps go down as well as up (but are no easier)

First of many cows today

Mrs dealing with some foliage so it doesn't cause a problem in the NDW100 next week

Happy to be aliiiiiiive!

It's this way

Mrs found a friend

Woah there, Speedy McWifeFace!

We traversed many fields...

...and bridged many motorways...

...to make it to the Donnington Manor Best Western Inn!

Day 3, Dunton Green to Rochester
33.4km (20.8 miles) in 06:04:20 with 701m (2,300') of climbing

Happy that today was a shorter day, we set off in good spirits. We made good pace and I certainly felt like I was getting into the groove.

It was much easier to manage the transition from walking/hiking to jogging and back, and we were able to spend more time chatting. I was starting to settle into the rhythm of the days now - getting up and going was easier. We just had a cup of coffee and headed out - both of us preferring to run the morning before stopping for a good brunch.

Smiles all round - the path starts right next to the hotel

Sometimes you have to work really hard to take the wrong road

Lots of horses today

Here's another one

Seems legit

Wheeeeeeee! (recreating the Centurion cover page photo)

Any form of transport you like, including horse and cart

Lots of cows today too

More cows

Always feels like you're taking a direct route going across a field rather than round it

Mile marker

Racing the combine harvester

Managed not to get harvested

Day 4, Rochester to Boughton Lees
49.1km (30.5 miles) in 07:44:57 with 1,037m (3,402') of climbing

I felt fantastic today. No soreness or aches in my body, I got up, repacked the bag, drank my coffee and was raring to go. We ran a lot today, and I'm surprised to see how much climbing there was, it didn't feel like it. Clearly we were used to just getting on with it now!

Most of the day was runable, particularly after our half-way break time. We ran a half-marathon distance to the night's hotel in under 3 hours!

The beauty of the North Downs Way

Found a Battlestar Galactica launch tube

Petrol station food stop - you have to take the opportunities when they arise

Left a bit

We saw a lovely inquisitive calf...

...then Mum turned up...

...then we found a lot more cows...

...and then Dad found us and was unimpressed...

...and we decided to get the hell out of dodge, at pace

Tonight's digs, Eastwell Manor Hotel

Enjoying a well-earned pint on the terrace

Day 5, Boughton Lees to Dover
55.7km (34.6 miles) in 09:12:58 with 665m (2,182') of climbing

Shortly after starting today we reached the split in the path. Two routes to the coast, one long, one slightly longer. We planned to get the long route done today to have a slightly shorter last day left for tomorrow.

Today felt great, it was easy to pick up the pace on the flats and downs, and we hiked the ups comfortably. Yesterday and today really felt like we'd settled into a rhythm and could put in a big mileage like this every day.

The miles ticked past - it didn't feel like the longest day at all. There were quite a few fields to cross where there was nowhere to hide from the occasional patches of sun - but towards the end of the day it got quite a bit cooler and there were some short sharp showers with small pointy rain-drops in the wind.

We finished with a run through the outskirts of Dover, and stopped out watches when we got to the coast - as it happens our day finished exactly where the channel swim attempts start and the North Downs Way officially starts (or ends, depending which way round you're doing it).

The split point - all paths are the North Downs Way

Black Beauty?

Surprised sheep

"I think it's that way!"

We found the most beautiful village in the world, Chilham

Every property was perfect

The church yard was spectacular

Overgrown bit - much swearing from me at brambles and nettles (and then a bee stung me!)

Stopped at Canterbury for lunch

Pushing on, covering good ground on the longest day

Highly unfriendly pub

The start/finish line of the North Downs Way (or turn-around point for us)

Marker plate

Day 6, Dover to Boughton Lees
45.6km (28.3 miles) in 08:38:33 with 1,371 (4,498') of climbing

Today I paid for being cocky about feeling amazing for the last two days, like I could go on for many more days. Today it was hard. We started with a steep climb out of Dover, then up and down the coast to Folkestone. We were annoyed early on by a section of path that was closed (only we didn't know until we got there) so we had to double back and take a longer route.

The aim was to get back to Boughton Lees for 17:15 in order to get a cab to Ashford and pick up a hire car to get to parkrun on Saturday and then drive home afterwards. It was always going to be tight, and that made us a bit short tempered and led to the first sharp exchanges of the whole trip.

Eventually we turned in-land, but straight away started to struggle with the signage. We hadn't put a foot wrong on navigating for the last five days, but today seemed trickier. We weren't sure which side of a fence to be on, or which exit from a field to take. This led to our only two proper mistakes - we got stuck in a field, making an entire trip around its circumference, and then once we escaped and got back on track almost immediately went wrong again.

Added to this I was certainly feeling more tired today and made a few footing errors and slightly twisted ankles. We were losing time.

After pushing on for a few hours without breaks, trying to make the time target, we stopped at a pub. We were quite stressed about the time now, so I decided to defuse the situation by buying a couple of beers, cancelling the cab, and changing the car booking to tomorrow. It was more important that we finish together and in good spirits.

We sat at the pub for a couple of pints and relaxed in the sun. Much better.

With about 15km left we set off. The going was hard as we were both tired now (not to mention a couple of pints each!). Before long I started to get a pain on the front of my right foot and ankle - kind of the opposite of the achilles tendon. Quite quickly I was reduced to walking with occasional short jogs, and then for the last 5 or 6km I just had to walk.

We finished the day in good spirits, happy to have completed our biggest challenge yet.

Happy, and a bit weathered, to be setting off on the last day

Cross-channel swims start here!

I felt so good I ran up these steps (unwisely, today was longer than I expected)

Mrs tackling the steps

Mrs tackling yet more steps - today was just up, up, up to start

Instructed to enjoy the view...

...here's the view

We saw lots of perimeter defences today, remnants of wars past

Hello cows!

Hello cow!

Nice to run down the coast for a while

A moody sky, but the rain held off

Looking down onto the course used for the Samphire races

Coastal trail time again

Make sure you're following the right arrows

Clinging to the hillside

Folkstone international rail terminal

More cows because, well, more cows - right?

Mile marker

Pushing through another field

The majestic Tolsford Hill BT Tower radio transmitter

Stuck in the corner of a field - the path is on the other side of this mess

Heaven, by the name of Tiger Inn - stop, relax, calm down

"Look at the camera and go BLARGH!" (extra points if you remember that)

Beautiful in the late afternoon

Follow the arrow!

Impressive horns

More cows

Another beautiful view

Mrs found a donkey!

Back at the split near Boughton Lees - the end!

In closing...

...I'm over the moon with this week - I really didn't know if I'd make it or not, it's so much further than I've gone before. Oddly, I had no doubts Mrs would finish it - she ran even further than this a while ago and ran the whole Thames Path (184 miles!). My disaster scenarios always had me giving up and meeting Mrs at the end of each night, never her.

In this six days I covered beyond marathon distance on four of the days - something I've only ever done twice before (Croydon Ultra 50km and Chiltern Challenge Ultra 50km). It gave me a lot of confidence about future multi-day events, and cemented in my mind that I would certainly be taking on the Centurion Running Chiltern Wonderland 50 mile race in September.