London Loop Section 9

Decided to do one last bit of the Loop before the clocks changed and the daylight hours became too short for it to be done safely. It was a warmish day and I worked up a bit of a sweat, losing around half a kilo all in all.

Section 9 is a long one at around nine miles and is pretty much entirely level, although it was a bit muddy especially near the end. It includes Bushy Park with a large wildlife collection, including deer (which are being culled now to control their numbers) and coots.

You also go over what is left of Hounslow Heath, which was a notorious haven for highwaymen, but the route is poorly marked here, and the Inner London Ramblers are discussing with Hounslow council about changing the path to follow the River Crane instead. Most of it has now been built on and the only daylight robbery you'll see now are the car parking charges.

As you go through Donkey Wood and the duck boards, you're under the Heathrow 27L/09R flight path, with aircraft passing over you around every minute and you can read the aircraft numbers.

There are a couple of places to eat in Hampton Hill and other spots on the route; I still got round in just over four and a quarter hours. My walk ended at the 1970s-built Hatton Cross tube, for a long train and bus ride home.

I plan to do Section 10 and 11 together in March next year; when the weather and light is suitable. The aim is to do the other twelve sections of the Loop by the end of 2023, so watch this space.

Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor

I watched this pretty much live a week ago and I've got to say that I rather enjoyed it. The plot was pretty razor thin - a Chibnall habit - but there was a lot of enjoyable callbacks to the past, as appropriate for a Centenary special.

Jodie Whittaker did a fine job with her swansong and had a good final speech - handing over to a rather different successor than some might have anticipated. But Doctor Who really does need some better security for its production, because it would have even better to be surprised in that case.

Dan wasn't particularly well served, while the ending to Yaz's tenure seemed a bit perfunctory, although perfectly in character for the Doctor, who doesn't seem to like long-term commitments to humans who have a much shorter lifespan.

Ace and Tegan were definitely enjoyable; the former has never really left the show due to her long association with Big Finish.

The Master was crazy as usual and the "Ra Ra Rasputin" dance was highly memorable; I get a feeling Sacha Dhawan's time in the role is probably done though.

Daleks and Cybermen need a rest; they're massively overused now.

Anyway, the Whittaker era is now over - and with Disney now on board, hopefully the show gets a much bigger budget.

8/10

Exit Thirteen

Today marks the end of the Thirteenth Doctor's era, with her regeneration episode, "The Power of the Doctor", airing at 7.30pm tonight in the UK.

It's reasonable to say that this hasn't been the most successful era in the show's history - ratings have declined, popular interest has gone and the quality of stories has been uneven at best. Chris Chibnall, despite previous good work, was not ultimately suited to the Doctor Who gig.

None of this is Jodie Whittaker's fault - she did the best she could with the material - and hopefully she'll find some better stuff with Big Finish.

So, onto Ncuti Gatwa and RTD2; they've got a big challenge ahead of them.

Exit Liz Truss

The fastest failure of any Prime Minister that actually managed to form a government in the first place; Truss was utterly unsuited for a Cabinet role, let alone the top job. She now ends her career as a joke - I wouldn't be surprised if she steps down at the next election.

Hopefully they don't re-elect Boris Johnson. Sunak seems the most competent of that sorry lot.

A general election would be best to clear the air, but why would the Tories vote for Christmas? We'll just have to cope with this shambles as best we can.

Robbie Coltrane 1950-2022

Best known for Cracker, Valentin Zukovsky and Hagrid, he was a brilliant actor who added a lot to anything that he was in.

Rest in Peace.

Star Trek: Lower Decks

I plan to continue the TOS reviews at some point, but I've got modern Trek to catch up on first.

Got to say that I'm highly enjoying Lower Decks, the animated adult-orientated part of the franchise at the moment. A lot of (reverential) humour, some good stories and great characters all round. They're due to make a live-action appearance in the second season of Strange New Worlds and I look forward to that.

London Loop Section 8

After a recent trip to Strasbourg and the Oberammergau Passion Play - post on that will follow at some point - I decided to do Section 8 of the London Loop on Wednesday 21 September.

This is a long section - 8 miles including the station links - but a pretty easy one to do as you're following the Hogsmill River for most of it, a tributary of the Thames best known as the backdrop for some famous Victorian paintings (like Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais, the location shown below) and the route is largely flat, although I am informed it can get pretty muddy. In my case, it stayed dry and was even slightly warm.

Berrylands forms a decent half-way point to stop for lunch, with the pub serving good but rather expensive food. The station building itself looks rather like it was a standard British Rail Southern Region design:

Near the end of the route in Kingston-upon-Thames is a coronation stone supposedly used by seven Saxon Kings, with tributes having been put there for the late Elizabeth II:

The route ends by the Thames. From there, it's a walk through the town centre to the station, with regular trains back to London. Still the old 455s at the moment - the 701s have yet to enter service.

Plan is to do the 10-mile Section 9 in October at some point and Section 10 on November before the weather, along with the light, is truly against me.