When I started my walk on Wednesday 9 August, I discovered to my annoyance that my camera had run out of battery, so the photographs are from my phone.
Section 16 of the LOOP, which runs from Elstree & Borehamwood to Cockfosters is the longest one of all, coming in at eleven miles - and has very few break points in the first section. This resulted in me spending around three hours between beginning and a break for lunch, which might be a bit much for some people.
My arrival at Elstree was rather delayed as industrial action on Thameslink meant a reduced service and a further delay resulted in me spending half an hour at Farringdon waiting for a train.
But once I got there, I did some stretching - essential to avoid major injury - and headed off.
The Section is mostly fields and wooded paths, the latter not always very well signposted, with the result I went badly off the path at least three times and as a result ended up missing at least one item of interest. I have raised my findings with Inner London Ramblers as usual.
Fortunately, there's nothing too steep and it wasn't too hot. It was moderately muddy under foot in places after the rain on Tuesday, but I've encountered worse in other sections. Make sure you have insect repellent as there are a lot of bugs at this time of year.
Overall, this wasn't much of a challenge, even if it took a good while - about four and a quarter hours of walking.
Lunch was at the
Queens Arms in Barnet - decent food for a reasonable price and they had The Hundred (i.e. the cricket) on the TV screens.
Cockfosters is at the end of the Piccadilly Line and will be a bit inconvenient for me to get back as if you want to avoid Zone 1, it takes four trains. But I'll only be going back there once...
Curious Dog Count was three.
