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.