Day 22 was the final day of the #GrandWalkOut so perhaps it’s no surprise that we would walk backwards. Up until now we had taken our bridges in ascending order but for the last day we would work backwards.
There were two main reasons:public transport made it easier to get to Brentford and we wanted to end in Southall with a celebratory meal.
At Brentford we passed a depot of old red buses before reaching the canal path. It was the first example of looking backwards on today’s route.
Lock 101 is the last lock on the Grand Union Canal. The path back included lots of waterfowl many with babies, an odd floating walkway that gave us the effect of walking on water and several more locks including the Hanwell flight.
At lock 90 at Norwood the bus stop for the E5 to Southall was alongside the tow path so I took the bus option. Bob walked onto Bridge 202 which was the one we had to link up with from Day 21. We met near The Green in Southall, a place Bob and I spent some time during our ministerial training, where we had a lovely meal, before catching the 607 bus back to Uxbridge where we got some ice cream. That’s the best way to complete any walk on a hot day.
With a few days of leisure in London over the weekend, Monday will see us starting the #GreatCentralRouteBack. This will, as near as possible, follow the route of the Great Central Railway. We will walk some parts of the route where that’s still possible, and ride others. Hope to see you there!
From my remembered bible: How many more stories are there?
Alleluia
From a Friend of Scholastica and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.
Note that when we have finished reading through the Rule of St Benedict, we start again!
Janet Lees, Southall, 19.05.2022