LCC Nature Walks: COLNE VALLEY Moors & Meadows [WEST LONDON]

Hello ramblers! We loved Colne Valley, so we're heading back for a second walk. If you missed the last one, don't miss this one! Don't let the airport-adjacent location fool you; this is one of London's best-kept secrets of natural beauty.

Out past Heathrow, easily accessible via the Elizabeth Line, lies the Colne Valley. Yorkshire's much bigger, more dramatic Colne Valley makes London's hard to Google, but make no mistake: the meadows, marshlands and moors which make up our Colne Valley Regional Park are absolutely worth the trip!

The Colne Valley contains a mixture of farmland, woodland and water, fifty miles of river and canal and over forty lakes, which help to regulate the flow of the major Thames tributary and provide fish for angling. The park is a important site of recreation for local communities, including far-west London's working-class exurbanites, and is internationally important for wildlife. Staines and Staines Moor have an important Roman history, as the site of a significant settlement which was probably founded as a military post in the immediate post-conquest period whilst the legions were moving west. More recently (but not that recently), Staines Moor became a common. The moor has been common land since 1065, and anyone owning grazing animals who registers with the local authority is entitled to graze stock on it. Open fields in the open field system by it were west of Moor Lane, today properties and smallholdings off Wraysbury Road. This area was subject to enclosure (privatisation) by 1649. Most of the Staines fields, however, by the church and in the south of the parish, remained worked as open fields until 1845. While these two periods of privatisation occurred, the moor itself has never been subject to an Act of Enclosure and is the only common remaining mostly green space in the borough.

We'll need to enjoy it while it lasts: being situated on the edge of London, the park is threatened by many proposed developments. The park has claimed it is "fighting for its life." Already crossed by three motorways (the M4, M25, and the M40), the park is threatened by the possibility of the expansion of Heathrow Airport. Park officials have said that "a huge area of the southern third of the Park will be lost. In addition to the new runway itself, there will be associated taxiways, hotels, car parks, warehousing, and offices."

Our route will take us from West Drayton Station on the Elizabeth Line, via Harmondsworth Moor and down to Staines Moor and the town of Staines, where trains back into central London (Waterloo) will be available. We'll also hit a pub in Staines so a late lunch and/or pints will be on offer.

• Distance/Time: About 9km, making for a roughly 4-4.5 hour walk, depending on our speed
• Terrain: Mostly flat; mix of paved towpaths, dirt tracks, and moorland. Muddy patches possible—wear waterproof hiking boots if you can!
• Supplies: Bring 2L water, snacks, and a packed lunch if you'll be hungry before Staines.
• Weather: Check forecasts; rainy seasons are coming! We're likely to have sun, but bring a windbreaker and/or rain layer ideally.

Take care and see you on the moors!