Harhou one

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Harhou here.

This is a Slow Way that does pretty well with the raw material to hand, and it will deliver you from Harlington to Hounslow (or vv) without too much big road. There is about 400 metres on a pavement free back road where you may want to avoid the verges (possible giant hog weed alert), apart from that it is all very safe.

I walked from Hounslow to Harlington.

The route swerves to avoid (mostly) the A4, which would be the direct no nonsense route for anyone in a hurry.

Setting off, I was a bit disappointed to miss out Lampton Park, which could easily be included. Instead there’s a long residential road leading west from Hounslow Central station.
There’s also a short stretch along the A4 which I think could be avoided. It’s not only a major road, it’s also under the final Heathrow approach, the planes are loud here. Better I think to cross and move on as soon as possible.
The next stage is to walk north along Vicarage Farm Road as far as Heston. So many cars! This part of London is extremely traffic heavy.
At Heston there are shops and takeaways, and a handy bench.
The next section along Cranford Lane is less traffic heavy. Before long I reached the junction with Cranford High Street. There is a big pub, the Queen’s Head, on the corner. (Photo)
I walked along the high street, passing the entrance to Cranford Park, a large open space. The route doesn’t go into the park, it would be possible to include it a little, which would break up the pavement pounding.

I turned right into Park Lane, which later becomes Cranford Lane (another one), and leads all the way to the end point. This is the only part of the route which is problematic, but not so problematic that I would prefer the A4!

Park Lane follows the southern boundary of Cranford Park.

The good bits are: it isn’t crazy busy with fast cars, in fact it’s quite secluded; it’s direct to Harlington; and it isn’t the A4.

The bad bits are: the pavement stops quite soon and the road narrows; to make it more exciting it goes round some big bends; AND (this is a good one) the verge appeared to be covered in giant hog weed, so no stepping off the road when a car comes along. This section is about 400 metres. (Photos of lush greenery).

I did reccy options for using Cranford Park, but I don’t think it’s possible to bypass this part of the route (other than by rerouting alongside the A4).

After about 400 metres the pavement returns, and the walk is straightforward into Harlington.

Another thing about this part of the route: there is lots of frustratingly inaccessible green space along Cranford Lane, the skylarks were loving life, and generally I felt the landowner could be a bit more generous about allowing public access to these spaces. So I asked a local and of course - it’s all been bought up by Heathrow Airport for the 3rd runway. Skylarks make the most of it.

It is possible to rework this route to include some green spaces as suggested in my review; but overall it does work well enough as it is.

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