Harmondsworth Moor: Walkways Near Runways

1 Turn right by the Five Bells pub into Moor Lane and follow this as it curves and narrows before coming to a bridge. Turn right into Harmondsworth Moor - an area of parkland that has been established by British Airways using 240 acres (97ha) of reclaimed land.

2 Take the right fork alongside the fence beside the Duke of Northumberland's River and continue, keeping to the right. Ahead is a mound, shaped like an amphitheatre, that faces a series of large granite and sandstone blocks. This is known as the Giant's Teeth and the blocks were part of the old Waterloo Bridge, before it was demolished in 1935.

3 Beside the Giant's Teeth is a raised, fenced area that you can enter through wooden gates and then follow a path to reach a suntrap with two benches. When you leave this area turn right, across a wooden bridge. Next, cross a footbridge, and go past a granite sculpture of a beetle standing on what was once an orchard, to go through the gate. Cross the road and go through a kissing gate. At the Swan Lake, which is adjacent to the Waterside office complex, turn right and follow this path through a gate a little further on the right. Cross the road into the car park and go through a gate on the far right. Turn left and follow a path towards a bridge over the River Colne. To your right here is Half Moon Meadow, a popular area for picnics. Turn left past the ponds. Take a right fork to reach the boardwalk over a pond and, after this, turn left to cross a footbridge. Go through a kissing gate and turn right to cross a bridge.

4 Turn right and then take the left-hand fork uphill to reach The Keyhole, where you'll see more stones from Waterloo Bridge. Also, you'll have a good view of the Wraysbury River ahead and the surrounding area. Notice the words of Alfred, Lord Tennyson that are aptly carved in the blocks: 'For words like nature half reveal and half conceal'.

5 Follow the path back down and take the left fork leading to a kissing gate and a bridge back over the Wraysbury River - this gravel-based river has a good supply of chub. Turn left through the gate. At a fenced T-junction turn right and follow the path to a bridge over the northern part of the Duke of Northumberland's River. Turn right, signposted 'Harmondsworth', along a path that skirts the edge of Saxon Lake. At the far end go through the kissing gate and right along a narrow track, at the end of which is a metal gate leading to the churchyard. Mr Cox, of Cox's apples fame, is buried here. At the other end of this is the Five Bells pub, where your walk began.