London Loop Diaries #7
Sections #7 and #8: Banstead Downs to Kingston Bridge (walked 13th June 2026)
What a difference a week makes! Last week’s dreadful weather was replaced by glorious sunshine giving me the perfect excuse to make up for lost time and complete Sections 7 and 8 of the London Loop. At 12 miles, the combined sections made for the longest distance that I’ve walked on the Loop to date, but having read ahead and realised that a) Section 7 is one of the shortest sections of the Loop, b) Section 8 largely follows the Hogsmill River, and c) both sections are relatively flat I decided that combining them made sense, and helped to make up some lost time towards the arbitrary goal that I’d set myself of completing at least one section a month.
After leaving Banstead Train Station, the first thing I needed to contend with was being back on the Banstead Downs Golf Course. After having the whole place to myself last week, this week’s weather had brought out the golfers, some of whom didn’t seem particularly thrilled with someone rambling along the fairway! You’re not on the fairway for long as the footpaths lead you into some wooded areas between the holes on the course. Something I noticed here was that a lot of the London Loop signs were in poor condition and propped up, pointing in the wrong direction. I’m using an app to guide me along the route but even I managed to get turned around twice in this small part of the section.
The majority of Section 7 is residential with little of note so I power-walked through the (very lovely) houses at pace, much like Section 6, I’m left feeling like Section 7 wants me to get through it as quickly as possible. It ends on a high though, Warren Farm materializes before you as you exit a tunnel. A beautiful, rolling meadow — clearly popular with dog walkers and runners on a day like today — it instantly lifted my spirits. Warren Farm quickly segues into Nonsuch Park, a larger park with woodlands, open fields and Nonsuch Mansion which in my haste I managed to miss entirely. Something to visit if I ever decide to rewalk the London Loop I think.
Leaving Nonsuch Park behind, Section 7 ends in the pretty little town of Ewell in Surrey. Had I been following my directions properly, I would’ve realised that the route to Section 8 didn’t start at Ewell West Train Station, and instead starts in Bourne Hall Park which I marched straight through to get to the station where Section 7 ended. This’ll teach me for blindly following an app and not paying attention to signs!
Rather than double-back, I noticed I could continue on past the train station and cut through a housing estate to get back onto Section 8 without missing out on too much of the route itself. Section 8 largely follows the Hogsmill River all the way from Ewell into Kingston. Thankfully, this means you’re mostly walking through quiet parkland that borders the river, as nice as that was, much like Section 7 there’s not a lot of highlights worth reporting on.
The thing that surprised me was just how quiet this river walk was. Aside from the few times I was directed onto roads and residential areas, I had large stretches of parkland and open spaces to myself.
Something I've resisted doing on these walks is putting my headphones in — it'd be all too easy to listen to some music, power through a section like this, and miss everything around me. The length of Section 8 and the solitude these open spaces offer provided me time to think that I wouldn’t have otherwise whilst the accompanying sounds of nature provide a wonderful soundtrack to my walk.
Entering Kingston and seeing the Thames again was a genuine shock to the system. Having not seen the Thames since waving goodbye to it in Erith and largely spending the previous 7 Sections of the walk rambling through the English countryside, I was not prepared for how busy the end of Section 8 was going to be! I hadn’t visited Kingston since I completed the Capital Ring and had forgotten just how busy it got on a nice day with people walking alongside the river with ice creams and all manner of water-based craft bobbing about. I must confess, it was a thrill. It serves as the perfect reminder that you're still in London — and a fitting way to bring Section 8 to a close.
Reaching the end of Section 8 means that I’ve completed 1/3 of the London Loop, walking 58 miles from Erith to Kingston. What makes this walk special is that I’m discovering parts of London I never knew existed, and most importantly, never appreciated were part of London to begin with.
58 miles down. 92 miles to go.
