No harm no fowl#

Sun Apr 12 15:33:05 2026

My quest to visit all the duck ponds in Essex and Hertforshire has involved a lot of looking at Google Streetview, and when I saw this one near Epping Green it looked a bit overgrown and unloved but I figured I'd stop by anyway on the way to pick up new brake pads in Harlow.

Just like the previous pond, there were no ducks - I may have to broaden my selection criteria - but despite that, I am feeling tremendously pleased about having stopped there anyway. It's obviously seen a bit of maintenance since the Google car went past, and was so much lovelier to visit in person than I was expecting. It's sited in a small grassy area with some trees around and it's just ... sort of heartwarming. Probably helped that the sun was out.

The pub is across the road and has been closed since 2019, which is a bit of a shame as it would be a lovely place to sit outside with a drink and look across the road. As far as I can tell from the internet there are/were plans to reopen it as a community pub but I found no news on that more recent than Dec 2024.

From Epping Green to Harlow via a tedious litany of suburban roundabouts, which would have been less faff if my satnav wasn't giving me the silent treatment. Collect brake pads from Sportbikeshop, then a mildly circuitous and much more rural route home via Old Harlow, Matching Tye, Matching Green, Moreton, North Weald Bassett, Epping etc. There's a very nice stretch of road between Harlow and Matching: bendy enough to be fun but open enough that you can see further than one bend ahead.

I have booked an ERS which is happening in about ten days and I hope will be fun/interesting/informative. I'm not going to be at all defensive about having my riding criticised, no, definitely not.