"I met with a singularly clear rivulet" - # 161

Karl's letter is tantalizingly detailed and yet also frustratingly lacking in necessary precision. So, this might be THAT rivulet, or perhaps he is referring to "another one further on".

This is the delightfully fast flowing, crystal clear River Crane at Cranford (Crane Ford) just beyond Hounslow. The extremely narrow old bridge carries a tiny road that could be the remains of the old road.

On the far side of the bridge, hidden by the trees, is the bridge carrying the fast express A4 Great West Rd built in the 1930s. I have driven over the 1930s bridge many times in the past 40 years and never even knew it was a bridge, or that just behind the trees, the tiny river existed.

So let's dream and imagine this as the exact spot where Karl refreshed himself. It could be.

..........."As far as Hounslow the way was very pleasant; afterwards I thought it not quite so good. It lay across a common, which was of a considerable extent, and bare and naked, excepting that here and there I saw sheep feeding............

.......It now began to grow hot. On the left hand, almost close to the high road, I met with a singularly clear rivulet. In this I bathed, and was much refreshed, and afterwards, with fresh alacrity, continued my journey."

Karl Moritz and the bus route to Bangalore - # 160

Karl's letter home recounts his pleasure, walking along the highway surrounded by open fields, until he comes to the tiny settlement of Hounslow.

Today, Hounslow is a boundless sea of houses that stretches as far as the eye can see, to the ends of the earth. It is crossed by a main line railway, a London Underground railway, a main road A 315, the express dual carriageway A4, and the M4 Motorway.

Hounslow is a key element in the huge, chaotic, uncontrolled experiment in social demography that is "Modern Britain" - a melting pot of almost every race and nationality and creed you can think of. In a way, it's probably very 18th Century. What would Karl have said? We can be certain that whereas Karl would recognise much of Richmond, he would not recognise Hounslow!