What I did on my holidays ...
Wednesday - London LOOP (London Outer Orbital Path) Malden Manor to Hatton Cross. Started off at Malden Manor and managed to get as far as Kingston-on-Thames for lunch. Sat with a Cornish pastie in the market square. Crossed over the river here and soon found myself in Bushey Park which was lovely. Open parkland with ponds and deer roaming around with a few patches of ornamental woodland planted out in a more gardeny style.
http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=bushey+park&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2
After a rather dull suburban bit I eventually got to Hounslow Heath
http://images.google.co.uk/images?gbv=2&svnum=10&hl=en&q=hounslow+heath&btnG=Search+Images
which lived up to its description in the guide book as eerie, desolate and atmospheric. Strange to find a place like that in the middle of London but it really did feel quite wild and easy to imagine the highwaymen there in the olden days. Got a bit lost after that and spent a bit too much time wandering through nettles and industrial estate but ended up at Hatton Cross with the aeroplanes in and out of Heathrow screeching overhead.
Thursday - A leisurely morning pottering around the house then off to Willesden to 'bag' the #6 bus. Willesden was a bit of a shithole in all honesty although there were some nice bits at the end of the route as the bus got further into London. Met up with my friend Derek in the evening. Started off at the Old Coffee House just off Regent Street, then found a nice greasy spoon for sausage, egg and chips before going off to another couple of pubs in Mayfair.
Friday - Back on the LOOP again this time from Hatton Cross to Uxbridge. Some really nice bits along the Grand Union Canal
http://images.google.co.uk/images?gbv=2&svnum=10&hl=en&q=grand+union+canal
although the path seemed to take a perverse desire to wander away from it through industrial estates from time to time. I'm all in favour of avoiding the obvious but sometimes the beaten path is beaten for a reason. Right at the end there were some really nice bits by the River Colne and I finished in Uxbridge which is a very pretty little market town and almost not really London at all.
Saturday - Had Clarisse (friend from work) and her husband Jason round for dinner. My cooking tends to involve all the stress and swearing of Gordon Ramsay without any of the tastiness. Managed to produce something more or less passable though and they left before the England match. (Goodness I'm such a gracious host aren't I ?!).
Sunday - Church in the morning then off to Acton to do the #7 bus from there to Russell Square. Decided to nip up to Old Oak Common for a pee before boarding only to stumble upon a veritable smorgasbord of dog shit most of which I managed to tread in. Not surprisingly I managed to get plenty of seats to myself on the top deck. Nipped into the British Museum to wash my hands then had a cuppa on Russell Square with the flowers and trees looking splendid in the early-autumn sunshine
Monday - More LOOPery this time from Uxbridge to Moor Park. Some lovely stretches along the canal again and the lakes of the Colne Valley were magnificent. Can't really find an online photo to do them justice but if you can imagine a pale blue sheet of water glinting in golden autumn sunshine, and speckled with white gulls and swans, lined with gently rustling poplars you'll be halfway there. Sadly the track left the banks of the Colne and the canal and headed inland into woodland and farmland where - as I often do on the LOOP - I got spectacularly lost. Ended up in the right place although desperate for a crap by that point. No loos for miles around of course and the woods far too exposed. Not sure what will happen in Scotland if a similar situation occurs - there are even less loos and even less bushes up there.
Tuesday - Another leisurely morning followed by the number 8 bus from Bow to Victoria. Bow had some fairly grim-looking tower blocks although they were all reasonably well-maintained with not much in the way of vandalism or graffiti. As long as you're not scared to walk the streets I reckon you can probably put up with a bit of duff architecture I'd have thought. A stark contrast to the City though which starts very abruptly with a huge plate-glass tower block just after Bethnal Green. From then on it's all tourist catnip - right past the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange and St Paul's then down Holborn, along Oxford Street and round Buckingham Palace. A fitting end to a lovely few days in London.
http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=bushey+park&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2
After a rather dull suburban bit I eventually got to Hounslow Heath
http://images.google.co.uk/images?gbv=2&svnum=10&hl=en&q=hounslow+heath&btnG=Search+Images
which lived up to its description in the guide book as eerie, desolate and atmospheric. Strange to find a place like that in the middle of London but it really did feel quite wild and easy to imagine the highwaymen there in the olden days. Got a bit lost after that and spent a bit too much time wandering through nettles and industrial estate but ended up at Hatton Cross with the aeroplanes in and out of Heathrow screeching overhead.
Thursday - A leisurely morning pottering around the house then off to Willesden to 'bag' the #6 bus. Willesden was a bit of a shithole in all honesty although there were some nice bits at the end of the route as the bus got further into London. Met up with my friend Derek in the evening. Started off at the Old Coffee House just off Regent Street, then found a nice greasy spoon for sausage, egg and chips before going off to another couple of pubs in Mayfair.
Friday - Back on the LOOP again this time from Hatton Cross to Uxbridge. Some really nice bits along the Grand Union Canal
http://images.google.co.uk/images?gbv=2&svnum=10&hl=en&q=grand+union+canal
although the path seemed to take a perverse desire to wander away from it through industrial estates from time to time. I'm all in favour of avoiding the obvious but sometimes the beaten path is beaten for a reason. Right at the end there were some really nice bits by the River Colne and I finished in Uxbridge which is a very pretty little market town and almost not really London at all.
Saturday - Had Clarisse (friend from work) and her husband Jason round for dinner. My cooking tends to involve all the stress and swearing of Gordon Ramsay without any of the tastiness. Managed to produce something more or less passable though and they left before the England match. (Goodness I'm such a gracious host aren't I ?!).
Sunday - Church in the morning then off to Acton to do the #7 bus from there to Russell Square. Decided to nip up to Old Oak Common for a pee before boarding only to stumble upon a veritable smorgasbord of dog shit most of which I managed to tread in. Not surprisingly I managed to get plenty of seats to myself on the top deck. Nipped into the British Museum to wash my hands then had a cuppa on Russell Square with the flowers and trees looking splendid in the early-autumn sunshine
Monday - More LOOPery this time from Uxbridge to Moor Park. Some lovely stretches along the canal again and the lakes of the Colne Valley were magnificent. Can't really find an online photo to do them justice but if you can imagine a pale blue sheet of water glinting in golden autumn sunshine, and speckled with white gulls and swans, lined with gently rustling poplars you'll be halfway there. Sadly the track left the banks of the Colne and the canal and headed inland into woodland and farmland where - as I often do on the LOOP - I got spectacularly lost. Ended up in the right place although desperate for a crap by that point. No loos for miles around of course and the woods far too exposed. Not sure what will happen in Scotland if a similar situation occurs - there are even less loos and even less bushes up there.
Tuesday - Another leisurely morning followed by the number 8 bus from Bow to Victoria. Bow had some fairly grim-looking tower blocks although they were all reasonably well-maintained with not much in the way of vandalism or graffiti. As long as you're not scared to walk the streets I reckon you can probably put up with a bit of duff architecture I'd have thought. A stark contrast to the City though which starts very abruptly with a huge plate-glass tower block just after Bethnal Green. From then on it's all tourist catnip - right past the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange and St Paul's then down Holborn, along Oxford Street and round Buckingham Palace. A fitting end to a lovely few days in London.