Walk home, part 3

Next step: the hike up Upper Street. This part of the walk, particularly depends a lot on the time and day that you’re walking: if you’re through here on a Friday night or a Saturday, prepare to be considerably delayed by the vast, heaving mass of folk. Prepare also to be herded into one of the roughly million and one Starbucks’ on Upper Street: surely they’re reaching saturation point by now? If you do want some sustenance however, I’d suggest Cuba Libre, or (outside of the busier section) one of the three Gallipolis at 102, 107 and 120. 

By this stage, you’ve passed the cinema and Islington Green, you’ve passed the antiques market, and Camden Passage, the extra restaurants of Theberton Street, and so on. Continuing, you’ll also pass the Almeida, the old-school theatre pub of the Kings Head, the Islington Town Hall and the Union Chapel, before reaching the vast, life-draining Highbury Corner. This gyratory system has at least a couple of things going for it, i.e. that all the roads lead away from it, and that there’s a Wetherspoons. It’s also the home of the Highbury & Islington station (vic line), the Garage, and the start of the spectacularly gross Holloway Road.

However! Not for the intrepid walker the delights of many and varied fried chicken – we’ll take an altogether daintier route up Highbury Place. This scenic avenue borders Highbury Fields on the one side, so it’s not only a lovely place for a mooch, but it’s also usually good for an ice-cream van or two. At the top of the road you’ll need to continue straight on, past the playgrounds (look out for the solo kung fu/fast tai chi man) until you reach the clocktower and Highbury Park. Disappointingly (or pleasingly, depending on your point of view) this walk doesn’t talk you past either the old Highbury stadium or the new – it’s pretty easy to find though, and considerably less annoying than picking your way around a football match in Tottenham. So, walk up HIghbury Park past the restful delights of fancy cafes, delis and butchers. You’ll walk up the hill before beginning to descend.

As you come downhill, you’ll be on Blackstock Road, a road which really documents the split between communities in North London. From the almost bucolic splendour of Highbury village, the road gradually slopes into football pubs, greasy spoons, yet more chicken shops and finally to the horror and delight that is Finsbury Park.

There’s nothing wrong with the park itself, really. It’s a bit bland and there’s not all that much reason for going, but the community that’s established itself at the lower corner, around the train station, has become on of the most notorious in the area. While still in the borough of Islington, this is a very different beast to Upper Street: the main drag, Seven Sisters Road is positively nasty in comparison. Finsbury Park is probably most famous, however, for its mosque: standing by the corner of Rock Street and St Thomas St, this is a notorious Breeding Ground For Evil (I should be in newspapers), home as it was to hook hand Hamza and a bunch of the most radical clerics in the country.

However! It’s not all bad. Check out the fascinatingly hideous architecture of the Sobell centre, the actually-quite-pleasant surroundings of nearby Stroud Green, the discount clothing stores of Fonthill Road, and the quite frankly awesomely-named The Happening Beigel Bakery.

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Walking home, Part 2

From Grays Inn, Theobalds Road splits and half of it becomes Rosebery Avenue. This is Finsbury: no longer related to Finsbury Park, and certainly nothing like it. Rosebery Avenue is a broad street surrounded at it’s bottom end by large red brick buildings. On it’s path through Islington it’s a scenic, but undervalued thoroughfare; except around the hub of the junction with Farringdon Road, not a great deal happens.

When you reach this intersection, Clerkenwell suddenly springs into life before you. With the fire station on one side, and the huge sorting office on the other, you’re suddenly faced with the designers’ hangouts, the media types’ locals. I saw Billy Childish here, just the other day [/namedrop]; his gallery, The Aquarium, is just around the corner.

Turning right down Farringdon Road here will take you the scenic route to Farringdon station, to Turnmill Street, to Clerkenwell Green, complete with olde well. Turn left and you go the hilly way round to King’s Cross. Look slightly off to your right and you’ll see Exmouth Market – an actual market, and home of fine book, tat and food shops. But we forge on along Rosebery. We’ll pass apartment blocks in various states of attractiveness; various little gardens, parks and squares; then we’ll pass Sadler’s Wells – no longer the monastic spring of yore, now famous for the dance recitals in the Theatre.

Turn left at the cute boutiques along St. John Street. If you were to turn right you’d end up at Smithfields market, so you can get your bearings from there. Instead, head left and up towards the huge junction with Pentonville, City and Goswell Roads, minding the multitudinous buses and swarms of traffic. Particularly watch out if you’re on your bike…

Angel, of Monopoly fame, isn’t really all that these days. The hubbub surrounding the area and Upper St a while died after the gentrification set in, and while Upper St is not horrific in terms of its shops (a nice cookware store, a few boutiques, lots of antiques stall if you pick the right day), the sheer volume of human flesh makes it treacherous and a bit yuck, most of the time. Nevertheless, if you wish to brave it you might be more comfortable on the considerably more down-to-earth Chapel Market (when the Apprentices of BBC fame managed to make a hilarious mess of selling fish) or you could stroll in either direction along the canal which ducks under Upper Street, but resurfaces close by in either direction.

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Walking home, part 1

Well it’s been an exceedingly long time since my last post, but I haven’t totally given up on Travels With. My good intentions regarding the walking haven’t completely fizzled out, although I have managed to lose the little pedometer. Work commitments etc., have prevented me from posting, but now I’m a little quieter, I’ll see what I can do. So, today, an epic: my walk home.

Sounds simple? Not so much. I work in Central London, and live in Wood Green, about 7-8 miles away. So it takes a little time. Two hours, to be exact. So I’ll break into accessible chunks, for convenience.

Part 1: Holborn

We kick off at the London School of Economics campus, centred around Houghton Street. Although the School has been here since 1905, you be hard pushed to find any architecture from beyond 1970 until you venture up to Lincoln’s Inn Fields, where the new academic building is readying completion, appropriately named, the New Academic Building. But we go around the back of the Foster-designed Library along Grange Court, Carey Street and Portugal Street – around the backs of interesting buildings rather than looking at them: the new court buildings, the rear of the Royal College of Surgeons and the Land Registry. Then it’s through Lincoln’s Inn again, through to Chancery Lane.

Chancery Lane is not really interesting enough to merit a tube station, where that the criteria. It’s not even all that close: those responsible would have done as well to have named it Gray’s Inn, or Staple Inn. Anyway, it’s an unremarkable stretch with a couple of interesting-looking passages (not all that exciting, sadly): Quality Court always sounds fun, like a higher class Quality Street, and up Cursitor Street you’ll find Vanilla Black: I had a vegetarian dinner there that I enjoyed, which is unusual for me (although it didn’t fill me up).

We turn right briefly onto High Holborn before crossing and disappearing through Gray’s Inn. I’ll establish here that given the distance ths is just one of many routes available: you could use Hand Court and go up through Bloomsbury, you could cut through to Hatton Gardens, but this is the easiest, I think. Gray’s Inn is one of the Inns of Court, and as all of them are, is very attractive indeed. The chapel and The Walks, Grays Inn’s equivalent of Temple Gardens or the New Square in Lincoln’s Inn, are very pleasant.

Wending through Grays Inn you’ll reach Gray’s Inn Road, the main road between High Holborn and Kings Cross. Turn left here to arrive at the junction with Theobalds Road and Rosebery Avenue. There’s not much variation necessary here if you’re aiming for pace, even though this is a very short walk really. However, if you want to vary things up before part 2, you could explore a little further East in Farringdon: try crossing over immediately upon exiting Grays Inn, onto Baldwins Gardens, which will bring you to some pretty ancient parts of the city: the market on Leather Lane, the multitude of jewellers on Hatton Gardens, the ancient, long-buried kitchen gardens of Saffron Hill, then onto the artisan enclave of Clerkenwell – the bookshops of Cowcross Street, the restaurants of St John St., etc.

Alternatively, take the next road past Rosebery Avenue, Mount Pleasant, and explore the warehouse studio blocks of Laystall St, the back of the monolithich post office, and so on. You can explore the hills and dales of residential Clerkenwell on Lloyd Baker Street, Granville Square, Percy Circus and the like. Either way, we’re heading North-east in our trek, so don’t stray too far.

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Photos of Lincolns Inn; Grays Inn

Lincoln’s Inn

Across the road from Temple is Lincoln’s Inn, the third of the four Inns Of Court on my itinerary. Lincoln’s Inn lays claim to being the oldest of the Inns, and probably the most architecturally-impressive as well. Most of the current buildings were designed in the 19 century by Sir Robert Taylor, Philip and Philip Charles Hardwick and Giles Gilbert Scott, all eminent and all clearly keen to impress. The centrepiece of the site is the magnificent Great Hall, home to the Inn’s library and various other legal trappings, and a monster of red-brick and stained glass opulence.

Also here is the Old Hall, equally impressive in its own way. While not on the same vast scale as the Great Hall, it’s nonetheless one of London’s most beautiful buildings. It’s not usually open to the public but time it right and you can get a sneaky peek in as someone’s unloading flowers. The walls are lined with stern, magisterial portraits and the vaulted ceiling is something to behold. It’s available for use for functions, but don’t expect it to come cheap.

As with all the Inns, there’s a chapel and dining hall as well, alongside some quite lovely gardens which are open to the public at lunchtimes. As I’m writing this up and watching the umbrellas parade up and down I can’t see the appeal but when I was there, taking pictures, it was really very pleasant.

There’s even London’s largest square attached. Lincoln’s Inn Fields is well-known as the best place in the area to sit and eat lunch of a summers day, be it under the bandstand, stretched on your back on the lawn or shading oneself under the lush greenery and avoiding marauding squirrels. If you’re feeling a little frisky in the fiduciary department, may I suggest The Terrace or perhaps a game of tennis on the tarmac courts.

Lincoln’s Inn is not so much the mysterious history of Temple but it’s nothing if not as beautiful, tranquil and well worth a lunchtime’s wander. I entered via Star Yard and just strolled around, exiting the Inn via the Fields entrance. You can also use the scary looking door on Chancery Lane, just opposite Kings College’s Maughan Library.

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Temple

Expanding on yesterday’s wanderings towards the Thames, it’s worth spending the time exploring the confines of Temple. Inner Temple and Middle Temple make up two of the capital’s four Inns Of Court, the bodies to which all barristers in this country belong in order to be called such. Skip to the end of complicated legal proceedings…

So you end up with an array of chambers, libraries, dining halls, lodgings and chapels that make up Inner Temple, and another for Middle Temple. Inner Temple is the Eastern side, nearer the City, and contains, among other things, the community’s fascinating church.

Built in the 11th century, Temple Church was the HQ of the Knights Templar of Crusades/Da Vinci Code/other barmy conspiracies fame. Its unusual round tower is to remind worshippers of the Church of The Holy Sepulchre, which the Knights fought to secure during the Crusades, and is a towering, yet still elegant, awesome yet tranquil edifice. Today it’s known as much for its history as its music, the Temple Choir being ranked one of the finest in the country.

Opposite this is the now familiar Pegasus emblazoned on Inner Temple Hall, the former buttery for the Inn. From there you can access Kings Bench Walk, Serjeants Inn, Inner Temple Gardens (which back onto the Thames, or at least Victoria Embankment), Crown Office Row’s charming little fountain and garden, and Crown Office Row. This takes you through to Middle Temple Lane, which divides the two Inns.

The other side of this narrow, cobbled street with its high buildings, archways and crests is Middle Temple, the second Inn of Court in the area. The heart of this area is Middle Temple Hall, a grandiose and quite beautiful red-brick dining hall. The tradition has always been that to be a member of Middle Temple, a barrister needed to dine here for a certain number of nights per year. But far from being a serious, grave affair, this stretches back to the premiere of Twelfth Night and much lawyerly merriment, if you can imagine such a thing.

Outside the hall is a paved courtyard with some beautifully knobbly, huge trees and a fountain which is surely one of the most pleasant parts in the area in which to spend one’s lunch break. Possibly eating a Cornish pasty. This backs onto the sweeping Middle Temple Gardens, which like their Inner equivalents, swathe right down to Victoria Embankment and the Thames.

There’s plenty of other nooks and crannies which can be wended and wound through. Dickens was correct in his summary of the Temple, it really has an uncanny tranquility, not to mention a feeling of grand historical importance, both on the legal, and ecclesiastical sides. From here you can venture along the Thames, up to St Pauls, across to Lincoln’s Inn (the next on the list of Inns Of Court) or to wherever you so desire.

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More photos

Thames and Waterloo Bridge

Just a quick wander this time, starting from my usual base on the Aldwych, bottom of Kingsway. Centre of the world!

We begin opposite Bush House, birthplace of Auntie and now home to the World Service. Going East from the Aldwych, we pass some of the buildings of the LSE and it’s main entrance to the campus, Houghton Street, then onto Fleet Street to have a quick look at the Royal Courts of Justice. It’s a huge, gothic monstrosity, an arcane collection of turrets, spires and gargoyles, very much appropriate to its High Victorian heritage, and reminds me of the house out of The Haunting. I bet there’s ghosts and talking walls and the like. You can watch almost any case for free, which I’ve never done nor likely shall do, but the option’s there nonetheless. 

From there, take a right over Fleet Street past the beautiful Lloyds bank and the original Twinings shop, down Middle Temple - if it’s open. You’ll have to figure out how to wend your way between the green leather desks and stuffed shirts of the lawyerly fraternity as it can be a little tricky to explain, but it’s worth the trip to wander past the quiet, charming chambers (“who enters here leaves noise behind” – Dickens), the Temple Church, - home to all sorts of Da Vinci Code-esque derring-do – quiet fountains, and the like. Quite the oasis to take your pasty to at lunchtime.

If the gates are shut, nip down the considerably less exciting Essex Street, or better, Devereaux Court, from where you can access Temple Gardens. Then you’ll find yourself at the worringly-fast-paced Embankment – finding a crossing is advisable, rather than risking your life jaywalking.

On the other side, though, you’re rewarded with a very maritime feeling promenade, past perma-moored restaurant ships, lifeboat stands and seabirds. The edge of the City of London is here, denoted by a dragon, as you’ll find all around the Square Mile. You’ll have good views of the sites along the river, from Tate Modern to the Oxo Tower, to the Southbank Centre.

Take a right, and walk along the river, past the downstairs/goods entrances to Kings College and Somerset House. Up the steps then and you’re on Waterloo Bridge – one of those irritating places in London, like Baker Street, that automatically puts a song in your head. Have a little nosy over to the South Bank if you have time, if not check the legendary view East from Waterloo Bridge, taking in the Gherkin, Tower 42, the Tate, Docklands and of course, St Paul’s Cathedral.

 

As you can see, there’s always, always, cranes on the skyline in London – the city’s shooting upwards at a rate of knots and the skyline is constantly changing. But part of London’s charm has always been the juxtaposition of old next to new, sometimes by necessity, sometimes out of sheer bloody-mindedness, but there’s always something great round the next corner.

Make sure you have a good look at the other side of the bridge too – try it just before dark, when  Ray Davies’ Waterloo Sunset is in full flow. Check out the MI5 buildings down the river, the rest of the Southbank Centre, etc.

Then back up the bridge past Somerset House, home of the Courtauld Institute, several galleries, and some ace outdoor concerts/films in the summer. Then round the Aldwych past Dirty Dancing, Desperately Seeking Susan, and other such hideous film-to-theatre transfers. This’ll bring you back to Bush House, and home.

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Take 2

Well that didn’t get much further than a false start, did it? As usually happens, downturn in work means more opportunity for idling on the internet, but this year it’s coincided with a new camera, and more fun opportunities for exploration. So hopefully activity will be resumed forthwith, starting from today. Sadly I can’t guarantee so many detailed walks (although I’ll hopefully do some), but I can at least show some pictures.

 

St. Paul’s Cathedral from the wobbly bridge one cloudy November afternoon. I like the light here, the sun was right behind Tate Modern.

As you can see from here, that’s where the sun was, don’t think for a minute it was actually putting in any effort.

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Aldgate East at lunchtime

Aldgate East – Wapping – Shadwell – Aldgate East

Miles: c. 2.5

Steps: c. 4000

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Seeing as this blog is timed to coincide with my walking-favourable new job, it’s somewhat incongruous that the first post is actually the last one at the current job. Such is life. The advantage of this however is that I get to wander around some streets that probably won’t be covered again for a while.

I start at Aldgate East, specifically Central House, London Metropolitan University’s art department, conveniently located opposite the newly-refurbished Whitechapel Art Gallery. This has been the location of my office chair all morning, and it’s nice to get up out of it, however warmly I’ve been ensconced. It’s an immediate right-turn down the alleyway onto Commercial Road (past hip hop clothes shops), where I find… clothes shops, and virtually nothing but. All wholesale, mostly uninviting to the outsider.

Turn right onto Cannon St. Road where I am almost literally the only white face along the whole length of the road. It doesn’t have the passing trade of nearby Brick Lane or Whitechapel High Street, however, so isn’t flowering with restaurants, more a steady line of wholesale butchers and the like. It’s not really a scenic road, but it does cut underneath the DLR making its final stretch towards Tower Hill, and some uncharacteristic (in London at least) empty space.

You make it then to the incongruously dramatic St. George-In-The-East. Though bombed in the war, it retained the predominant part of its outer shell and remains as one of the most impressive buildings in these parts. It was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, seen as something of the lesser relative in the Big Three baroque architects, somewhat unfairly overshadowed by Sir Christopher Wren and John Vanbrugh. He had his hand in some of the major classical projects in London, and St George was one of six dramatic London churches (also including Christchuch Spitalfields and St Alphege’s Greenwich.

Hang a left then a quick right and you’re on Wapping Lane. Take a pitstop if you will at Tobacco Docks, an all but abandoned shopping complex – it’s a shame really as there’s parking nearby and lovely old dock buildings to use, but nothing in there. Oh, and the pirate ships. Did I mention the pirate ships? There’s pirate ships there, for no discernable reason.

You can skip down the canal to St Katherine Docks, should you wish, but I continued along Wapping Lane to an area almost reeking with history. This is proper East End/Docklands country now. We’ve already covered ground covered by the Ratcliff Highway murderer, up on the Highway and on Wapping Lane, and now we arrive, through the fairly charming little group of shops to full on docklands west. It’s not the Isle of Dogs, but it’s absolutely heaving with wharves and river outlooks, not to mention some of the most famous pubs in Britain.

Turning right as I did, I avoid Wapping station (surely one of the least used on the network?) and also the Prospect Of Whitby, scene of many smugglers yo ho ho-ing in days of yore. It was also the local for one Judge Jeffreys, although arguably just as famous is the Town Of Ramsgate, just down the High Street, where he was eventually apprehended. Although his ‘hanging judge’ soubriquet suggests he should have been noosed at Execution Dock, he actually died of kidney failure in the Tower. You’ll also pass the Captain Kidd – if you want a full-on pirate, he’s your man. If you had turned left past the station, you’d have found his deathplace, where he was gibbetted at Execution Dock. Cool.

You can now (in a round about ish sort of way) traverse the Thames Path, with some great views that take in Tower Bridge, City Hall, the Gherkin etc., all at once. You can make it to St Katherine’s Dock this way for some lunch, but I saved time and headed up Thomas More Street, then Vaughan Way, which takes you round past News International. Don’t let Rupert Murdoch’s gurning face float across your mind here.

Next, up Dock Street and under the DLR to Leman Street, which will bring you up to the Aldgate one-way system and almost full circle. It’s worth stopping to notice the red plaque on the wall by the bridge – this is the first I’ve seen, and commemorates the Battle Of Cable Street. This was based around a march by Oswald Mosley and his British Union Of Fascists, aka the Blackshirts, in 1936. The march was the last seen in London in political uniforms, as they were banned after the locals kicked up a riot – there’s a fantastic mural on St George’s Town Hall, which you can deviate too at the beginning of the walk: it’s right behind St George-In-The-East.

The final bit of the walk brings you up round the one-way to Whitechapel High Street again, ending as I did at Khushbu grill house, thereby undoing all the good work I just did. It’s the last one, though, I promise!