London Trip #17: Part 6 London Loop Segment 11

It was now Thursday, our 7th full day in London.  The London Loop is divided into much longer sections than the capital Ring, and we often undertake a Loop segment over two days.  This allows time to enjoy the journey more rather than hurry along just to get the mileage done.  I ended up doing the first part of this walk by myself, as Deb was still feeling a bit wonky.  She elected to remain in Croydon for the day.  I left East Croydon on the 9:40 Thameslink service, switching at Blackfriars.  A few minutes later along came my second train, on its way to Luton.  My stop was earlier at Elstree and Borenwood, where I had left off last May.  At that time I had explored the town a bit, but today it was all business, setting out on my walk at 10:50.

 

The full segment is 10 1/2 miles and at first I thought I might have a chance at getting the whole thing done in one go.  That was before I knew how many giant hills there were to climb on this route.  I ended up doing 7.8 miles and saving the remaining bit for another day.  As soon as I left the station the first of several uphill grinds began, this one on a busy street.  There ended up being seven pretty hefty climbs today!  I thought I was in New Mexico for a time.  Had Deb come along today she would not have been impressed.  On my entire segment today there was only one chance at a stopover, a park cafe.  I looked forward to that cafe a lot en route, but when I arrived it was shuttered and looked as if it had been closed for years.  Sigh.  Onward and upward.  Another sad part of this hike (just after the cafe fiasco) involves walking on a sidewalk along a four lane expressway.  There is no safe place to cross, and there is a barrier between traffic directions.  A long detour is needed just to get across the road where the next park awaited.  More than half a mile down to the nearest underpass, then turn around and go almost half a mile back to the park entrance.

 

The best parts were when I was immersed in deep woods.  I only saw two other people on the entire walk when away from sidewalks and streets.  It was a great time and I really got into the mood during this walk.  The only thing missing was a bit of dampness; the drought had robbed the woods of most of their best scents.  A small deer leaped out right in front of me along a narrow part of the trail, startling me as I must have startled her. 

 

There is a walking tour within Elstree tracing its claim to film and TV fame.  This large sign was just outside the train station. 

 

The walk begins with a very long walk uphill along a busy street.  Elstree and its station are down there somewhere. 

 

When the trail finally leaves the road behind it drops down into Scratchwood Open Space. 

 

The long and winding road. 

 

It's rare to see so many pine needles.  A small part of the forest had been planted with pine years ago.  

 

One of many interesting things to see along the trail today. 

 

 I like collecting photos of signs of all the parks we have been through on these walking adventures within London.  See the detail below.

 

This is the part of the walk on the opposite side of the expressway.  Follow the dotted line.  That's me!

At the one o'clock position I turned off the main path and headed north to High Barnet Station.

  

This was my second park of the day, across the road from Scratchwood.  The pines were in here. 

 

Part of my day in the woods, while still being in London. 

 

It was as much fun walking here as it looks.  Except for all the hills. 

 

It was just up ahead where the deer leaped out, coming from the right and heading left.
 

After the woods come the fields. 

 

Life along the London Loop.  

 

The path is kept mowed.  It was so dry. 

  

The 2nd half of today's ramble was alongside the Dollis Brook.  For the most part it was dry, but a few springs along the way kept some water in it.  A lot of birds were in the area as a result. 

 

Finally, near the very end of the segment the brook ran with a bit of a flow. 

 

By 2 pm I was in High Barnet, happily ensconced in the Queen's Arms, a basic pub with no food. It did have London Pride, though, so I will offer praise where warranted.  The pub was uphill from the end of the walk, and the train station was uphill from the pub, some distance away.  So by the time I boarded the tube at High Barnet (the end of the line, literally) I was pretty much done in.  I rode the train all the way to Kentish Town, where I could catch my train back to East Croydon.  I left the station to explore, as it was now coffee time.  I came across the Parakeet, a fine little establishment on the High Street just steps from the station.  I had coffee, Camden Pale Ale and a refreshing and filling order of Houmous and Crudite.  By the time I left I was almost like new and ready for the journey back to Croydon.

 

The first part of my Loop segment involved roads at first and a giant hill before dropping into the woods.  The far right trail shows me arriving at a closed and run down former park cafe. 

 

This shows my route from the defunct cafe.  To cross the road and get to the next park I had to take a long detour on both sides of a busy expressway.  After exiting the woods note how the field crossings begin. 

  

More fields to cross with nary a place to stop and whet my whistle. 

 

The final leg of my solo walk allowed me to follow the Dollis Brook, though it was mostly dry.

 I reached the hotel by 4:30 pm, ready for action.  I collected Deb and we headed for the Green Dragon, where we entertained ourselves with Snail's Back Mango Cider and Brentwood Brewery's Marvelous Maple Mild (not much maple taste).  We watched a bit of "the football" on the screen above the bar.

 

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I will give the 2nd part of the Loop Segment 11 here, though it didn't take place until the following Monday.  Today I had my walking partner back, with only a short segment left to complete.  However, as it began with yet another uphill climb, I am glad I waited to continue on rather than try to tackle the entire segment in one go.

 

We caught the 9:45 Thameslink Service to Faringdon, waited a few minutes for the train to Kentish Town (same platform), then resumed our journey on the Northern Line Tube all the way to High Barnet.  The walk lasted from 11 am until 12:50, and we covered 4 miles (thus the 11th segment was actually more than a mile longer than advertised in the guidebook).  Though it began with a downhill street element, we were soon chugging back up a large hill in the woods.  This one at least provided a nice overview back towards central London, many miles south of us.  We ended up in Monken Hadley, with its large common and wood.  Monken Hadley was once a separate village and nearly every house and building has historical significance.  We took our time here, stopping to visit another fine church and cemetery.

 

The walk concludes at Cockfosters Station, the final stop on the very long Piccadilly Line .  We usually start and end our London journeys at the opposite end of this line, Heathrow Airport.  The trains we catch into London from here always say "Cockfosters" on the front.  We finally made it to the end!  Appropriately there is a very fine pub just before the station called The Cock Tavern.  It was now officially refreshment time before heading back towards central London for the afternoon.  For the latter portion of what we did that Monday, see part 9 of this blog.  If you are a lover of ale you won't want to miss it.

 

At least our first big hill climb of the day had a suitable reward.  It even had a bench!  

London from High Barnet. 

 

Our old Loop guide keeps things to 15 segments, but subsequent ones now have many more segments.

Their section 16 was our section 11. 

  

Monken Hadley remains an exclusive neighbourhood.  This was once the manor house.

 

Livingston Cottage, where the famous explorer lived after his notable African journey. 

 

Once Sir Roger Wilbraham's Almhouses, these six cottages likely have different dwellers today. 

 

St Mary The Virgin, Monken Hadley. 

 

St. Mary. 

 

The churchyard. 

 

Church house next door to St. Mary The Virgin Church. 

 

We walked the dotted line plus the red line attached to it from the left and right. 

 

Mossy rock, a tiny world unto itself. 

 

With the walk now over it was time to claim our reward.  We split a pint of exceptionally well kept Timothy Taylor Landlord ale. 

 

Cockfosters Station, one of the more dismal ones.  This sits at the northwest end of the Piccadilly Line.

Most Londoners have never been here. 

 

Deb and I completed Loop segment 11 together, beginning at High Barnet and ending at Cockfosters.
 

 The final part of Loop segment 11.  More to come some day.

 

Next up are two day trips outside of London.  In part 7 I will talk about our trip to Eynsford and in part 8 we finally get to Lewes and the film festival.  Check back soon.  I'm trying to hurry and finish this series.

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

London Trip #17: Part 5 Temple and Courthauld

 This is part 5 of a series.

 

It was now Tuesday, our 5th full day in London.  It was a designated day of culture for us, at least the first half.  The second part of the day went slightly awry, but ended well at least.  We returned to Temple Tube Station, where last May we undertook a Fleet Street pub crawl.  While we did revisit one pub from that day, we mostly wanted to visit the Temple area itself.  Owned by the Knights Templar from 1185-1312, it is like a small enclave within the city.  In the 17th C. four law schools took up residence here.  It is a labyrinth of tiny streets and tinier courtyards.  Middle Temple Hall is here, where Twelfth Night was first played. We did not fully explore the area, but became attracted by the Temple Church, which was open to visitors.

 

The original church, consecrated in 1185, was circular.  It now serves as the apse for an expanded church.  The church was bombed in May 1941 and the resulting fire resulted in catastrophic damage.  Rebuilt and rededicated after the war (1958) to its original state, it is now once more a marvel to behold.  The original round church was likely used for Templar initiation ceremonies.  For a small donation we were allowed to explore the entire church, including an upstairs area.  It is used primarily today by lawyers of Inner and Middle Temple.  Their two symbols can be seen throughout the church in windows and floor tiles.

 

Temple Church. 

 

The old circular church, now serving as the apse.  We were allowed upstairs.

  

Temple Church.

  

One of the new windows showing the bombing and fire from 1941. 

 

Stained glass inside Temple Church. This window can only be viewed well from upstairs.

  

Temple church.

 

Many people are buried withing the church.  This is the main floor. 

 

Closeup of one of the above.  Yikes! 

 

Looking down on the main floor from higher up in the apse. 

 

The upstairs tiles have symbols of the different law societies of Inner and Outer Temple.

Temple Church, upstairs. 

 

Around the corner was The Courthauld Gallery, part of the University of London.  It contains a must-see collection of paintings from the Medieval and Renaissance periods up to the Post impressionists.  We have visited once before, many years ago.  Among other treasures are two paintings by Bruegel the Elder, last seen by us in the 2018 exhibition of the artist's works held in Vienna.  A few photos follow showing some of the highlights.

 

An irresistible little panel showing St. Francis preaching to the birds. 

 

An annunciation from the renaissance period. 

 

The Courthauld galleries are on several levels, with the earliest pictures being on the lowest floor. 

One of two small works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, this is Landscape with the Flight Into Egypt.  

Image courtesy Courthauld Gallery. 

  

Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery.

Image courtesy Courthauld Gallery. 

 

Cranach's charming version of you know who and you know where. 

  

The Loge by Renoir. 

 

Manet's masterpiece A Bar at the Folies-Bergere.

Photo courtesy Courthauld Gallery.  Another of my favourite paintings in London. A great use of vanishing point, among other things.

 

Autumn Effect at Argenteuil by Monet.

 

Antibes by Monet. 

 

We left the gallery refreshed but in need of refreshment.  Our favourite pub from May's pub crawl was nearby, so we headed for The George in the Strand.  We shared three half pints, a Headless Cavalier from Greene King, Clockwork Orange Old Ale from Brentwood Brewing Co., and Bermondsey Black from Southark Brewery.  All were beautifully kept and delicious.  Deb ate a mushroom pate here while I went and foraged on the street, finding a decent sandwich at Pret a Manger next door.  On the way back to the hotel Deb became nauseous, so she spent a long time resting once back home.

 

We were to meet up with Caroline at 4 pm in Croydon, so I went alone at first, with Deb hoping to join us in a bit.  We met up at Ludoquist Cafe, a gaming cafe with hundreds of board games, decent food and even drinks.  The two of us poked at a few games new to us but found the rules so complex and involved, with pages and pages of explanations, that we lost interest.  We were ready to give up by the time Deb arrived an hour later.  However, we found Tokaido, a game very familiar to us, and the three of us managed to play a full round.  It was Caroline's first time playing the game, so of course she won!  We had a good visit with her, saw her to her bus afterwards, then picked up some noodles nearby and headed back to our hotel for the night.  Another culture day lay just ahead!

 

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London's National Gallery houses many of our favourite paintings.  The collection is particularly strong in Dutch and Flemish, our two favourite schools (thank you to Detroit for the art education).  We saved early Flemish for next time, viewing the Rubens collection (several late landscapes to die for) and the Rembrandts (several paintings to die for) today.  The main entrance is no longer at the front, but everyone now goes in via the Sainsbury doors.  The galleries are upstairs, all on one floor.  Being free the gallery was busy but not overcrowded, and we had no difficulty getting right up to paintings.  Seating is plentiful and we made good use of it.  It had been many years since our last visit and it was a great pleasure and thrill to be back among so many great masterpieces.

 

Rubens. 

 

Rubens. 

 

Rubens made his living painting religious and mythological scenes for patrons.  However, when he retired to Het Steen (house on left of above painting), he turned his brush to landscape.  These are large paintings filled with detail, the one just above the size of a picture window.  

 

Dutch landscape.

 

Dutch landscape at its finest.  Hobbema's Avenue at Middleharnis.

 

It was now time to discover two new (for us) pubs and a cafe.  Deb was feeling okay but not yet in the mood to drink ale.  So this was mostly my party.  I had picked up a CAMRA booklet at a pub and had been studying it carefully.  Two pubs stood out boldly and I was eager to visit.  We took the Tube from Charing Cross to Victoria, then walked down Tachbrook Street towards the Thames.  Cask Pub and Kitchen instantly became our newest and favouritest pub in London!!  This place rocks like the proverbial cradle.  While I still love Green Dragon very much (of a muchness), Cask Pub does it all even a bit better.  It boasts 10 craft ale handpulls, most from outside of London, 20 draft taps of equally obscure but fine ales and ciders, a decent food menu and, best of all, a huge book of "beers in bottles from around the world".  The bottles are sorted by country and priced individually, even counting how many bottles there are remaining of a particular year.  Ranging in price from £20 to £600+, we have pledged to order a bottle next time, likely from Belgium.  They even had some bottles of Jolly Pumpkin from Detroit!

  

10 handpulls--count 'em.  20 draft taps.  See and weep.  Then there is the list of bottles available.  Ye gods, what have you created?  Why do I live so far from my true home?

  

I ended up having Abbeydale Trillionaire Short Bread Stout and Hammerton Crunch Peanut Butter Stout.  Both were on handpull and among the best beer I'd ever tasted.  Deb had a sip, moaning at what she was missing today. 

 

We were off to one last pub.  Back at Victoria we caught a slow train to Selhurst, one stop from Croydon but many stops from Victoria.  Usually we go shooting past this station at warp speed.  But today the Dark Horse Pub was calling out to me.  A short walk from the station we first found Caleche Coffee, enjoying our black gold a bit later than usual today.  As usual at Victoria our departing train was ready to depart, so we ran for it instead of stopping to grab a coffee and waiting 15 minutes for the next train.  After coffee we sauntered into a nearly empty Dark Horse.  I enjoyed a terrific world class ale called Three Acre Brewery Best Bitter.  Well done!  I like to see three acres put to such good use.  The pub is perfectly lovely and I hope to revisit.  Though not on the same level as Green Dragon or Cask Pub, it is still a heartwarming place to park one's posterior for an hour.

 

Dark Horse, Selhurst. 

 

Wait!  Don't go yet.  As we sauntered back towards Selhurst Station we passed The White Horse.  Just a peek inside.  Oh, they've got Harveys Best Bitter.  Might as well try a glass for good luck.  You know, Dark Horse then White Horse sort of thing.  Though not a memorable pub, it was a pub and it did serve cask ale, though I think its time time alive in the cask was up.  Now we can get back to the hotel, only one stop away.

 

At the station.
 

Next up was a walking day, the first London Loop segment of the journey.  Tune in soon for a further update.

 

Mapman Mike.