London 2026: Part 2-Back on the Capital Ring

London has two long distance walking trails that encircle the city, choosing paths through parks and wild spaces when available.  The capital ring is a 75 mile circle that begins and ends in the east end, roughly staying within transport Zone 3.  We have completed 9 of 15 segments to date, and we came prepared to walk as many more as we were able.  We managed to walk two more segments, leaving four remaining.

Segment 10 of the Capital Ring leaves from South Kenton Station and travels to Hendon, 7.3 miles away.  We set out Monday morning, leaving from East Croydon Station and getting off at Clapham Junction.  Here we switched to London Overground, the Mildmay Line, changing again at Willesden Junction for the Lioness Overground Line to South Kenton.  There is a pub just as the walk commences, but it hadn't opened yet, so we set off.

 

We walked from west to east beginning at South Kenton Station, traveling through Preston Park and then on to Fryent Country Park.  The next map follows shortly. 

 

We cut straight across Preston Park, crossing the tracks at Preston Road Station, navigating streets until the vast Fryent Country Park was reached.  Just before the station we came across the Preston Pub, and we stopped for some refreshment.  We shared a half pint of Fullers ESB in this lovely establishment.  The beer was beautifully kept and we could have sat here all afternoon.  We prefer to drink cask ale in England, though the micro draft beer kick is in full swing.  Like home, IPAs and Pale Ales dominate this scene.  While we did drink draft at times, we stuck to casks whenever feasible.  Sadly, many cask ale pubs are not very adventurous in their selections, but a few offer outstanding choices.

 

A Capital Ring mileage sign indicates past goals achieved.  This trip would see us eventually reach Highgate Wood, with our ultimate goal being the Woolwich Foot Tunnel.

 

The Preston.

 

Deb exits the pub with a spring in her step. 

 

The weather for our first week in London was uncannily sunny and warm.  Some days we saw no clouds, and temps went into the 70s.  Upon reaching the main park for today's walk we were soon immersed in deep woods and open fields, with two sizable hills affording distant views of London and environs.  Barne Hill offered lovely woods and a pond, while Gotford Hill was mostly treeless with 360 degree views.  The bluebells were out in full force, as were flowering trees and shrubs, and flowers in general.

 

Fryent Park signage.  Dotted black line shows the Capital Ring route.

 

Bluebells (above), and Deb studying the trail guide.

 

Another Ring sign, this time giving distances to our future goals.

 

Barne Pond is at the summit of the hill.

 

London from Barne Hill shows the Shard, located at London Bridge Station.  We are out in Zone 3, an area where most tourists fear to tread. 

 

The Capital Ring continues eastward through Fryent Park.

 

Our walk was sometimes through quiet residential backstreets.  Electrical wires each lead to a separate house. 

 

The concluding section of our walk today, after exiting Fryent Park at upper left.  We detoured at one point to have a break at a garden center cafe.  We had soft drinks and split a large dish of mango ice.
 

After exiting the park we were back on residential streets.  However, the route took us past St. Andrews Church, Kingsbury.  Behind the church is a deeply wooded lot with a much older church, Biserica Ortodoxa.  This wood also held a cemetery of spellbinding magical properties, even in bright sunlight.  A visit here on a cloudy and dampish day is a must!

 

St. Andrews in the newer church of two in this location.

 

The much older church sits in the wooded cemetery behind St. Andrews. 

 

After a brief refreshment stop at a garden center with cafe, the walk continues now along the north shore of vast Brent Reservoir.  The walk is mostly under shady forest, but frequent paths lead down to the water.  After a fairly long spell the trail emerges in Hendon.  We followed the High Street to the station, not finding a pub or cafe to rest our weary bones.  We caught a train south to West Hampstead, a major rail interchange.  We had to transfer to the London Overground here for our journey homeward, but as we emerged from West Hampstead Station Deb spotted Buzz, a modern cafe with everything we needed: coffee!

 

A section of Brent Reservoir, as we neared the end of our first epic walk of the two week journey.

 

Local reservoir residents.

 

Hendon Station was a welcome sight after our warm and lengthy walk.

 

Thameslink trains were more than helpful to us during our two week stay.

 

Buzz Coffee, West Hampstead.  Just in time.

With my Train Sim game for PC I drive trains all over the UK in real time, and get to know certain areas quite well.  One of my favourite stations is Gospel Oak, where two Overground trains meet at a junction.  I wanted to visit the station in person, having walked through it many times virtually.  Nearby the station was a pub I was eager to visit, so we caught the train to Gospel Oak station, explored it a bit, then headed out to the Southampton Arms a short distance away.  It was time for some serious ale sipping.

 

Gospel Oak Station sits between two Overground lines.  Not far from here is a truly great pub.

 

A worthy goal for the London explorer who loves ales and ciders.

 

Ales, draft and cider are available at the pub.  We had a pleasant visit. 

We ordered three half pints, which come in adorable little mugs.  I am in search of mugs just like them.  We had stout from Elusive Brewing in Woking (delicious), Best Bitter from Holmstead (well above average) and Crafty semi-sweet cider, one of the best I've ever had.  The pub wasn't busy, though it wasn't yet after work time.  I could see trains passing from my seat, and all in all it was a most welcome visit.  We hope to return here for a longer stay next time.

 

We returned to Gospel Oak Station, caught the Mildmay line to Clapham Junction and then a fast train to East Croydon.  We were quite exhausted from our day, with well over 8 miles put in on feet that hadn't walked much more than 3 1/2 miles in well over a year and a half.  And today had seen some pretty big hills climbed.  So, once ensconced in our room (with a Subway sandwich to split), we never left till the next day.

 

to be continued... 

 
 

 
 

 

 
 

 

 

London 2026: Part 1--an Introduction

We haven't crossed the Atlantic since 2019, which marked our second visit to Vienna.  In 2018 we made our previous journey to London, my 16th.  Combined with our summer in Madrid/Barcelona and two weeks spent in Denmark, this marked by 20th crossing, and Deb's 17th.  Since then flights now cost much more, and leg room in economy has shrunk to alarming levels.  One now pays for luggage to be transported, to choose one's seat and to change a reservation, on top of the basic fare.  We chose a fare that allowed us one piece of luggage each and an opportunity to change flight times.  We did not pay to choose a seat.  All this extra money still gives you a seat with a very small personal space, far too close to the seat in front.  Deb and I are in the medium small size of human being--there must be others who suffer terribly or pay exorbitant fees for slightly more leg room.  We did take out cancellation insurance, a separate expense, on the flights and the hotel.

 

 Clapham Junction, a rail hub, with central London in the distance.

 

We stayed at the same hotel in Croydon that we like, now called the Leonardo.  It is the most convenient hotel anywhere in London with quick access to East Croydon Station, which connects to London Bridge via a direct and very frequent train service, and to London Victoria via Clapham Junction.  It also gives full access to the south of England.  There is a tram stop right outside the hotel with links to many other areas with connections, and the SL7 bus to and from Heathrow stops 6 minutes walk away.  The area near the hotel has a shopping mall, small restaurants, cafes and businesses, as well as five reliable pubs and one craft taproom.  In short, the area is perfect for us.  The hotel is very comfortable and features a bar/cafe and restaurant.  Our room, number 708, featured two beds, a view north, and a four minute walk to the main rail station.

 

Many things about London have changed.  It is more expensive than ever, both ales and food.  Transport is expensive but travelers get what they pay for.  The service is mostly on time, reliable and very frequent.  This includes buses, trams, overground and underground trains and National Rail services, all of which were used on this journey.  A sad change was the number of people who are permanently facially buried in their phones.  It is disconcerting to see a whole carriage of people on a subway or train or bus staring constantly and scrolling on their phones.  They do it while walking, eating during restaurant meals, while talking with others in their company, smoking (there is still far too much of this) and just about any other activity in which they engage.  Humanity continues to devolve, everyone transported to their own little world.

 

The city is more crowded than I can remember.  It is a multicultural pot of stew, and some days we heard very little English spoken.  Ethnic restaurants abound and people of every conceivable colour, size and shape mix and mingle.  London now has 9.1 million people, with a metro area population of over 15 million.  At any given time there are likely an additional 1 million tourists clogging up the sidewalks and Zones 1 and 2 underground services.  This compares to Detroit's metro population of nearly 5 million, making London not only at least 3x more populous, but at least 10x denser, despite its many parks and green spaces.

 

We actually hardly spend any time in central London any more, other than passing through it to the outer areas we have been exploring in our more recent trips.  We paid a visit to Camden Market, once a favourite area to browse funky shops, but now a hell hole for tourists to simply come and hang out.  We visited Stanford's, our favourite bookstore in the world, as it is dedicated to travel books and maps.  They have moved (to our surprise) but we managed to find the new store and cafe.  We did not visit any of the large museums.  Being free, they tend to attract enormous crowds, something we usually choose to avoid if possible.  And we spent a day pub crawling in the area of the Strand.  The rest of the time was spent in outer zones of London, far from the madding crowds, and twice we left the city completely to explore smaller cities.

 

We prefer to be as far from central London as possible.  This is a view from our first hike.
 

We flew from Windsor to Toronto on a turbo-prop plane.  Randy G. drove us to the airport and was there to pick us up two weeks later.  Thanks again, Randy, for saving us the hassles of parking and having to drive ourselves home after a very long day of return travel.  We chose a late night jumbo jet flight from Toronto, leaving at just after midnight.  Pearson International Terminal (1) was its usual overcrowded mess.  It is our least favourite terminal in the world, and offers a nearly mile long walk from our Windsor gate to our London gate.  The flight to London only takes about 6 1/2 hours (8 1/2 for the return), and we arrived on time near noon hour at Heathrow.  The SL7 bus is itself another epic journey, and this time it was a bad one.  Sunday afternoon traffic was miserably dense, and on top of the 120 minute journey (usually around 90 minutes) we had to wait about 20 minutes for a bus.

 

We had followed our reliable jet lag program religiously, and it paid off.  We were asleep by ten that night and slept through till next morning.  We awoke ready to go.  Our first big hike awaited.

 

to be cont'd.... 

Vienna 2nd Visit, December 2018: Part 2, The City

We left from Toronto on Sunday, Dec. 2nd and returned Sunday, Dec. 9th.  It involved a 4 hr. drive from Amherstburg, and then back again.  Our fingers were crossed for good driving weather, and we had no problems.  We left Pearson Airport in Toronto for Frankfurt 30 minutes late, enough to make us miss our flight connection to Vienna.  Two weeks before leaving, Austrian Airlines cancelled our direct flight, and we had to scramble to get them to switch us to Lufthansa.  I strongly dislike connecting flights in overcrowded and under serviced European airports.  Frankfurt was as bad or worse than Warsaw.  We were put on the next plane to Vienna, however, and arrived at our hotel shortly after noon.  Our room was ready!

We flew both ways on a Lufthansa 747-400.  With 371 seats, it was jammed coming and going.

 

 Hauptbanhoff was our main transport connection, just steps away from our hotel.  U-Bahn (subway), overground trains, trams, buses, and the airport train all come here.  It is also a vast 2-storey shopping complex.

Vienna is a wonderful city to explore, and it is very easy to lose the crowds and be almost alone.

On our arrival day we took a ride from the start of Tram D, close to our hotel, to the finish, ending in the small village (now a part of Vienna) called Nussdorf.  Sunset in Vienna was at 4 pm, so we wandered around the quiet streets of the village before taking the ride back towards our hotel.   Vienna was decked out fully for Christmas, with lights, skaters, and small portable shops in many of the larger plazas.  We had arrived at the very end of a bad cold spell, and there was still snow on the ground.  However, it warmed up for our visit, and other than one night of cold rain, we had no weather issues at all.

On Tuesday we spent the morning with our ViennaWalks book, undertaking Walk #1.  Last October we did #2 and #3, so we still have one walk remaining for a future visit.  If we return we will combine the Vienna trip with a visit to Budapest, only 2 hours away by train.  We continued the walk tour on Wednesday, part of Thursday, and finally completed it on Friday.  This was combined with stops at pubs, wine bars, shops, cafes, and other points of interest.  Saturday was reserved for a long walk into the Vienna Woods.  Though similar to the walk last year, this one included a more direct approach to Kahlenberg, as well as a very steep descent on the other side of the mountain.

 While many areas of old Vienna are crammed with tourists, it is an easy matter to step away and find yourself in a very quiet spot.

 Maria am Gestade, also visited last year.  The churches were usually dark and very chilly inside.

 Haydn and Maria Theresa, in the 12 and 11 o'clock position respectively.  Every noon hour this massive outdoor clock (which took six years to build) runs through all twelve historical figures, beginning with Marcus Aurelius and Charlemagne, and ending with Haydn.  Each figure is accompanied by its own music.  The cycle takes 15 minutes to complete, and only happens at noon.  By pure luck we arrived at the clock at 11:59 pm! 

    

One must always look up in Vienna, above the shop windows.  Otherwise you will miss something special!

 Our double selfie, at Delirium Pub on Judenplatz.  They only serve Belgian beer!!

 Buskers in Vienna underground stations are of a whole other category of quality.  This is Trio Grotesque, and we bought their CD.  Spellbinding performers, and they drew huge crowds.

 The village of Grinzing, amidst the grape growing hills of the Vienna Woods.  Tram #38 ends its journey from central Vienna in Grinzing.  It is a charming little place.

 Heading uphill towards Kahlenberg.

 We came across a small cemetery in the Vienna Woods.

 It was a beautiful day for a December walk in the woods!

 Kahlenberg is the highest point in Vienna, and the end of the Austrian Alps, which stop at the Danube river.  Up top there is a church, small university, hotel, and cafe with scenic views overlooking the city.  Bus #38A also makes the trip, so one doesn't have to walk here.

 Interior of St. Joseph Church, Kahlenberg.

 View of the Danube and Vienna from the cafe.  The air was clearer than our visit last year.

 This year we came down the steep eastern side of the mountain, into the village of Kahlenberg-dorf, along the Danube.  From the village we were able to catch a bus to a nearby train station.

 Vienna at night.

 Vienna at night.

 St Stephan's Cathedral, Vienna.

 Charles Cathedral, Karlsplatz.

 On our departure from Frankfurt for Toronto, we watched the ground crew load a Lamborghini onto our plane! 

Despite the huge hassle of getting to Vienna and back again, the trip was definitely worth it.  The journey capped off a major travel year for us that included a week in London, visits to Cincinnati and Columbus, two weeks in New Mexico, and family to Sudbury for me, and Lindsay for Deb.  2019 should be a much quieter year for us, but if not, you will read about it here!

Thanks for stopping by.

Mapman Mike

Vienna 2nd Visit, December 2018: Part 1 Kunsthistoriches and Bruegel

For the 2nd time in just over a year, we were drawn to Vienna to see art by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.  Considered one of the finest painters who ever lived, his incomparable landscape paintings, as well as his peasant works, draw people from all over the world to Vienna and the many other museums where his work is displayed, including Detroit.  The art museum in Vienna houses 14 of his paintings, and the Albertina, virtually across the street, houses many of his prints and drawings.  On our first visit in October of 2017, we went to see the Vienna Bruegel paintings.  11 of them were on display, which was plenty.  However, the Albertina was also home to a vast temporary exhibit of his prints and drawings, collected from museums worldwide.  So we had a double dose of the master!

This time, the Kunsthistoriches was hosting a major exhibit of his paintings and his prints and drawings.  30+ paintings and about 60 works on paper were being brought together in the largest exhibit of its kind, and likely the only one, ever.  We saw 3 of the Vienna paintings that were not on display on our previous visit, along with these works:  Mad Meg, from Brussels, and Triumph of Death, from Madrid, both recently cleaned and restored to pristine condition (all the Vienna paintings were also in pristine condition, with several restored especially for this exhibit!); from Rome came Bay of Naples; from Berlin came Two Monkeys (possibly my favourite painting of all time); from Rotterdam came the 2nd, smaller version of Tower of Babel, sitting alongside the larger Vienna version; from London came his mannerist Adoration of the Kings; from Prague came the magnificent Haymaking, shown with the three other extent Seasons paintings from Vienna, for the very first time; from Brussels came Winter Landscape with a Birdtrap, alongside one of the copies by his son Pieter the Younger; From Winterthur came Adoration of the Kings in the Snow, possibly the finest winter painting ever created; from Darmstadt came Landscape with the Magpie on the Gallows, considered by many to be his finest landscape; from the Louvre came The Cripples; from Munich came Head of an Old Peasant Woman, from England's Upton House, Banbury, came Death of the Virgin, and also a copy by Jan Brueghel the Elder of Massacre of the Innocents, alongside Vienna's original by Pieter the Elder; from the Frick collection in NYC came Three Soldiers; there was a recently rediscovered miniature painting called The Drunk Cast Into the Pigsty.  I may have missed one or two.  Don't forget about the Vienna paintings, including Hunters In the Snow and 14 others!  So it was a total extravaganza, and worth all the expense and effort to get to Vienna.  We went twice to the exhibit, and we barely scratched the surface.  I am currently reading the purchased catalogue and essays.  More essays will be published next autumn, the ones from the symposium (which was running on our visit, but was fully booked).

I will take you through a little photo journey of just one the paintings, Hunters In the Snow, courtesy of the Kunsthistoriches website called Inside Bruegel.....  If the photos do not all load first time, reload the page.

 Hunters In the Snow, Vienna.  Painted in 1565.  45"x64"

 Detail 1

 Detail 2

 Detail 3

 Detail 4

 Detail 5

 Detail 6

 Detail 7

 Detail 8

 Detail 9

 Detail 10.  That wee person in the bottom right is timeless.  I saw him skating in Detroit the other day.

 Detail 11--note the man shooting birds!

 Detail 12--the famous chimney fire, with water being thrown!

 Detail 13 

And on and on and on....  I hope you get the idea.  And this is only one painting.  All of his large works are like this, paintings within paintings within paintings.  Try to imagine 14 of these permanently within one museum, and then 30 of them in a temporary exhibit.  Sheer insanity!!  His works on paper are just as detailed.  At the start of the exhibit, while waiting for your ticket time to enter, they had three giant screens constantly showing 3 of his paintings in detail, with the "camera" constantly moving very slowly to different areas.  You were completely drawn into the artist's world before even entering the exhibit!

 Waiting room for the exhibit, with 3 large screens moving in slow motion across three different paintings.  It was spell binding, and the pictures were very high quality.

 Mad Meg, restored for the exhibit.  From Brussels.

The terrifying Triumph of Death, from Madrid, restored.

The incomparable miniature "Two Monkeys," from Berlin.  An entire room was devoted to this tiny picture, showing how it was created by the artist in stages.  It probably took him a day.

We also got to visit the archaeological wing of the museum, our first visit.  The collections are rich in Egyptian art and Roman art.  Their collection of Roman gold is totally unbelievable! 

 Deb and her Near Eastern hero.

Some heads.

Way more heads!

After our 2nd visit to the Bruegel exhibit, we separated for an hour within the museum.  Deb returned to the Wes Anderson curated exhibit, while I walked through Italian and French paintings.  Anderson and his partner got to choose anything from the storage vaults and come up with an exhibit.  The highlight was the title piece, "Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and other Treasures."  Here are some of Deb's photos from that exhibit.

Wow!  Definitely a rare find.  Egyptian, 4 Cent. B.C.

 Madeleine, daughter of the Hirsute man.  German, c. 1580.

I am left somewhat without words for many of these objects....

Stage design model.

There were 411 objects, and they were exhibited in a cabinet of curiosities fashion.  It was a pretty engaging exhibit, and a rare chance to see objects that will seldom, if ever, be shown again.

Here are some final shots of permanent art from the Kunsthistoriches....

 A small Bosch.

3 Saxony Princesses, Cranach.  Too charming!

Deb in one of the galleries devoted to Rubens.

Detail of a painting with critters.

A Venetian beauty, by Titian.

Gallery and ceiling, Kunsthistoriches, Vienna.

We spent half a day Tuesday and half a day Thursday at the Kunsthistoriches Museum.  The rest of the time was spent re-exploring Vienna, which was all decked out for Christmas.

Continued in Part 2....

Mapman Mike