Wednesday was devoted to some cultural highlights in central London. To get to the Wallace Collection from our hotel involved taking a fast train to Victoria Station, a twenty minute ride, then transferring to the Victoria Tube for one stop. At Green Park we transferred to the Jubilee Line one more stop, to Bond Street. From here it is a five minute walk to Hertford House, home of the vast and incredibly rich Wallace Collection of art. Today we were here to see paintings, and they have a lot of them of outstanding quality.
Approaching Hertford House, one of Europe's finest collections of art. We had not visited in many years.
Some of the painting galleries, Wallace Collection
One of many richly decorated rooms of the Wallace Collection.
A different room, but just as fine as the last one!
The newly restored Great Gallery of the Wallace Collection. Dutch and
Flemish paintings abound, along with French art.
Admission is free, and there is a gift shop and a dining room. It is a splendid place to spend several hours. Afterwards, we ate our lunch on a bench in front of the gallery, then wandered around the area (Marylebone) and into a few pubs.
Later we took the Central Line two stations to Holborn, transferring to the Piccadilly Line to Leicester Square. From here it is a very short walk to Stanfords, a 3-floor travel and map bookstore. It is just as much fun going here as it is to a gallery. We browsed a very long time, then sat in the in-store cafe and had coffee and a much-needed sit down.
Sacred Cafe is inside Stanfords. We sat and enjoyed some very fine coffee. Michael Palin was appearing at the store in the very near future, promoting a new book.
After leaving the bookstore it is a very short walk to my favourite pub in all of London. The Harp was soon located, and our usual table awaited! I had the most amazing perry of my life, while Deb enjoyed an unfiltered country apple juice. We should have remained here a lot longer, but the rush hour was approaching and we did not wish to get caught up in it. We walked to nearby Embankment, took a District Line train to Victoria, then a fast train home.
We dined at The George, our fine local pub. In addition to a good selection of veg food, they have 18 ales on hand pull! 12 of the ales change almost daily, making it a one-pub on-going beer festival! It was another early night for us. Tomorrow was another long segment of the London Loop, along with two evening concerts in Greenwich. It was going to be our busiest day of the trip!
London Loop Segment 5
We undertook this very long segment over two days, Thursday and Friday. We caught the bus just up the road from our hotel, riding it for about 25 minutes back to Hamsey Green. This might be the most scenic of the Loop segments completed so far, though I did not take a lot of photos. It was a dark and dreary day, and rain caused us to stop for about two hours.
This signboard in Hamsey Green illustrates our walk on part of Segment 5 as far as Coulsdon South.
The sun broke forth once along today's journey, as we looked back towards the chalk cliffs that we had just descended above Whyteleaf.
A signboard talks about Kenley Airfield, once a busy WW2 fighter aircraft base and now home to only gliders. The Wattenden Arms, a fabulous country pub near the end of the old runway, is like a museum to the WW2 airmen and their planes.
A lovely thatched roof home near the Wattenden Arms Pub.
After leaving the pub and crossing several muddy fields, we came across these two telescope domes! No one was around to talk with.
Looking back after crossing Happy Valley! There was no sign of civilization back here--no homes, no wires, no roads. Welcome to our little bit of secret London.
High atop Farthing Downs, before our descent to Coulsdon South Station.
Once we reached Coulsdon South Station we travelled by train to Greenwich for two Early Music Concerts. Our train went to London Bridge Station (during the school rush--we had two chatty, giggly school girls sitting ahead of us for much of the way), where we transferred to a line that took us to Greenwich (see next page).
On Friday we resumed our walk, finishing up Segment 5 of the Loop (now called Segment 6; we are using the old guidebook, and still will). We walked from Coulsdon South Station to Banstead Station. Though the first part of the walk, about a mile, was all urban, afterwards it was all green space.
The first part of today's walk began at Coulsdon South Station, at the very bottom of the above signboard map.
The Jack and Jill Pub wasn't open yet when we passed by. We soon entered the woods on the right. Deb is standing beneath a stately oak tree.
View from today's Loop walk. Central London buildings can be glimpsed, now about 15 miles away.
Lavender fields, which are passed on approach to Oak Park. Try this website:
We stopped for tea and lunch at Oak Park Cafe before finishing up our walking for this trip. Hopefully next year we can continue the Ring and Loop.
Single track between Banstead and Sutton is crossed along the Loop. Our goal today was Banstead Station.
Continued....
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