17/10/15 - London's Greatest Walk

Distance - 11.5 Miles
Geocaches - 6
Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine June 2011
Start - Finsbury Park
End - Euston
Highlights - Parkway, Highgate, Hampstead, Parliament Hill, Primrose Hill

I can stop going to London now.  I have found it's greatest walk.

A bold claim, I know - and there's plenty to be said for the historical interest that a jaunt along the South Bank from Westminster to Tower Bridge can provide, but for pure walking pleasure - this cannot be beaten.

The first leg doesn't look that interesting - cutting a swathe from Finsbury Park to Highgate - until you actually get to ground zero and realise it's along a disused railway line.  The only noise is the pants (breathing, not attire) of a hundred joggers and the occasional expletive shouted at some bearded hipster on a fixed gear bike who is not slowing down.

Its also the chance for me to revisit a stretch of the Capital Ring, walked 2 years ago.

Finsbury Park - The Start of this Walk

Parkland Walk - Remains of Crouch Hill Station

No new caches since I was last here - so unadulterated walking pleasure all the way to Highgate - where the Boogaloo Pub offers inspiration for a fitting epitaph for my tombstone.

Not the Phil Lynott one - the other one

Highgate has a village feel to it and so typical of London, every building seems to have a story to tell.  I could spend a lifetime plodding the streets and never get close to knowing all it's tales.

A seemingly handsome enough boozer

Has it's own tale to tell

Bisect Highgate Cemetery by dropping down Swains Lane.  One day, I am going to pay to go and have a look at Karl Marx's tomb - today, I make do with the occasional glimpse through gates and fences.

Found the Resident Fox

Only a short urban section before I am back into the wilds - this time on Hampstead - climbing to Parliament Hill to get the views over the City.  What a treasure of a place for Londoner's to enjoy.

Information - but of course, you know all the landmarks

Zoomed in for the Eye, BT Tower, Crystal Palace Mast and obligatory crane

A handful of caches to attempt and a walk between the ponds - formed by the damming of the River Fleet - the source of which is near Kenwood House.  Work is being completed on one of the ponds, where the water is being drained to reveal a clue on how cockerney's do their recycling.

Fishing in the Bathing Pond

Very Sinister

Working my way to Kenwood House and the source of the Fleet

The main reason for choosing this walk was a desire to return to the Spaniard's Inn.  It must be 10 years since I last added my name to its list of patrons that includes Keats, Byron, Dickens and Bram Stoker.

There's just a small problem of how to exit Hampstead Heath to get to it.  I make a direct byline to the big blue cup of joy on the map, only to be met by a 6ft wooden fence.  The prize of a pint of London Pride means that I clamber over it, much to the amusement of the people in traffic stuck at the Toll House.

430 Years of Literary Boozing

Made of London

An eclectic group of visitors - today's favourite had to be the Micheal Winner Lookalike, who had a cravat with matching handkerchief in breast pocket.  he warmed up for his pint of Harvey's with a double rum - downed in one.

What a way to live.

Move on to West Hampstead, with a couple more caches.  Autumn is the time to complete this walk.

Cache GZ

I've planned the route to drop me down around the back of Hampstead.  There's a great reason for this - the Holly Bush.  What a gem of a pub, tucked away down a little alley amongst some of the most amazing residential architecture in the City.  Should I ever do the lottery and win.

One of my many favourites

One of my many favourites

Can't make up my mind about my favourite punter here.  It could be the American who asked for Almonds to go with his pint and was met with the response "we've got dry roasted" but I'll probably settle on the man who was older than me carrying a jazzy cycle helmet and the little scooter he had travelled in on.

Drag myself away for the beauty of Hampstead High Street.  What a place.  People queuing around the block at mobile crepery.  A butchers doing a roaring trade in hot sausage rolls.  I'll leave you to guess where my £3.75 went.

Belsize Park provides a cut through to Primrose Hill.  This is the way to walk to Primrose Hill, as there is only a minor climb.  The view is even better than Parliament Hill.

I'd picnic here too, if I was a Londoner

Seriously spoilt for choice in Camden for the last watering hole and I settle on a re-visit to one of the four nationalistic pubs designed to segregate the victorian navvies.  I go for the Edinboro Castle but it could have just as easily been the Dublin Castle.

Edinboro Castle

Last London Pride in London

There are no favourite punters here.  Just students, hipsters and student hipsters.

Just a short trip down Mornington Crescent and back to Euston - 11.5 miles that had sadly come to an end and confirmation that London is the greatest city in the world.