06/02/16 - Breakfast of Champions

Walk Inspiration - Andrew Duncans's 50 Favourite Walks (Clekenwell) and
Walk Inspiration 2 - Time Out London Walks Volume 2 (Return of the King)
Distance - 10 Miles
Geocaches - 6
Pub 1 - Fox and Anchor, Farringdon - City Boy Breakfast
Pub 2 - The Blackfriar - Doom Bar
Pub 3 - The Red Lion, Mayfair - Fullers ESB

My monthly visits to the smoke have been taking me straight back out and into the surrounding countryside. This has been fine, but due to a lack of work visits, I have missed pounding the pavements and seeing the sights.

There's only one problem with walking Central London.  Too many Photo opportunities.  Not only do I come back with 1/2GB of images, I also burn out the main camera's battery half way around and then have to rely on my mobile phone's camera.

The route inspiration comes from two sources.  I fancied a look around Clerkenwell... the hinterland between the Euston and the City.  A favourite resource - Andrew Duncan's 50 favourite London Walks - provided a suitable route.  Add to this a lengthy walk from Time Out London Walks for a route that shows how the City was rebuilt after the Civil War and Great Fire of London and I am good to go - with a chance to take in most of the sights.

Emerge at the top of the UK's longest escalators at Angel Tube Station.  There is a multi cache with the clues in the station foyer and as I have time, I take it on.  Cache in hand before satellites have locked on the GPS and I can start the walk.

Into Clerkenwell and Head for St James Church

The walk through Clerkenwell to Farringdon is not massively inspiring.  Suburban streets in the main, plenty of history detailed in the guide (riots, bombings - that sort of thing) and emergence at Smithfields Meat Market.

Now I know where I am.  Tucked around a side street is a pub called the Fox and Anchor.  Home of the legendary "City Boy Breakfast"

Check it Out - Fans of the Full English

I find that the only way to set up a day is to dine on a breakfast of steak, offal, white pudding and a pint of Stout.

Fortified, I am ready for the City.  Down Aldersgate and with more time than in the Working Week - I check out Postman's Park and spend a bit of time reading the stories of doomed heroism in the City.

I would normally say this was an oasis of calm but on a Saturday - you can have the streets to yourself.

A monument to Heroic Self Sacrifice.  Not my breakfast, Postman's Park

From now on - the walk is a series of iconic images.  Which I will leave you with.

St Pauls

All Alone at the Guildhall

Bank

Walkie Talkie, poking out behind Lombard Street

The Monument

There's a cache on London Bridge, that I really should have found by now - so I head over on a deviation from the planned routes.

The Shard - From London Bridge

A chance for more Iconic Views from London Bridge

Back onto the Northside of the the Thames for a stretch of the Thames Path.  I usually complete this from the South side - as Southwark Cathedral, the Golden Hind, The Globe and the Tate Modern can all be visited.  An alternative view from this side of the Thames.

But only Photo'd Millennium Bridge and the Tate Modern

Arrive at Blackfriars bridge and there is the last of the "Lost River Fleet" Series of caches.  I'm sure I have previously found this, so its either a forgotten log or a new cache.  Just starting the hunt when a Tour Guide, complete with her massive posse of tourists, comes around the corner and offers me some advice.  Glad I took it, as I was ending up with nothing more than dirty hands.

Cache found, I then head through the underground paths to check out another London Classic Pub - the Blackfriar.

A Must Visit Pub

Hard to believe that this building was only saved from destruction by a campaign from John Betjeman in the 1960s.  You can see from the photo how the rest of the street fared less well.

It's Ok from the outside, but its the inside that makes it unique.  And in a change from what happens on weekdays, I can get a seat in the heart of it - at the instant my main camera battery dies.

Inside the Pub

Occasion Siezed

Its just a pity they don't keep the beer as well as the surroundings.

Back along the embankment to grab a cache at Temple Tube Station and up and out onto the Strand.

The Strand

A repeat of my last London Walk around the Law Courts and Lincoln Inns Fields and into the hurly burly of Saturday afternoon shoppers and protesting junior doctors at Covent Garden.

Covent Garden - Three Yodas hovering and a Bloke painted Silver not worthy of inclusion

There's a top shop in Long Acre - Stanfords.  It sells nothing but maps and walking guides.  I may have made a purchase, as I look for future inspiration.

Shopping over, its time to take on more landmarks.

Trafalgar Square 

St Martins Church

Out along Pall Mall and into the refined shopping of Mayfair.  The Red Lion in Duke of York Street looks worthy of investigation - and so it proves.  All etched glass and pints with limited change from a Lady Godiva.

Just South of Jermyn Street

A walk through St James Park means that its nearly over.  Pass through Horse Guards Parade, where the changing of the guard is taking place.

London Eye behind Horse Guards Parade

Its possible to walk through the tunnel into Whitehall but not advisable during the changing of the Guards.  Still, there's part of me that is amused by the fact that a man with a rucksack striding in front of the crowds will be being watched on home videos in Tokyo.

Emerge onto Whitehall next to Downing Street and up to Embankment to get the last cache of the day next to a German Sausage Takeway.

London has something for everyone.

Onto Whitehall - up to Charing Cross - Cache and Train Home.