Distance - 13 Miles
Start - Turnpike Lane
Finish - Shepherd's Bush Market
Areas Walked - Alexandra Park, Muswell Hill, Finchley, Golders Green, Cricklewood, Kensell Green, Shepherds Bush
Geocaches - 1
Pubs - 4 (Good Beer Guide #705-706)
Previous Walks - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6
If this leg doesn't win the prize for most boring section of the London Spiral Walk, I will be abandoning the route.
Progress is made through London areas previously unvisited - and mainly through identikit housing. Muswell Hill (too early for the Mossy Well but not for a £4.95 artisan sausage roll) leads to the less interesting East Finchley, Golders Green, Cricklewood and Willesden. After Alexander Palace, nothing of interest.
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| Venue for two gigs attended - Nick Cave and New Order. |
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| Busy Golders Green Intersection. Not a pub to be found |
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| Nor in Cricklewood |
Its Kensal Green where I first get the opportunity for refreshment. Nothing in the Good Beer Guide but my FancyaPint book from a decade ago details a couple that look of interest. On paper at least.
King William IV - Harrow Road - Ichiban Shibori
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| Handsome Enough |
A nice beer garden, offering Cocktails (the shed is emblazoned with Cocktails, Cocktails, Cocktails, in case you were unaware). Inside, it was full on gastro.
Paradise by Way of Kensal Green - Kilburn Way - Beavertown Neck Oil
Needed to be visited, simply because of its rather wonderful name.
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| More Gastro-Pubbing |
My guide book from a decade ago complained of the Laurence from Changing Rooms interior decor. Nothing has changed. Except, perhaps, the interest from the public.
If you exclude the two bar staff, the DJ setting up at 1pm - I was the only sign of sentient life. The fella on the green leather bench seating, struggling through yet more keg. At £6.50 a pint.
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| Mock Distressed. Unlike the punter, who was fully distressed. |
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| Shiny Bar |
The walk interest picks up, as it gets more earthy.
The Grand Union Canal is a green covered bazaar for anyone that wants to consume or trade in Jazz cigarettes. But don't the waterway based, dread-locked entrepreneurs make a mess. Overspilling bin bags everywhere.
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| Everything's gone green |
And all this commerce completed in the shadows of Wormwood Scrubs. Both a park and a prison.
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| Jail Time |
And then the crowds appear. But don't QPR fans cut it fine? 14:50 and the streets are thronged. I'm sure if I've seen such tardy, quiet fans. Not a chant amongst them. Can only assume today's opponents, the clayheads of Stoke, had long ago taken their seats.
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| Hurry - the teams are coming out |
This does mean that the rush is over for my two Good Beer Guide Ticks available at Shepherd's Bush.
Defectors Weld, Uxbridge Road, Proper Job
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| Named after BBC Cold War Spies? Thanks WhatPub |
A Young's Pub, with a guest ale that satisfied my cravings for cask. Proper Job a wonderful pint. I even managed to get it served in the presentation glass, now the plastic cups can be put away as the footie fans have gone.
Its cavernous, with a central bar, a noticeboard detailing many bottles and music that loud it makes your fillings rattle.
Instantly forgettable. Once your ears have stopped ringing.
Central Bar, West 12 Shopping Centre, Leffe
Just when I am seriously beginning to warm to JDW, I get reset to zero. Perched in a shopping centre, next to a cinema, this has to be the worst of Tim's Palace's outside of airports.
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| Look carefully for the Pub |
The usual JDW complaints and praises are present. The empty tables are filthy. The app ordering is lightening quick. The prices are keen.
Getting Leffe is a non- ceremonial glass is to be expected due to theft but a plastic one is unacceptable. A scan around and everyone has plastic glasses.
How some places get in the Good Beer Guide, I will never know. Maybe, in the future, I can trade the vouchers for glassware.
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