29/10/22 - London Spiral Walk - Stage 8

Distance - 10 Miles

Start - Shepherd's Bush Market

Finish -  Clapham Common

Areas Walked - Hammersmith, Putney, Wandsworth

Geocaches - 2 and an Adventure Lab Cache

Pubs - 2 (Good Beer Guide #728-729)

Previous Walks - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7

The day the clocks change. The final days of October. No jacket required on Stage 8 of the London Spiral Walk. It's not normal.

Exceptional warmth in SE England today.

22.9°C, making it the warmest 29th October on record. Beating 20.5°C in 1999. pic.twitter.com/3Yz1ZSWZnz

— Dave Throup (@DaveThroup) October 29, 2022

It does of course, make for pleasant walking.  And this is a much improved stage over Stage 7.

Nondescript streets lead me to Hammersmith.  It's early, but a Good Beer Guide Tick, the William Morris,  is open and provides breakfast on a blue plate.  Oakham Green Devil with the hastily ordered traditional breakfast, without realising black pudding (2 slices) could be added for an extra £1.20.

The William Norris

One of the grimmer JDW's visited but service was swift, prices keen.

A cursory look around Hammersmith.  The "Bottom Bench", the flyover, the Damned playing at the Apollo. 60 year old punks turn up very early for their gigs.

Do you think the planning permission was challenged?

Hammersmith Bridge is still handsome and closed to traffic. Trivia point, the most bombed bridge in London. 

Hammersmith Bridge

A lengthy section of Thames Path walking - past the wetlands centre, the rowing clubs, under Putney Bridge and through Wandsworth Park. Discipline is maintained easily. It's still too early for the Bricklayers Arms, The Cat's Back and the Sam Brooks Brewery Tap.

Thames Path - always a pleasure

Lots of riverside activity at the many boat houses

Through King George's Park and onto Wandsworth Common. It's only after a post walk review of Bob Steel's London Pub Crawls book that I determine the magnificent Le Gothique building hosts a recommended bar amongst it's facilities. There's one for another day.

London's First Gastropub

And finally, into Clapham.  An adventure lab cache takes me on a bit of local psycho-geography.  Clapham looks worthy of more detailed investigation - a number of independent shops and with the unseasonal weather, outdoor diners providing a cosmopolitan feel.

With the sort of serendipity that I live for, it transpires that my Oxford based son is in the same part of London. We arrange to meet at one of the Good Beer Guide Ticks available, the Abbeville.  

And its a pub that has run out of Cask. On a Saturday. Round 1, I try and introduce my son to Harvey's Best Bitter - one of the greatest pints known to all humanity. They manage to squeeze one from the barrel before pronouncing it dead and flipping the pump clip. The alternative - a Landlord - which not wishing to mar a memory, I hand to my son. The Harveys is dismal vinegar, and after a longer than warranted argument, I manage to swap over.

The Pub where Cask goes to die - Harveys at half mast, about to be joined by Landlord

Round 2 and the Landlord is off.

Thank god for keg and hello to £12.40 rounds of Camden Hells.