Wednesday, 4 May 2016

Bank Holiday Monday walking



No, I didn't come across this lady on my London walk. I wish I had! Isn't she colourful and fun?

She's called 'Mrs. Back to Front' and she's a Punch and Judy Professor. She runs a Punch and Judy show and on the second Sunday in May in Covent Garden there is a Punch and Judy Festival. Who knew? I got this information from a fascinating blog called 'Spitalfields Life' here.

The walk on Bank Holiday  Monday was marvellous.  The Westbourne River starts at Hampstead but we didn't go that far. We started at Marble Arch, walked down Bayswater Road on to Paddington and Paddington Station; then to Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park; Knightsbridge to Chelsea where the river runs through special pipes at Sloane Square tube station;  onto the Chelsea Pensioners Hospital: along the Embankment and just down the road from here is where the Westbourne river flows into the Thames via a tunnel; across the bridge to Battersea Park and back via Hyde Park to Marble Arch. 12 miles in all and my feet were throbbing by the time I got home. Pavements are far harder to walk on than fields, woods and footpaths!



This is a house in Cheyne Walk in London. I just loved the Wisteria as well  as the house. 5 storeys and a basement - that's a lot of cleaning!

We have Wisteria at the back of our house but it hasn't blossomed yet...

A lot of famous people lived in Cheyne Walk -  so there were lots of blue plaques including; Dante Gabriel Rossetti, George Eliot; Sir John Lavery; Algernon Swinburne, to name just a few.


This is, of course, the Albert Memorial opposite the Albert Hall opposite Kensington Gardens. 

When I was a child and lived in London, we walked from where we lived (North Paddington) to Kensington Gardens regularly (about 5 miles by my reckoning); sometimes with our dog and sometimes without. 

As well as the Round Pond and the Peter Pan statue; the London Museum was situated in Kensington Palace and free. We spent a lot of time in that museum. It  moved to London Wall  in 1976 and in 2021 it is supposed to move to Smithfield.


We saw these horse riders cross over from Hyde Park and into this mews - there must be stables down there somewhere...

I'm walking again on Wednesday and this weekend I'm off to Devon to see my best friend of 50 years. 

Hope you are all having a good week!

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