Weather: Sunny and Very Warm
Distance Walked: 14.59 km
Distance By Tube: 7.40 km
Stations Visited: 7
Fantastic Place: Holland Park
A shorter gap between walks than has been the norm and so today, on one of the hottest days of the year I returned to North Acton to start the walk that would take me through the heart of London.
The first part of the walk, through numerous building sites almost made me wish for the days of innumerable golf courses earlier in my walks. As before the A40 was never far away and the constant hum of traffic made itself known. Soon I was turning away from the building sites into light industry and finally a return to suburbia. East Acton station lies on the wonderfully names Erconwald Street and off of this is Henchman Road. D&D central! East Acton station lies well below the tracks and is an attractive little building. This leg of the walk has a variety of styles of station and this one is proobably along with Holland Park the most attractive.
Travelling regularly on the benighted Turnham Green - Richmond branch of the District Line I have often thought could I get from one of the numerous Acton Stations to one of their Central Line cousins. Well today I discovered it was possible but probably not a time saver!
Leaving East Acton behind me I continued east and entered Wormwood Scrubs. No I hadn't been banged up for taking photos of stations, though I could see the high wall and Victorian brickwork of the prison to my right. Instead I was walking across a large area of open space and woodland that makes up the Scrubs. From the information panels it is a haven for wildlife. From the tube line this is invisible despite its size. As well as the wild space there are also sports pitches adjacent to the Linford Christie stadium.
Exiting Wormwood Scrubs I headed south through more building works, this time for HS2, which was causing much backing up of traffic as I passed under the Westway (which is what the A40 is called here). Soon I reached White City, once the location of the Empire Games, now more famous for the BBC Television Centre where Doctor Who and lots of other famous programs were recorded, and more recently the Westfield Shopping centre. It is huge and is served by three tube stations, two on the Central Line and Wood Lane on the H&C line.
The second station that serves the shopping centre, Shepards Bush comes up not long after. This is part of "my London" as Liz and I come here for the movies, shopping and the odd meal as it is convenient for me to get here after work and for Liz to come in from home. The interchange with buses, the Overground and the Underground makes for a busy spot for transport as it also sits on a large gyratory. Also I have been going to gigs at the Shepard's Empire for a long time.
After finding my way through the maze of subways I was soon in a area of leafy avenues and rather more upmarket streets with pillared porticoes and white stuccoed walls.There were also lots of tall blocks of flats from the 20s and 30s which set against the bright blue sky looked very attractive.
How I have lived in London for 30 plus years and never visited Holland Park astounds me in retrospect. This large park has it all; formal gardens, listed buildings, water features, open space to rest and a cafe. As I walked through the entrance and past the cafe I could hear rehearsals for one of the opera performances that they hold in the grounds of the house.
Exiting back onto the bustle of London after the peace and quiet of the park was a bit of a shock, but after finding Holland Park station, a pretty but understated building set on a busy corner site I continued through Notting Hill and found an attractive street of pastel shades and a pretty local pub.
Notting Hill Gate station is one of those that has no on street presence and it was tough to get a picture as it seemed very busy on a Monday lunchtime. I don't think I have ever left or joined the tube at Holland Park, Notting Hill Gate or the next station along the line, Queensway.
Queensway was only a short stretch along the busy road but on the way I passed the Russian Embassy and I was amused to notice the stretch of the road outside of it had been renamed to Kyiv Roat.
Queensway is opposite the entrance to Kensington Gardens which will form a pleasant start to my next walk.
I spent much of the journey home trying to work out the remainder of the walk, the loop at the eastern end of the line makes things a bit complicated but I think the five legs will be; Queensway to Liverpool Street, Liverpool Street to Leytonstone, Leytonstone to Hainault via Woodford, Leytonstone to Hainault (the other way around the loop) and finally a long leg from Woodford to Epping.
