Friday 21 August 2015

20/08/15 - Jubilee Walkway - The Jubilee Loop

Distance - 4.7 Miles
Geocaches - 3
Walk Inspiration - The Jubilee Loop
Pub - Coach and Horses, Soho - Chiswick Bitter



A trip to the smoke for work cannot be complete unless I indulge in a touch of Bleisure - the combination of Business and Leisure.  Rather than catching the tube straight back to Euston, I grab a couple of "south of the water" caches, cross the River, complete stage 3/5 of the Jubilee Way and ensure the gentrification of Soho is not totally complete.

Three micro caches to grab - one guarded by an ice-cream man at Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, one on Westminster Bridge Road and the final one in the shadow of the London Eye.

Over the river at Westminster to pick up the Jubilee Loop on a fairly pointless circle of St James Park.  Still, a fair few sights to take in - so I'll let the photos tell the story.

London Eye from Westminster Bridge
London Eye from Westminster Bridge
Den of Thieves
House of Parliament
Birdcage Walk
Follow Birdcage Walk along the Southern Edge of St James Park
Queen's Gaff
To Buckingham Palace at Western End
Admiralty Arch
Through Admiralty Arch at the Eastern End
Nelson's Column
Into Trafalgar Square
National Gallery
To the National Gallery

Then it's onto refreshment.  In response the news reports of the "Gentrification" of Soho, I have been reading Daniel Farson's "Soho in the Fifties".  One place that has always avoided any sort of cleaning up is the Coach and Horses at the corner of Romilly Street and Greek Street.

I discovered it when I was reading a lot of Derek Raymond books - all set in a fictional police station in nearby Poland Street.  This pub was his local.  Along with other legendary boozers such as Peter O'Toole and Jeffry Bernard.

Quiet in the early afternoon and pleased to say its as gloriously grim as always.

Some business people came in and ordered a bottle of red wine - only to be told that "A corkscrew could not be found".  They headed off elsewhere.

Norman Balon - the legendary previous owner and self named "Rudest Landlord in Britain" - would have been proud.


Coach and Horses
Reserved for O'Toole, Bernard and Raymond


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