London parks and hills

We had done a few walks like this before and with public transport an option again we were keen to do it again.

The plan was simple, first fast train out of Richmond after 9am (free travel!) then walk through Whitehall Gardens, St James Park, Green Park, Hyde Park, Regent's Park, Primrose Hill and, finally, Parliament Hill in Hampstead Heath.

Being a simple and imprecise plan meant that little could go wrong and only a little did.

Whitehall Gardens were blooming, St Jame's Park was showing off its pelicans and Green Park had some trees. Hyde Park always provides options and while we had not chosen a specific route though, looking at the map afterwards I was surprised to see how little of the park we used. Avoiding the main road though the park was the reason. I hate roads in parks.

Regent's Park gave us a welcome coffee and a short rest. It also gave us bit of a detour with the long bridge closed for major works. Primrose Hill was an easy climb after the cake.

After that we had to put up with the roads and house of Camden Town and Gospel Oak for a while, luckily we found some quiet roads.

We entered Hampstead Heath in the south-east corner so that we could climb Parliament Hill and then head for Hampstead Heath station in the south-west corner. We felt good and the clock was with us so we went further into Hampstead Heath and did some random exploring. That explains the unusual route but not the doubling-back at one point, that was the one mistake of the day.

The main part of the walk ended in The Garden Gate pub where we were lucky to get a table and I had a welcome pub.

There was an epilogue to the walk as a long wait for the Richmond train meant that we had time to walk to the next station, Finchley and Frognal, and that rewarded us with some grand buildings and some final hills.

The statistics for the main part of the walk were distance 17km and time 3:20. I blame the relatively slow pace on the time waiting for pedestrian lights, particularly either side of Hyde Park. Far too often I felt like a second class citizen, and a very distant second too.