18km around the houses

An improvement in the weather and in my wellbeing enticed me outside to get a few km done. 

Early afternoon I saw Julia off at Richmond Station and started my journey to Osterley via Isleworth. As usual the route was designed to include some target Pokemon Go gyms (mostly in Isleworth) and also to explore some less well-known areas (e.g. Osterley).

Along the way I went through an area called Spring Grove and, as is often the case, I wondered about the provenance and legitimacy of the name but I did not wonder enough to actually do any research later. The hierarchy and history of London place names is a casual hobby only.

Having got to Osterley I was still feeling well so I went on the more familiar areas of Boston Manor and South Ealing. One of the highlights here was Blondin Park, pleasingly named after the famous tightrope walker Charles Blondin, who lived nearby.

It was late afternoon by then and the two trendy coffee shops that I had in mind for a break were both shut and so I was forced to go to Costa by South Ealing station. Costa is perfectly fine for a chain but the cake choice was limited.

After that I had just enough energy and time left to take a detour through Gunnesbury Park and Carville Hall Park South before catching a 65 bus home.

Unusually, I decided to take a few photographs along the way just to give a flavour of what the walk was like, information that a simple map cannot give.

Early on I saw this ridiculously tame heron. I do not particularly look out for wildlife, or other natural things, when walking but it was impossible to avoid this bird when walking 1m away from it.

Architecture is much more my thing and this is the Gillette Building on Gillette Corner, which is where Syon Lane hits the monstrous A4.

My abiding memory of this building is my dad stopping his car on the mini roundabout at the entrance, blocking the road, so that he could take a photograph of it. Later that day he scrambled across three lanes of speeding traffic on the A4 to take a photo on the Hoover Building.

Not far away and from the same era is the delighful Carillion Building, of which I know nothing other than its name.