Thursday August 15, 2024.
It was an early start... but not by design.
Just after 06:00 Erin, who was already awake, along with Keilyn, said that she could hear running water. So, up I got to check the bathroom, without turning on the light so as not to wake Emma. I checked the sink tap... nothing. Bath tap... nothing. Shower head... nothing, but I could hear water dripping. As I moved my hand along the bath I felt a drop of water hit my head. Sure enough water was dripping through the light fitting. Damn. I was going to have to wake Emma.
With us all awake and the girls getting dresses, Emma and I went down to reception and notified the Duty Manager. He travelled up in the lift, with us, and headed to the sixth floor to check the room above. A few minutes later he arrived at our room to inspect the leak. There was nothing untoward in the room above, so the leak must be coming from another room. He immediately put our worries behind us by assuring us that we were in no danger, but still offered us another room for our trouble. We declined this as we would be checking out after breakfast. The only thing we were upset about was not enjoying the bed for long enough. Premier Inn beds are the most comfortable that we have ever slept in.
I would just like to say that all of the staff were excellent and dealt with the issue professionally. We have stayed at many Premier Inns, not just in London but across the country, and this is the first time we have ever had an issue. This will not put us off using them again.
So, we headed down for an early breakfast and enjoyed everything that was on offer. Suitably full we headed to our room, collected our things and checked out. We informed the man at reception that we were checking out, so that if they needed to check the ceiling, the room was free.
On leaving the hotel we made our way down Junction Road, checking out the Charity Shops, before stopping at Starbucks, which is in an old pub, for some caffeine.
Suitably caffeined up we crossed Junction Road to Navigator Square and began our walk.
Heading up Archway Road I took lots of photos of the derelict Archway Campus, which began its life as The Holborn and Finsbury Union Workhouse Infirmary, which was built between 1877-79. It is a wonderful building that needs to be protected.
Keilyn spotted a mural and I took her photo with it, before I wandered off ahead to take a photo of Highgate Archway.
This iron viaduct, built in 1900, although impressive, is not a patch on the original Roman-style viaduct, designed by John Nash in 1813.
We then turned down Waterlow Road, which brought us on to Highgate Hill. A little further on and the impressive St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church towered over the surrounding buildings.
It was here that we entered Waterlow Park, where, once the facilities were used, we sat in the shade, while Erin and Keilyn took to the playground.
Suitably rested we continued the short distance to Swain's Lane and Highgate Cemetery.
Our tour began at 12:00 with our guide, Nigel, explaining, in brief, the history of the cemetery, before our group headed up the Colonnade Path and into the heart of the West Cemetery. The tour lasted a full 90 minutes and we saw and learned a lot. We visited the graves of Thomas Sayers, Elizabeth Jackson, George Michael, Michael Faraday, Alexander Litvinenko and so many more, learning interesting facts about each one.
To see more photographs from the West Cemetery click the link below.
Once the tour was completed we made our way across Swain's Lane and entered the East Cemetery.
We had a map that highlighted some of the more famous residents, but soon we put this away and just followed the paths, taking in the tranquillity and admiring the various gravestones, memorials and mausoleums.
Some of these are quite eclectic.
To see more photographs from the East Cemetery click the link below.
Once we had seen enough we made our way to the gates and headed south along Swain's Lane. While the East Cemetery could still be seen to our left, private roads with Tudor-styled houses spread away to our right.
As we approached the end of Swain's Lane we could see Holly Village. Holly Village is a Victorian Gothic designed small village of private houses. It was designed and built in 1865 by Henry Darbyshire for Angela Baroness Burdett-Coutts.
A short distance further along and we found ourselves on Highgate Road, opposite where we had caught the bus to Archway, yesterday. We didn't have to wait long before the 214 bus arrived, whisking us away to St Pancras International.
We alighted from the bus and made our way down Midland Road and onto Euston Road. We could hear a loudspeaker announcement, coming from King's Cross station, stating that the station was being evacuated due to a customer emergency. Damn.
As we were walking by the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel I decided to take Keilyn inside to see the Grand Staircase, which was used in the film 'Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets'.
From here we headed to King's Cross station, where we purchased some food and sat down, waiting for the nearby underground station to reopen.
It didn't take long and we were soon heading underground and clambering aboard a Metropolitan line train that was rammed from end-to-end with 'Swifties', who were travelling to Wembley Stadium to catch Taylor Swift in concert. Fortunately, for us, we only had to travel three stops to Baker Street.
Changing at Baker Street the Watford-bound train was deserted compared to our last train, so we sat back and relaxed as the train meandered its way though Metroland towards Watford and home.
Distance travelled:
- Bus - 2.4 miles
- Cable Car - 0.0 miles
- Car - 0.0 miles
- DLR - 0.0 miles
- Ferry - 0.0 miles
- Overground - 0.0 miles
- River Boat - 0.0 miles
- Taxi - 0.0 miles
- Train - 0.0 miles
- Underground - 18.3 miles
- Walking - 3.2 miles
Driven past that archway a few times, had no idea it was so old
ReplyDeleteThanks for leaving a comment. I would have liked to have seen the original viaduct, but this iron one, from 1900, is still impressive.
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