June Challenge II.(d) Lines: a beer glass walk, between London parks

[squirmelia]

I attempted challenge II.(d), beer glass walk, yesterday in London, which started by Hyde Park, then circled round through Little Venice, to Regent's Park, and then back down through Baker Street, and back to the start.



I started the walk at the Tyburn pub, at Marble Arch, and then found myself standing at the marker for where the Tyburn tree (gallows) stood.



Then was a quite dull stretch along Bayswater Road.

Luckily things improved after that!

I met a friendly Indian man outside a restaurant:



I passed an art deco style building:



Then I crossed a rather rusty bridge:



Is this a firemen's training tower?



I then found myself in Little Venice, staring out over the canal:



A tour group were standing on the other side of the cabmen's shelter:



I then passed a very spiky looking church, a street that looked as if it should have horses walking down it, Lord's Cricket Ground, and this building:



A roundabout with who I assume was St George, and a dragon appeared before me, and then this building, which I at first thought had mermaids on it:



I reached Regent's Park and rested for a while on a bench, watching the birds and boats.

A few more buildings:




And then, after 5.84 miles, I was back at the Tyburn, where I had started.



MapMyWalk route.

Comments

[kabal42]

Looks like a great walk you had :) Thanks for sharing the pictures!

[kake]

Ooh, I like the windows at the end. And impressed by how circular you managed to make your walk!

[squirmelia]

I was annoyed by the bits that it made sense to just walk in straight line for a while. Zig-zagging seemed more interesting. :)

[spiralsheep]

That looks like a fire service training tower, yes. The architecture of cabmens' shelters often seems oddly whimsical. Those not-mermaids look a bit creepy to me when seen closer, although I thought the circles underneath looked like smileys in the small cap. I like your map. Imagine if beer glasses were actually that shape. They'd be difficult to wash-up properly.

[squirmelia]

The cabmen's shelter had a tour guide outside it explaining to a group. According to Wikipedia, there are 13 left in London.

I was disappointed to come home and find they weren't mermaids, when I looked at my photos! I wonder about locations in London where mermaids can be found. The Mermaid Theatre, I suppose, but there must be others. When I visited the Pirate Supply Store in San Francisco, I was eager to get some mermaid bait or repellent, but alas, they had none in stock.

[spiralsheep]

I expect there are fountains with mermaids and there must be some near the Thames. I remembered that there are, slightly disturbingly, mermaids on Fishmongers Hall:

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMDET3_Mermaid_Merman_King_William_Street_London_UK

Better pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rob_sg/6212321142/

Also on the seafarers' memorial at Tower Hill:

http://www.waymarking.com/gallery/image.aspx?f=1&guid=3cb3beb7-eddb-4517-8cc5-ad0b6f852751

And Victoria Station:

http://www.speel.me.uk/sculptmonth/1207.htm

I once got a book titled Looking Up In London from the library and I found it worth a few minutes browsing.

Perhaps the monster supplies shop in Hoxton has mermaid related Items? Don't let them give you the heebie-jeebies though!

[squirmelia]

Thanks for the links! Some interesting mermaids there (one of which I saw during my bus challenge after you saying where to look :) ).

The Horniman Musuem apparently has a Merman.

[spiralsheep]

I sometimes wonder if collectors for the Horniman museum travelled the world saying, "That's all well and good but have you got anything more outlandish I could buy?"