Today’s outing was the reverse of yesterday’s in that we took the bus out and walked back. It was Tigger’s plan and I waited to see where it led.
The weather was mainly cloudy with occasional sunny moments but it was cold, very cold.
Catching the bus
We went down to St John Street and caught a number 153 bus.
On the bus
The bus was not at all crowded and we easily found a seat.
“Help yourself”
Tigger followed the route on her phone and at the propitious moment, we left the bus. At the house by the bus stop was a box of books labelled “Help yourself”. That’s one way of disposing of unwanted but serviceable items, especially when secondhand bookshops are closed.
Not a crescent
Our way led into this street inappropriately named Crescent Street but which absolutely straight.
Entrance to Barnsbury Wood
In this street is an entrance to Barnsbury Wood, billed as “the smallest nature reserve in London”. From the entrance, it looks to be a pleasant, if small, woodland.
Unfortunately, there were a lot of people in the wood. There were children running about in the undergrowth, crashing about. We made a quick tour and then left. Here are some pictures of it.
To be honest, I was quite relieved to leave. People have every right to visit the wood as we did but there were too many for comfort.
St Andrew’s Barnsbury
We walked down into Thornhill Crescent where the Church of St Andrew Barnsbury resides.
Thornhill Crescent
Thornhill Crescent is curved, as its name suggests, and seems to be a fairly elegant residential area with handsome Georgian style houses.
The Cuckoo, once the Huntingdon Arms
We noticed the pub, now called the Cuckoo, because it has a plaque on the side which is probably original to the building though it has become illegible. The pub is Victorian and the plaque probably relates to its original name, the Huntingdon Arms.
Sphinxes
We walked up Richmond Avenue where several of the houses have pairs of Egyptian style sphinxes flanking their front doors.
Barnard Park
This road brought us to Barnard Park and we walked through it. It too was quite busy, mainly with children, including what looked like a school party supervised by a teacher. There was also this quieter area though we did not stop.
Portrait of a tree
I did, however, pause long enough to take this portrait of a tree. It has developed a very noble structure.
Barnsbury Road
After a short spell on Barnsbury Road, we arrived at Culpeper Park.
Culpeper Park
Despite the cold, there were quite a few people in this park as well. Tigger proposed paying a quick visit to the Culpeper Community Garden.
Community Garden pond
We hoped we might see frogs or toads in the pond but the water was disappointingly still.
Culpeper pigeons
On the way out of the park I of course took a picture of “my friends” the pigeons – but I’m sure you expected me to do so!
At Mercer’s for coffee
And here I am at our last port of call: Mercer’s, where I collected our takeaway coffee. From here, we were soon home while the coffee was still hot.
I had heard about Barnsbury Wood and so I am glad to have seen it but I don’t think we will be hurrying back to visit it again. In my opinion, overuse by the public is spoiling it and reducing its value as a “nature reserve”. I don’t know what the solution might be to that conundrum.
SilverTiger at home and abroad 