Sunshine in Pentonville Road

It was another warm, sunny day so we put off our weekly shopping run and went to the bus stop in Pentonville Road.

Aboard the 205

We boarded a 205 bus and off we went down City Road.

Bishopsgate

We left the bus in Bishopsgate where the tall buildimgs turn the street into a valley of shadow.

Arcade

We walked along the arcaded pavement until we came to a branch of Black Sheep Coffee.

On the terrace
Photo by Tigger

We sat out on the terrace and had… yes, we had our usual coffee and croissants.

Orphans
Bram Ellens

We now set out on foot through the quiet City streets (so busy in the week, like a ghost town at weekends). On the way we passed the above creation, allegedly art, which reminded us that we have not done our usual tour of the year’s Sculpture in the City.

Sainsbury’s Local

We popped into a Sainsbury’s Local store to pick up some sustenance for the trip ahead.

Fenchurch Street Station

We then continued on to Fenchurch Street Station. (The coloured plastic is an installation by Jun T. Lai, entitled Bloom Paradise.)

The train to Grays

We boarded a virtually empty train going to Grays.

Off we go!

There was a while to wait and then off we went!

Costa, Upminster

We changed at Upminster. Trains are not running to our destination today and rail replacement buses are one an hour so we came to Costa in the meantime.

Back to station

We went to the bus stop in plenty of time. We waited for the bus. And waited. We allowed for the bus to be late and waited a while linger. In the end, we decided the bus was not coming and gave up on it. We returned to the station and descended to Platform 1 to catch a train back to London,

On the train

The train was pretty crowded but we managed to find seats.

Fenchurch Street

We arrived back in London and walked along Fenchurch Street towards the church you can see in the background, St Botolph without Aldgate.

St Botolph’s church garden

We found a shaded bench in the garden of St Botolph’s and ate the lunch we had bought earlier in the day.

Black Sheep takeaway

Nearby was a Black Sheep Coffee stall. We bought takeaway coffees and took them back to our bench.

Aboard the 205

Then we walked to a nearby bus stop where we could catch a 205 for the Angel. We had to sit at the back, next to the engine. Nice in winter but not so good now that the weather is warmer!

It was disappointing, and somewhat frustrating, not to reach our intended destination but we at least had a pleasant day out and we will try again to reach our goal another day!