We spent most of the day at home where we had things to attend to. In the evening, we thought we were entitled to spoil ourselves a little by going out to supper.

The Angel Crossroads

It was a warn, sunny evening as we passed through the Angel crossroads.

St John Street

We went into St John Street to catch a bus along Upper Street. There was a pretty summer sky overhead.

The Red Lion

While I was there, I took a photo of the Red Lion theatre pub. I’ve photographed it before but it is a handsome building with a long history and worth photographing from time to time .

Aboard the 19

We caught a number 19 bus along Upper Street. We intended to see whether one of our favourites, the Workers’ Cafe, was open.

Workers’ Cafe – closed

It was most definitely closed. So we started walking back along Upper Street, looking to see what was on offer.

Le Mercury

Reading menus, we proceeded along Upper Street, and eventually plumped for the restaurant on this corner, called Le Mercury. It is a small restaurant but well run.

Theatre Boxes?

A curiosity of the place is that it contains a set of what look like diminutive theatre boxes, two up and two down.

Bread and butter

You are served French bread and butter. We chose the Prix Fixe menu which had vegetarian options.

Starter: Crushed Avocado

Main course: Cauliflower Steak

Dessert: Crème Brulée

We chose three courses, as above. The cauliflower “steak”, despite the name, is vegetarian and contains no meat, just a selection of vegetables, principally cauliflower.

The Old Post Office

Afterwards, we walked across the road to the bus stop in front of St Mary’s Church. From here you have a good view of the handsome old post office now “redeveloped” under the silly name of “Islington Square”.

Aboard the 30

We caught a number 30 bus to start our journey home. We still had a pleasant evening ahead of us.

As it’s a sunny afternoon, after lunch I went into Myddelton Square Garden and found a bench to sit on.

In Myddelton Square Garden

I had brought a book with me and alternated reading and watching the pigeons.

Then my phone pinged: it was an email from Tigger, proposing to meet for coffee when she left work at 6 pm. I was happy to agree and will go to her office so that we can go on together from there.

Aboard the 153

I preferred to catch a 153 as it is likely to be less crowded than the 205 at this time of day.

All Hallows

I have to change buses at All Hallows Church in London Wall.

Aboard the 100

Fortunately, I didn’t have long to wait for a 100 to come along.

Views of St Katharine Docks

As usual, before entering the office building, I went to take a look at St Katharine Docks. Once trading docks, they now accommodate luxury yachts, many of which are moored here more or less permanently.

Black Sheep, Bishopsgate

At 6 pm we caught a bus to Bishopsgate and the branch of Black Sheep Coffee that is there. It has nice comfy settees – if you can find one free. And we did!

Arcade

Afterwards, we went through this shopping arcade on our way to the bus station.

Open space

We crossed this open space which must have a name but I don’t know what it is.

Water feature

It has a rather tame water feature. The black dots are not fish or fallen leaves but are in the pattern of the stone.

Behind the station

This way leads us around behind Liverpool Street Station with its great arched roof.

Down steps to the alley

Then we go down streps to an alley wbich, finally…

Into the station

…leads us into the station, though we soon leave by another door in order to reach the bus stop.

Aboard the 153

Once again we chose the 153 because all other routes would be crowded at this time in the evening and we might not even find a seat whereas the 153 starts empty from the station and so we have a choice of all the seats!

The bus carried us quickly back to the Angel and home where we are having a little rest before supper and a pleasant evening in.

In Sainsbury’s

We did our usual weekly shopping at Sainsbury’s this morning and then took things easy till lunchtime.

St Mark’s, Myddelton Square

After lunch we went for a short, and very local, stroll. We passed through Myddelton Square where St Mark’s Church was lit by the sun.

Skyscape outside the deli
Photo by Tigger

The deli has started opening on Sundays again and so we called in there for coffee and sat outside under a pretty summer sky.

Lloyd Square

We then walked along into Lloyd Square and walked up the slope,…

BT Tower from Lloyd Square

…stopping just to take a photo of the BT Tower in the distance.

Door with three padlocks

Walking up Lloyd Street, we spied this door which was secured with, not one, but three padlocks in addition to two Yale locks. Is this to protect an empty property from squatters, we wondered?

Bevin Court

We passed Bevin Court which is now screened from the road by the foliage of its trees.

Cruikshank Street

We walked up Cruikshank Street and this reminded me strongly of the local walks we had taken during the lockdowns and how much I had enjoyed these.

Holford Mews
Photo bt Tigger

Passing Holford Mews, which branches off Cruikshank Street, we saw that it had been strangely painted, almost like a stage or film set. What is the purpose of this?

The reservoir

The reservoir is blooming becomingly like a park. Unfortunately, it is closed to the public though that is good in one sense as it makes it into a small but valuable wildlife sanctuary among city streets.

Penton Street

We crossed a busy Pentonville Road into Penton Street.

Dewey Road and Culpeper Park

From Penton Street we entered Dewey Road which gives access to Culpeper Park by the western entrance.

Community Garden – the pond

We paid a visit to the Community Garden where I saw that the pond was already more overgrown since my solo visit only ten days ago (see Visiting the community garden).

A view from the bench

We found a bench with one end in the shade and sat there for a while. The community is a really beautiful place to sit and stroll.

The vegetation is dense

The vegetation in the garden is now quite dense, giving all sorts of different sights and views.

Tree with seat

Near the south entrance there is a tree with a metal seat around it. We sat here for a while, enjoying the garden and its peaceful atmosphere.

A view from the tree seat

This is the view opposite the tree seat. You can see a little way along the path but not far. All the paths bend so that you cannot see very far along them. That makes them seem attractively mysterious, tempting you to follow them to see where they lead.

We carried some of the peacefulness with us as we returned home. Sadly, today is the end of the holiday and Tigger returns to work tomorrow. I must try to keep up the momentum and go out every day on my own. Will I succeed? We shall see… 🙂

Today is another day of strikes on the railway. This means that other modes of transport are likely to be busy too. We have planned a low-key day.

Myddelton’s deli

We started with our usual visit to the deli for coffee. We also bought a little something for lunch. (More about that later.)

Aboard the 19

We then went to Rosebery Avenue and boarded a 19 bus which was crowded.

Somewhere in Battersea

After what seemed a long, slow journey, we left the bus south of the Thames in Battersea.

BG

Inside BG
Photo by Tigger

We crossed the road to a cafe called BG and had coffee.

Looking towards Battersea Bridge

Looking towards Albert Bridge

We then went to sit beside the Thames where I took the above photos, the first looking west and the second, east.

Quiche for lunch
Photo by Tigger

We ate our lunch, a slice of quiche each, sitting on a bench beside the Thames.

Ransome’s Dock

From our bench, we had several ways to return home. I chose the one that involved crossing Albert Bridge. On the way we passed Ransome’s Dock, once a busy trading dock, now turned over to residential accommodation.

Approaching Albert Bridge

Albert Bridge, completed in 1873, is one of the prettier Thames Bridges. It has a delicate look to it. In fact, it turned out to be a little too delicate and in 1884-7 had to be strengthened, the work being undertaken by Sir Joseph Bazalgette. More strengthening was done in 1973 by the Greater London Council.

Crossing Albert Bridge-

These remedial works must have successful because the bridge is still in service carrying two-way traffic, as well as pedestrians, across the river. Today it is a Grade II listed building.

Distant view of Chelsea Bridge

Looking downstream, there is not another bridge for quite some distance, as you can see in the above photo. The next bridge downstream is Chelsea Bridge.

The 170 arrives

The bridge carried us to the north bank of the Thames in Cremorne Road. Here we waited for the single-deck 170 bus that would take us to Victoria Station.

Victoria Station

The bus was crowded and we had to stand but it did its job and carried us to Victoria Station.

“Little Ben”

Rather than start back straight away, we went round the corner for coffee. I grabbed a quick snap of “Little Ben” on the way.

Black Sheep Coffee

Tigger led us to a branch of Black Sheep Coffee that she knew was here. I suspect she knows the location of every branch of Black Sheep!

Outside Black Sheep

We sat at a table on the pavement in front of Black Sheep. The scenery was hardly entrancing but we did not stay long.

We intended to catch a number 38 bus back to the Angel but when we reached the stand, we found it empty. This was very unusual as there are usually two or three buses waiting here. The reason for the delay was some protest procession or other that was blocking the road. Once it had passed, the buses came in. This is the terminus of the route and the driver is supposed to have a rest period before starting again but because of the delay, the bus went out more or less immediately.

Aboard the 38

We sat at the back of the bus as we usually do on these buses with rear exits because that affords a quick exit on arrival at our stop. There were no more delays along the route and we arrived home in timely fashion.

Today is our last day in Broadstairs on this trip. We have to leave the apartment by 11 am so there’s no rush. We breakfasted, packed our bags and cleared the apartment. We could then sit and rest until it was time to leave.

A last look around

We left the apartment at 10 am and climbed the hill to Costa where we are meeting a friend. Our train is scheduled to leave at 15:25, assuming that yesterday’s rail strike has not left the network in disarray.

Viking Bay – a last look

On the way up Harbour Street, we stopped for a last look at Viking Bay.

Costa

At Costa, our usual corner was occupied but we found a table where we could wait for our friend.

Prezzo

After spending time in Costa with said friend, we all went down the road to Prezzo where we had lunch.

Pierremont Park

Having parted from our friend, we started up the hill of the High Street which is even more hilly when you are dragging a suitcase!

Pierremont Park

As we had nearly two hours before the departure of our train, we broke our journey in Pierremont Park. The morning had been cloudy but the sun had now come out and sitting in the park was pleasant.

Moth
Photo by Tigger

Tigger spotted and photographed this dusky moth.

Collared Dove
Photo by Tigger

A Collared Dove came by but was frightened away by passers-by

Broadstairs Station

After this pleasant interlude, we continued on and reached the station. We were still early, though, so…

Beano Cafe

…we crossed the road to a Beano Cafe where we had tea.

Broadstairs Station

In due course we crossed the road back to the station and platform 1 where our train should arrive.

Aboard the HS1

We were happy to fing that our train was running according to the timetable. It arrived on time and we went aboard. Goodbye, Broadstairs. Here’s to our next visit.

Hurrying through the countryside
Photo by Tigger

Off we go, hurrying through the countryside, heading for London.

Crossing the Medway
Photo by Tigger

We crossed the Medway, leaving the county of Kent behind us.

Arriving

We arrived at St Pancras and…

EL & N
Photo by Tigger

…went to EL & N for a last coffee. The Eurostar queue was as long and dense as ever, winding past the windows.

Aboard the 214
Photo by Tigger

We then made our way through the crowds to the station exit in Midland Road and after a short wait, boarded a 214 bus for home, bringing our Broadstairs trip to an end. We do at least still have the weekend to enjoy before returning once more to the workaday world.