The plan was to revisit my old haunts from when I daily schlepped between the Angel and the South Bank, the warren of runs and ways I etched into my consciousness through repeated walking stretching from Bloomsbury across Clerkenwell, Finsbury, Islington and The City.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Recovery walk
I needed a walk to help recover from a violent stomach bug - the kind that has you laid out for 3 days and still has me on a diet of cous-cous and boiled veg. Walking therapy works for me like no other remedy.
The plan was to revisit my old haunts from when I daily schlepped between the Angel and the South Bank, the warren of runs and ways I etched into my consciousness through repeated walking stretching from Bloomsbury across Clerkenwell, Finsbury, Islington and The City.
I start at Lincoln's Inn Fields then move onto Fleet Street. I perch in St. Dunstan's-in-the-West and listen to the choir practice. Up Fetter Lane then breach the border of High Holborn entering the mental realm of lower-Islington. Leather Lane is full of lunchtime bustle. Drop down Herbal Hill behind the Guardian offices then along to Back Hill where St. Martin's students spread out along the curb munching and sunning themselves. I look through into Black Mary's Hole, the majesty of Mount Pleasant Sorting Office looms above. I skirt the bomb-site (the last in London?) and then I'm tugged westwards along Calthorpe Street. I sit and reflect in St. Andrew's Gardens. Push on along Grays Inn Road with a nod to the Calthorpe Project. Stop for a bagel and a coffee (always feels wrong to eat a ham bagel). Harrison Street heading west opens up another front of nostalgia, then along Sidmouth Street and into Tavistock Place. The magnetic force of Judd Street Books is too powerful to resist and I lose myself in there for some time. I cut behind Camden
Town Hall where I once argued with the registrars. Descend into Britannia Street the screech of tubes pulling into Kings Cross below, photo the flats I'm sure are in Mike Leigh's High Hopes. Lorenzo Street (missed Penton Rise) across Pentonville Road and down along Calshot Street. I've neglected to account for post viral fatigue, I'm dizzy, my legs go, I have to regain myself on the steps of the new Peabody Building for the final push. Suck on a Murray Mint. On up the mound. Duck into the old estate - no sign of Sam sitting out in front of his flat. Over to Chapel Market, the Salmon & Compasses having yet another refurb. The record shop I loved has gone - I'd planned to buy the Saint Etienne CD that has been playing in my head all day. Cash Converters has replaced the video shop and Woolies has become Waitrose in a bold statement of intent that the Angel is moving up in the world. Wind up in Borders browsing the stacks of 3 for 2s. End - No.56 bus home. I feel infinitely better.
The plan was to revisit my old haunts from when I daily schlepped between the Angel and the South Bank, the warren of runs and ways I etched into my consciousness through repeated walking stretching from Bloomsbury across Clerkenwell, Finsbury, Islington and The City.
Labels:
bloomsbury,
clerkenwell,
holborn,
islington,
kings cross,
penton,
pentonville,
walking
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3 comments:
Almost as good as taking the walk myself - thanks John.
I had a bacon bagel the other day - evoked a similar feeling of wrongness - but was very tasty!
Showing my ignorance now, and meant to ask after the last blog: what is Black Mary's Hole? Sounds like it should have some historic / esoteric significance...
I love reading about your walks. There is something totally conforting about a good long walk. You see the surroudings in different terms when you stroll along.
I can't wait to come back across the pond and go walking...till then I walk, and connect daily.
Did you answer the questions about Black Mary's Hole ?
Hi Maureen
Here's some more info on Black Mary's Hole from an earlier blog posting
The origins are obscure. Either a well in the gardens of the convent of the Blessed Mary that became Black Mary after the Reformation; or more literally that a black woman called Mary used the dispense the water from the well. One writer, Chesca Potter, theorises that it could have been dedicated to the Black Madonna (still worshipped in Poland Nick tells us) who is a manifestation of the much older lunar goddess Black Isis. She also took a medium to the site who believed it to have been a sacrificial pit. This would tie-in with the likelihood that the area was used for pagan worship as Druids were known to have worshiped streams and wells – the river Fleet that runs nearby was known as the Turnmill Brook and the area is rich with springs. There is something about the darkness of this spot that adds to the plausibility of this idea. I’m sure there were more than a few believers in the heyday of Grays Inn Buildings site just above the hole.
the rest of the walk is here: http://islingtongue.blogspot.com/2006/05/evening-perambulation-of-wells-and.html
And here are a couple of other references:
http://tinyurl.com/q6erxf http://tinyurl.com/rxu5fb
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