{"id":758,"date":"2012-09-15T17:41:24","date_gmt":"2012-09-15T17:41:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/?p=758"},"modified":"2012-10-17T21:11:06","modified_gmt":"2012-10-17T21:11:06","slug":"kings-cross-to-ivinghoe-beacon-stage-2-lisson-grove-to-greenford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/2012\/09\/kings-cross-to-ivinghoe-beacon-stage-2-lisson-grove-to-greenford\/","title":{"rendered":"King’s Cross to Birmingham (Grand Union canal) stage 2: Lisson Grove to Greenford"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the second stage of the\u00a0King\u2019s Cross to Ivinghoe Beacon jaunt via the Grand Union Canal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Route
Route map<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Took the bus from King’s Cross to Baker street where I walked on down past the Westway…<\/p>\n

I’m up and down the Westway, in an’ out the lights
\nWhat a great traffic system – it’s so bright
\nI can’t think of a better way to spend the night
\nThen speeding around underneath the yellow lights<\/p>\n

The Clash – London’s Burning<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Joe
Joe Strummer subway at the Westway<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

…and arrived at the trail head, Paddington.<\/p>\n

\"Trail
Trail head at Paddington<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was lunchtime and the place was full of office workers eating and students lounging about smoking fags in the indifferent sun.<\/p>\n

I soon hit the tow path proper and admired the brightly decorated narrowboats.<\/p>\n

\"Colourful
Colourful narrowboat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first hour of the walk took me through inner city west London, the tow path largely empty apart from the occasional cyclist, the canal itself largely empty other than Moorhen parents frantically feeding their endlessly chirping chicks.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0North Circular Road aqueduct took me by surprise! \u00a0It really was the last thing I was expecting and I stood for a while marvelling at the sight.<\/p>\n

The photo I took below really\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0do it justice.<\/p>\n

\"North
North Circular Aqueduct<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So admire this one instead (borrowed with thanks from www.canalworld.net)<\/a> :<\/p>\n

\"North<\/a>
North Circular aqueduct (1978)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just after the aqueduct I spotted the rather\u00a0forlorn\u00a0and smelly River Brent <\/a>which leads on down to the Thames. \u00a0Another walk for another day.<\/p>\n

\"The
The River Brent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The tow path took me past light industrial units and factories. \u00a0Signs along the way reflected the\u00a0ethnic\u00a0mix of the area.<\/p>\n

\"Do
Do not feed the birds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eventually I reached the suburbs…<\/p>\n

\"Sudbury
Sudbury golf course<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

…and took a diversion from the canal to walk up\u00a0Horsenden Hill.<\/p>\n

\"The
The view south from Horsenden Hill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A couple of miles later I reached Greenford. Actually, I smelt it first as the Hovis factory is based just by the tow path.<\/p>\n

By the entrance to the canal is a pub called the Black Horse<\/a>. \u00a0I stopped there for a half pint of London Pride and reflected on a good walk.<\/p>\n

\"A
A half pint of London Pride at the Black Horse, Greenford.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the second stage of the\u00a0King\u2019s Cross to Ivinghoe Beacon jaunt via the Grand Union Canal. Took the bus…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[51,141,32,52,33],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":791,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758\/revisions\/791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}