Days 39-40: July 29th & 30th

We had a leisurely day after arriving at Pauline’s. She lives in a very nice suburb called Woodside Park which is a subset of Finchley in north London. It was great to catch up with washing and there was a great drying breeze also. It’s amazing how good it is to do some normal domestic things after travelling constantly for over a month.
After lunch it was decided that we would go for a walk along a route that the kids often use for a run.
Pauline’s street is laid out with a village green in the middle so all the houses have a lovely outlook from the front as well as back gardens.

This is looking from the front door. There was a squirrel out there having the zoomies this morning and evidently there are foxes on a regular basis.

Up the road and along the lane and we get to the local primary school. Then another 100m and you get to this little pond where there are seats and always people sitting there. The pond is the home of Herry the Heron.

It’s not a big pond and the water quality is being actively worked on but still nice so close to the neighbourhood.

What I didn’t expect was the large area of reserve and green belt that is just behind the pond. And there’s a farm adjoining which evidently will be designated for agricultural production so there is no possibility to change that!

The council has been doing a lot of work putting in new paths.

There were a few other people out walking and dog walkers but it was not exactly bustling and amazing to have in the middle of London.

We came out in an area near some very large homes, some of which were being refurbished into flats as well as some new builds (that all look like old builds).

This one is just up the road from the pond.

There were hopes we could have a drink at the local pub and sit out in the garden but as usual there was no room at the inn for those that did not book.

The Orange Tree is just up the road from the pond so we had walked a big loop. My watch told me the entire walk was just over 3km and most of that was on the reserve walkways.

Instead we went back to Chiddingfold (the name of Pauline’s enclave – no road or avenue or street – just Chiddingfold) and had a pre dinner drink in her sunny garden, which was much nicer anyway.

Pauline is an excellent cook so our barbecue tea (the meat, expertly cooked by Craig) was rather a banquet. Good thing we had the walk.

As per the night before we played hearts. I think my card playing for this trip may have peaked in Corfe Castle. Things have not been so good since then.
Today has also been a very low key day. The weather forecast was accurate and we were glad to go for a walk before lunch as it has rained most of the afternoon. We walked back to the pond but this time turned the other way and ended up just down the road from their local cafe where we had a coffee before heading back for soup and salad for lunch.

We have leftover barbecue and new salads tonight. A nice relaxing day.
Surely Craig and I will fare better at cards!