Arcadian Walks and Drives in the North-West Part of London by W. Alfred Johnson (1874).
“Every one has heard the anecdote of ‘The newly reformed drunkard,’ who having just succeded in safely passing a public house, exclaimed, ‘Well done, resolution! you deserve a drop,’ and returning, entered the public house, and rewarded the strength of his resolution by taking a dram.
A friend of mine would take occasionally his 20 mile walk, and, resting after 10 miles, would indulge in a good dinner at the hotel somewhat on the principle of deserving it. In this way he partly destroyed the good effect of his labour.
If refreshment were needed, it should have been something light, as a chop and a glass of ale or of wine, or perhaps, generally better still, a glass of water.”
~ Arcadian Walks and Drives in the North-West Part of London – W. Alfred Johnson (1874).
Cycling in London.
Arcadian Walks and Drives in the North-West Part of London for the pedestrian, carriage, horse, and bicycle.
Despite proclaiming “of the Bicycle I have no experience,” Bayswater-based medical doctor W. Alfred Johnson, a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh. points out that “the carriage or bicycle can usually pass along much of the route mentioned” in his 1874 guide, which he published as a means to encourage the population of London to practice more physical exercise,
Writing, “I believe if it were generally known how very pretty the fields and lanes which abound in the north-west of London are they would be much more utilized than they are at present,” he goes on to list 22 different walks and 20 carriage drives, which he trusted to “be the means of turning the thoughts of many Londoners towards this matter, and induce them more frequently to indulge themselves in a country walk.”
Even when armed with a map from 1874, many of Johnson’s descriptions are hard to follow, and it is easy to imagine many of his readers getting lost and having to ask directions as they retrace his words.
Today, the places described are even more unrecognisable as the open fields, countryside footpaths, quaint villages, ponds and farm yards, which made up the landscape to the north and west of Notting Hill in 1873, have long since been cleared and industrialised to accommodate London’s ever-growing population, which has soared from 3.8 million to 9.8 million in that time.
That said, we have traced the routes as best we can on the roads which replaced those footpaths and country lanes, with many of the landmarks, inns, churches, graveyards, parks, stations and streets still surviving to this day, with nearly all of the routes offering plenty to interest the modern cyclist, with designated cycle paths offering some protection from the busy traffic.
It is possible to combine many of the routes, which all start at the Royal Oak inn on Westbourne Grove – today called “The Porchester” – a 5 minute walk from Royal Oak underground station (Hammersmith & City, and Circle lines).
🚲 While we recommend bringing your own cycle helmet for safety, there’s a choice of rent-a-bike docking stations in the area, including Bishop’s Bridge Road West opposite the pub, and you can also travel to Royal Oak on the train with your own bicycle (check TfL for restrictions here),
Kensal Green and St. Mary Cemetries.
Ride 1.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
2 km ~ Notting Hill Barn Farm stood until the 1880s in open countryside, on what is now the roundabout at St.Mark’s Road and Bassett Road.
3 km ~ Wormwood Scrubs Station, closed in 1893 (now the railway arch on North Pole Road).
3 km ~ 🍺 The Pavilion (was The Rifle Pavilion).
4 km ~ Linford Christie Stadium (was the Gun Club Rifle Butts).
5 km ~ St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetry,
6 km ~🚶🏻♂️ Kensal Green Cemetry is home to the graves of many famous people, with notable memorials including Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara, 1946-91), Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-59), Charles Babbage (1791–1871), Harold Pinter (1930-2008), and the son, daughter and grandson of King George III. Actors Ingrid Bergman and Alan Rickman are among many other famous names to be cremated here.
8 km ~ Kensal Town.
9 km ~ London Lock Hospital, the first sexual health hospital in the UK, moved to 283 Harrow Road in 1847 but was demolished in 1952 (now residential flats at Carlton Gate, Elmfield Way).
10 km ~ Lord’s Hill Bridge.
10 km ~ 🚂 Royal Oak station.
11 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Starch Green and Chiswick.
Ride 2.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
1 km ~ Notting Hill.
3 km ~ Shepherd’s Bush.
8 km ~ Hammersmith Bridge.
10 km ~ 🍴 “The handsome new grille” could be The Hand & Flower, Olympia.
11 km ~ Holland Park.
12 km ~ Notting Hill.
15 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Willesden Lane and Harlesden Green.
Ride 3.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
0 km ~ Lord’s Hill Bridge.
0 km ~ 🚂 Royal Oak station.
1 km ~ London Lock Hospital & Workhouse (was at 283 Harrow Road, now Carlton Gate building and flats, Elmfield Way).
3 km ~ 🍺 The Old Bell, Kilburn.
8 km ~ Roundwood Park (opened in 1895).
9 km ~ Harlesden.
11 km ~ Grand Union Canal (Paddington Branch).
12 km ~ Kensal New Town.
13 km ~ 🚂 Westbourne Park Station.
14 km ~ The author lived at 54 Hereford Road, Bayswater.
15 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
West End and Hampstead.
Ride 4.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
0 km ~ Lord’s Hill Bridge.
0 km ~ 🚂 Royal Oak station.
1 km ~ London Lock Hospital & Workhouse (was at 283 Harrow Road, now Carlton Gate building and flats, Elmfield Way).
3 km ~ 🍺 The Old Bell, Kilburn.
4 km ~ West Hampstead.
5 km ~ The Cock & Hoop Inn, West End Green (dating to 1752, it was demolished in 1902 to make way for Alexandra Mansions).
6 km ~ In 1873, Oak Hill Park was a large private estate, which covered the area around Oakhill Avenue, Redington Road, and Frognal, with Oak Hill Park now a private residential street.
7 km ~ 🍺 The Holly Bush and Holly Bush Steps.
7 km ~ 🏰 Fenton House & Gardens (National Trust).
7 km ~ Admiral’s House (featured in Mary Poppins).
8 km ~ Hampstead.
8 km ~ St. John-at-Hampstead Church with John Constable’s Tomb among other famous graves, including Peter Cook and the Llewelyn Davies family who inspired J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan.
9 km ~ Sailors’ Orphan Girls’ School & Home (Operated between 1869 and 1957, now Monro House care home, 116 Fitzjohn’s Avenue).
9 km ~ Royal Soldiers’ Daughters’ Home & School (Operated between 1858 and, demolished after a fire in the 1970s with various school buildings now on the site behind 88 Fitzjohn’s Avenue).
10 km ~ New College opened on College Crescent in 1851 and demolished in 1937 to make way for the two Northways flats.
10 km ~ 🍺 Ye Olde Swiss Cottage.
12 km ~ Kilburn.
14 km ~ Lord’s Hill Bridge.
14 km ~ 🚂 Royal Oak station.
15 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Willesden Junction and Kensal.
Ride 5.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
1 km ~ 🚂 Westbourne Park Station.
3 km ~ Kensal Green Cemetry.
5 km ~ Harlesden.
5 km ~ All Souls Church, Harlesden (built in 1879 to replace the iron church dating from 1867).
6 km ~ 🚂 Willesden Junction.
8 km ~ The Friars (demolished in 1989 and now a storage warehouse on corner of Wales Farm Road & Western Avenue).
8 km ~ Friar’s Place.
11 km ~ Wormword Scrubs Rifle Range (now the Linford Christie Stadium with surviving rifle butts acting as the stadium’s wall).
11 km ~ 🍺 Gun Club Rifle Buts (now The Pavilion).
12 km ~ Wormwood Scrubs Station, closed in 1893 (now the railway arch on North Pole Road).
13 km ~ Portobello Road.
16 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
East Acton and Starch Green.
Ride 6.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
3 km ~ Wormwood Scrubs Station, closed in 1893 (now the railway arch on North Pole Road).
4 km ~ Shepherd’s Bush.
6 km ~ St. Luke’s Church (dating to 1871, it was rebuilt in 1976).
6 km ~ 🍺 The Askew Arms (now The Askew).
7 km ~ East Acton,
11 km ~ Starch Green (this is all that remains of the Green).
12 km ~ 🍺 The Princess Victoria (location of Starch Green).
13 km ~ Shepherd’s Bush.
16 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Fortune Green and Willesden Lane.
Ride 7.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
(🚲 2 km ~ Maida Vale rent-a-bike docking station).
3 km ~ 🚂 Kilburn High Road.
4 km ~ St. Mary’s Church, Kilburn.
6 km ~West End (renamed West Hampstead in 1879).
6 km ~ Fortune Green.
8 km ~ Child’s Hill.
8 km ~ Shoot-Up Hill.
11 km ~ 🚂 Kilburn High Road.
(🚲 12 km ~ Maida Vale rent-a-bike docking station).
14 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Neasdon and Harlesden.
Ride 8.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
(🚲 2 km ~ Maida Vale rent-a-bike docking station).
3 km ~ 🚂 Kilburn High Road.
7 km ~ 🍺 The Crown, Cricklewood.
8 km ~ Dollis Hill.
10 km ~ Neasden.
11 km ~ St. Mary’s Church, Willesden (Rectory opposite demolished in 2015 and now large apartment block).
12 km ~ Harlesden.
14 km ~ 🚂 Willesden Junction. (🚲 No nearby rent-a-bike).
15 km ~ 🚂 Kensall Green. (🚲 No nearby rent-a-bike).
(🚲 18 km ~ Westbourne Park rent-a-bike docking station).
19 km ~ The author lived at 54 Hereford Road, Bayswater.
19 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Hanger Hill and Perivale.
Ride 9.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
6 km ~ Harlesden.
6 km ~ All Souls Church, Harlesden.
8 km ~ Ruckhold Farm (demolished and now Central Middlesex Hospital).
13 km ~ Hoover Building (built in 1933).
14 km ~ St. Mary’s Church, Perivale (12th Century church).
17 km ~ Hanger Hill.
19 km ~ North Ealing.
20 km ~ Ealing Common.
22 km ~ Acton Park.
25 km ~ 🚂 Shepherd’s Bush (🚲 Rent-a-bike stations nearby).
28 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Twyford Abbey and Acton.
Ride 10.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
1 km ~ 🚂 Westbourne Park Station.
2 km ~ Grand Union Canal (Paddington Branch).
8 km ~ Twyford Abbey (the large manor house and grounds, derelict since 1988, can best be viewed from St Mary’s Church, West Twyford; the original small 17th century chapel, encased in an 1808 rebuild, was given a modern extension in 1958).
13 km ~ East Acton.
19 km ~ The author lived at 54 Hereford Road, Bayswater.
19 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Child’s Hill and Hampstead Heath Walk.
Ride 11.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
1 km ~ 🚂 Westbourne Park Station.
3 km ~ Parish Church of St John the Evangelist, Kensal.
6 km ~ Willesden.
7 km ~ 🚂 Cricklewood Station. (🚲 No nearby rent-a-bike).
10 km ~ Hampstead Heath.
11 km ~ 🚂 Hampstead Heath Station. (🚲 No rent-a-bike).
12 km ~ St. Stephen’s Church, Hampstead, opened in 1870.
13 km ~ 🚂 Swiss Cottage. (🚲 No nearby rent-a-bike).
19 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Stone Bridge, Twyford and Scrubs .
Ride 12.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
3 km ~🚶🏻♂️ Kensal Green Cemetry is home to the graves of many famous people, with notable memorials including Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara, 1946-91), Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-59), Charles Babbage (1791–1871), Harold Pinter (1930-2008), and the son, daughter and grandson of King George III. Actors Ingrid Bergman and Alan Rickman are among many other famous names to be cremated here.
6 km ~ Harlesden.
8 km ~ Stonebridge Park.
9 km ~ Coach House apartments, 175 Hill Side (was The Coach & Horses from 1770 until 1920).
14 km ~ The People’s Garden (or Willesden Gardens) was a German-style biergarten, located between Old Oak Common Lane and the Grand Junction Canal, next to the railway bridge, from 1870 to 1885, when it became part of the Great Western Railway sidings and sheds; today Loverose Way.
16 km ~ Wormword Scrubs Rifle Range (now the Linford Christie Stadium with surviving rifle butts acting as the stadium’s wall).
17 km ~ Wormwood Scrubs Station, closed in 1893 (now the railway arch on North Pole Road).
18 km ~ Portobello Road.
21 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Neasdon and Welsh Harp .
Ride 13.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
0 km ~ Lord’s Hill Bridge.
0 km ~ 🚂 Royal Oak station.
1 km ~ London Lock Hospital & Workhouse (was at 283 Harrow Road, now Carlton Gate building and flats, Elmfield Way).
3 km ~ 🍺 The Old Bell, Kilburn.
6 km ~ 🍺 Costa Coffee, Willesden (was The Spotted Dog from 1762 until 2011, with the facade retained).
—
From here, it is very difficult to follow Johnson’s directions, even when armed with maps from 1873, not least for the fact that the six “tempting” fields and the farmyards passed through have long since disappeared and the expansive panoramic views are now completely obstructed. It is possible the route taken was:
—
9 km ~ Neasdon.
11 km ~ Brent Reservoir (known as “the Welsh Harp”).
13 km ~ Dating to 1751 and a major tourist destination in its time, The Old Welsh Harp inn, was demolished in 1971 to make way for the Staples Corner West Roundabout. It was served by the Welsh Harp railway station opposite (now the site of Travelodge Brent Cross), which operated from 1870 until it was demolished in 1903,
—
Just a day after the world’s first cycle race took place at Parc de Saint-Cloud, Paris, William Perkins Warner, the landlord of the Old Welsh Harp, organised Britain’s first ever formal bicycle race at the Welsh Harp on the 1st June 1868, which was won by Arthur Markham on a Michaux “velocipede”.
—
15 km ~ 🍺 The Crown, Cricklewood.
17 km ~ Christ Church with St. Laurence, Brondesbury.
19 km ~ 🚂 Kilburn High Road.
(🚲 20 km ~ Maida Vale rent-a-bike docking station).
23 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Putney, Hammersmith and Chiswick.
Ride 14.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
1 km ~ Kensington Gardens.
5 km ~ Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge Stadium opened in 1877.
6 km ~ Walham Green (🚂 Fulham Broadway Station).
8 km ~ Putney Bridge.
11 km ~ Hammersmith Bridge.
13 km ~ St. Nicholas Church, Chiswick.
14 km ~ 🍺 The Feathers Inn, dating back to 1722, was demolished in the late 1950s to make way for the Hogarth Roundabout. Nearby The George and Devonshire pub dates back to 1650.
14 km ~ 🏰 Hogarth’s House (home of painter William Hogarth from 1749 to 1764. Now a museum with free admission).
15 km ~ 🏰 Chiswick House & Gardens.
16 km ~ Turnham Green.
17 km ~ Chiswick Back Common.
17 km ~ 🚂 Turnham Green Station.
18 km ~ Starch Green.
23 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Hampstead Hill and Finchley Road .
Ride 15.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
0 km ~ Lord’s Hill Bridge.
0 km ~ 🚂 Royal Oak station.
1 km ~ London Lock Hospital & Workhouse (was at 283 Harrow Road, now Carlton Gate building and flats, Elmfield Way).
3 km ~ 🍺 The Old Bell, Kilburn.
3 km ~ 🚂 Kilburn High Road. (🚲 No nearby rent-a-bike).
5 km ~ 🚂 Swiss Cottage. (🚲 No nearby rent-a-bike).
5 km ~ 🏰 Freud Museum (Built in 1920 and home to Sigmund Freud in the last year of his life from 1938-39).
7 km ~ Hampstead.
8 km ~ Jack Straw’s Castle (rebuilt in 1964 after heavy bomb damage during WWII, the famous 18th century coaching house, which appears in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land, closed in 2002 to become apartments and offices).
8 km ~ North End.
11 km ~ 🍺 The Royal Oak, closed in 2006 and is now an estate agent at 1117 Finchley Road.
14 km ~ 🚶🏻♂️🏰 Lord Mansfield’s Kenwood House (free entry).
16 km ~ Hampstead Heath.
18 km ~ 🏰 Keats House (Built in 1815 and home to Romantic poet John Keats 1818-20. Now a museum).
23 km ~ 🚂 Kilburn High Road.
26 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Willesden Village and Wembley Park.
Ride 16.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
1 km ~ 🚂 Westbourne Park Station.
3 km ~ Parish Church of St John the Evangelist, Kensal.
6 km ~ Demolished in 1908, Willesden Congregational Chapel stood on the corner of High Road and Dudden Hill Lane.
8 km ~ Neasden.
10 km ~ St. Andrew’s Church, Kingsbury.
12 km ~ Wembley Stadium (rebuilt in 2007 to replace the original stadium which dated to 1923 and was built on the spot of Watkin’s Folly – an uncompleted tower designed in 1891 to be higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris). In 1873, the area was the expansive Wembley Park and manor, with the mansion demolished in 1903. It is home to the England national football team, who were established in 1872, just two years before the book was published.
16 km ~ Wembley Hill (fire damaged in 2013, the original Wembley Park gatekeeper’s lodge can still be found at no. 114).
20 km ~ Harlesden.
24 km ~ Kensall Town.
14 km ~ 🚂 Royal Oak station.
26 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Alperton and Sudbury .
Ride 17.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
3 km ~ Shepherd’s Bush.
7 km ~ Acton.
8 km ~ Ealing Common.
11 km ~ Hanger Hill,
12 km ~ Alperton.
15 km ~ Sudbury.
16 km ~ 🚂 Wembley Central Station (was known as Sudbury Station until the 1948 Olympic Games).
19 km ~ The Orange Tree Tavern was a beautiful large pub which stood on Hillside, Stonebridge, from 1861 until 2001 when it was demolished to make way for apartments and a Tesco Express.
21 km ~ Harlesden.
23 km ~ Kensall Green.
27 km ~ The author lived at 54 Hereford Road, Bayswater.
27 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Finchley and Hampstead .
Ride 18.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
0 km ~ Lord’s Hill Bridge.
0 km ~ 🚂 Royal Oak station.
1 km ~ London Lock Hospital & Workhouse (was at 283 Harrow Road, now Carlton Gate building and flats, Elmfield Way).
3 km ~ 🍺 The Old Bell, Kilburn.
5 km ~ 🚂 Finchley Road Station. (🚲 No nearby rent-a-bike).
5 km ~ 🚂 Finchley Road & Frognal Station. (🚲 No rent-a-bike).
7 km ~ Jack Straw’s Castle (rebuilt in 1964 after heavy bomb damage during WWII, the famous 18th century coaching house, which appears in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land, closed in 2002 to become apartments and offices).
8 km ~ 🍺 Spaniard’s Inn (dating to 1585, the historic pub was frequented by Dick Turpin, Byron and Keats and features in Charles Dickens’s The Pickwick Papers and Bram Stoker’s Dracula).
8 km ~ 🚶🏻♂️🏰 Lord Mansfield’s Kenwood House (free entry).
12 km ~ 🚶🏻♂️East Finchley Cemetery contains many famous graves, most notably Thomas Stevens, the first person to cycle the globe in 1885 and author of Around the World on a Bicycle.
13 km ~ The Manor House (now The Sternberg Centre, 80 East End Road).
14 km ~ Stephens House & Gardens (built in 1859 and bought in 1874 by Henry Charles “Inky” Stephens, heir to the Stephens Ink Company).
20 km ~ West Hampstead.
21 km ~ 🚂 Kilburn High Road.
25 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Welsh Harp and Hendon.
Ride 19.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
0 km ~ Lord’s Hill Bridge.
0 km ~ 🚂 Royal Oak station.
1 km ~ London Lock Hospital & Workhouse (was at 283 Harrow Road, now Carlton Gate building and flats, Elmfield Way).
3 km ~ 🍺 The Old Bell, Kilburn.
3 km ~ 🚂 Kilburn High Road. (🚲 No nearby rent-a-bike).
8 km ~ Dating to 1751 and a major tourist destination in its time, The Old Welsh Harp inn, was demolished in 1971 to make way for the Staples Corner West Roundabout.
8 km ~ Welsh Harp railway station (now the site of Travelodge Brent Cross), operated from 1870 until it was demolished in 1903,
10 km ~ Hendon Park.
11 km ~ Hendon Town Hall (built in 1901).
12 km ~ Church End.
13 km ~ Our Lady of Dolours Church, Hendon.
13 km ~ Brentstreet was a small hamlet on Brent Street.
14 km ~ Hendon Baptist Church was built in 1886.
16 km ~ The two buildings which now make up Pardes House Primary and Grammar Jewish schools were originally Christ’s College from 1857 until it moved location in 1990.
16 km ~ Finchley.
19 km ~ East Finchley.
20 km ~ Child’s Hill.
20 km ~ The historic Castle Inn stood at 452 Finchley Road for 250 years until it was demolished in 2014 to make way for apartments. A blue plaque still serves as a reminder of its importance.
23 km ~ 🚂 Kilburn High Road.
24 km ~ 🚶🏻♂️ Paddington Recreational Green (no cycling).
26 km ~ Carlton Bridge.
27 km ~ The author lived at 54 Hereford Road, Bayswater.
27 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
West End and Finchley Church.
Ride 20.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
(🚲 2 km ~ Maida Vale rent-a-bike docking station).
3 km ~ 🚂 Kilburn High Road.
4 km ~ St. Mary’s Church, Kilburn.
6 km ~West End (renamed West Hampstead in 1879).
6 km ~ Fortune Green.
7 km ~ Cricklewood Tavern, 75 Cricklewood Lane, closed in 2014.
7 km ~ Middlesex Rifle Range stood on what is now allotments, behind the houses on the corner of The Vale and Hendon Way.
11 km ~ Shire Hall, Shirehall Lane, demolished in 1928.
12 km ~ Hendon Park.
13 km ~ Brentstreet was a small hamlet on Brent Street.
15 km ~ St Mary-at-Finchley Church, dates to the 12th century and enlarged in 1872.
16 km ~ 🚶🏻♂️ Dollis Valley Greenwalk (no cycling).
18 km ~ Brentstreet.
22 km ~ The historic Castle Inn stood at 452 Finchley Road for 250 years until it was demolished in 2014 to make way for apartments. A blue plaque still serves as a reminder of its importance.
22 km ~ Red Lion Inn, 253 Cricklewood Lane, converted into Primrose Court flats.
22 km ~ All Saints’ Child’s Hill Vicarage.
26 km ~ 🚂 Kilburn High Road.
30 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Highgate and Hornsey .
Ride 21.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
0 km ~ Lord’s Hill Bridge.
0 km ~ 🚂 Royal Oak station.
1 km ~ London Lock Hospital & Workhouse (was at 283 Harrow Road, now Carlton Gate building and flats, Elmfield Way).
3 km ~ 🍺 The Old Bell, Kilburn.
3 km ~ 🚂 Kilburn High Road.
6 km ~ 🚂 Swiss Cottage. (🚲 No nearby rent-a-bike).
6 km ~ Belsize Park.
6 km ~ St Stephen’s Church, Hampstead Green.
6 km ~ 🚂 Hampstead Heath Station (🚲 No nearby rent-a-bike).
7 km ~ 🚶🏻♂️ Parliament Hill (cycling allowed on only marked footpaths). George Orwell lived at 77 Parliament Hill for 6 months in 1935 while writing “Keep the Aspidstra Flying.”
10 km ~ St. Michael’s Church, Highgate.
10 km ~ Highgate School.
10 km ~ “Old fashioned alms houses,” 15-37 Southwood Lane.
11 km ~ 🚂 Built in 1868, as the “up” platform entrance for Highgate Station, located in a railway cutting below, 412 Archway is now a property agent. The station was rebuilt in the 1880s, and reconfigured in the 1930s, with the original 1867 “down” station building now a private house alongside the deserted platforms.
11 km ~ Coleridge Buildings, the first building on Shepherd’s Hill, was a “model lodging house” (low cost quality housing for the poor) from 1863 until it was destroyed by a German bomb in 1944. It was rebuilt as Goldsmith Court in 1950.
12 km ~ “A fine view of Alexandra Palace” (on your left while descending the hill, best seen opposite Berkeley Road).
13 km ~ 🍺 The Maynard Arms was built in 1851.
13 km ~ 🍺 The Hope & Anchor Inn. rebuilt in 1890 and now McCafferty’s Bar, 128 Tottenham Lane.
15 km ~ Finsbury Park.
17 km ~ 🚂 Finsbury Park Station (🚲 No nearby rent-a-bike).
18 km ~ Emirates Stadium (opened in 2006 and home to Arsenal F.C. established in 1886).
20 km ~ Caledonian Park.
22 km ~ Camden Town.
23 km ~ Regent’s Park.
29 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Edgware and Harrow .
Ride 22.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
0 km ~ Lord’s Hill Bridge.
0 km ~ 🚂 Royal Oak station.
1 km ~ London Lock Hospital & Workhouse (was at 283 Harrow Road, now Carlton Gate building and flats, Elmfield Way).
3 km ~ 🍺 The Old Bell, Kilburn.
3 km ~ 🚂 Kilburn High Road.
4 km ~ 🚂 Bondesbury Station was called Edgware Road Station until 1883.
14 km ~ Edgware.
14 km ~ St Margaret of Antioch Church, Edgware.
18 km ~ Kenton School House was demolished to make way for the flats at 389-423 Kenton Road, next to the scout hut and hospice
21 km ~ Harrow School.
25 km ~ Sudbury.
26 km ~ Wembley.
29 km ~ The Orange Tree Tavern was a beautiful large pub which stood on Hillside, Stonebridge, from 1861 until 2001 when it was demolished to make way for apartments and a Tesco Express.
31 km ~ Harlesden Green.
36 km ~ The author lived at 54 Hereford Road, Bayswater.
36 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
Afternoon Drive ~ Mill Lane and Sherrick Green .
Ride 23.
0 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
0 km ~ Lord’s Hill Bridge.
0 km ~ 🚂 Royal Oak station.
1 km ~ The Windsor Castle pub opened in 1829 on the junction of Harrow Road and Chippenham Road. It would go on to host early gigs from the Rolling Stones, The Who, The Jam and U2 with the The Clash song ‘Protex Blue‘ inspired by the pub’s condom machine. It closed in 2009 and was converted into apartments.
3 km ~ 🚂 Kilburn High Road.
4 km ~ West Hampstead.
9 km ~ Sherrick Green is now housing on the corner of Mulgrave Road and Duden Hill Lane.
13 km ~ Kilburn.
17 km ~ Carlton Bridge.
19 km ~ The author lived at 54 Hereford Road, Bayswater.
19 km ~ 🍺 The Porchester (was The Royal Oak).
WILLESDEN JUNCTION AND KENSAL.
“It is too much ‘across country‘ for either carriages or bicycles, and should not be walked in dark, foggy, or thick weather, the path across the extensive ‘Scrubs’ being in certain places indistinct, and a pedestrian not well acquainted with the neighbourhood might easily lose himself.
I must caution him to keep a sharp look out at all times when he passes the ‘butts’ as the footpath leads directly across the range of fire, and the riflemen themselves, being a great distance off, and lying flat on the ground (generally) when shooting, are not readily perceptible.
On reaching the butts you will observe in the distance before you two red caution flags (at least I did) and you would do well to leave the path at this point, to enable you to get well outside the flags, until you have passed the shooters, should any be practising.”
– Arcadian Walks and Drives in the North-West Part of London, by W. Alfred Johnson, 1874.
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