Regent's Canal Walk (part 2)

For part 2 of our walk we started from the opposite end at Paddington basin. We took the underground to Paddington and walked along Praed Street to get to the canal. On the way we passed St Mary's hospital. This hospital serves the north west of London and like most hospitals in London is a mixture of old and new buildings. The front of this wing looks majestic.

As we walked round into Paddington basin this is what we saw. A floating park and a fountain. This was a lovely space with paths and fake grass and very much alive plants all on pontoons on the canal. We decided to have lunch before we began and the white building on the right was a Pizza Express. We enjoyed two low calorie very thin crust vegetarian pizzas with the centre cut out and filled with lots of salad. 

As we left the Pizza Express, at the end of the building was this fountain. If it had been a hot day I'd have played in the fountain but it was pretty cool since I needed my hat and scarf as well as my thick coat, so I took a photo instead.  This section of the canal is the Paddington Spur.

Looking back this was the start of the walk.

The building on the left of the next photo is the back of the hospital, newer and not as grand as the wing facing the road.

Peeping between buildings we could see the Paddington station building with GWR on it for Great Western Railways. The lines from Paddington go to the west and south west of England.

This new office building is the Brunel Building. It isn't finished yet. I took the photo from the leading edge so you don't get the perspective that the building bulges out and then back in again. The building also widens out quite quickly to give good office space. I'm not sure if I like the design. Once it's finished it will be easier to judge it in operation and in its environment.

Under the bridge we came across this sculpture. It certainly brighten up the underneath of a boring concrete bridge.

The Paddington spur meets the Grand Junction Canal at Little Venice. Robert Browning the poet came back to live in London from Italy when his wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning died. He settled in Warwick Crescent and is said to have referred to the Broadwater as Little Venice. This has been renamed 'Browning's Pool in his honour. The Regent's canal turns toward the right in front of the houses at the back of the photo.

We had to cross the bridge where Browning's Pool meets the Grand Junction canal so we could follow the Regent's canal.

There was quite a lot to see along the way. First we saw this church, the Catholic Apostolic Church which was designed by John Pearson. It's very Gothic in design and was planned to have a tower but instead it ended up with the squat spire.

Then there was a stretch where the towpath was closed to the public as the embankments are occupied with private moorings for barges and houseboats. As this section ended the canal entered the Maida Hill Tunnel. The cafe is built over the western entrance to the tunnel. Having had lunch very recently we just kept on walking.

Just before the canal goes into the tunnel there was a blue plaque on one of the houses on the opposite bank. The British actor Arthur Lowe, best known as Captain Mainwaring from the BBC sitcom Dad's Army lived here from 1969 until his death.

A short distance further on another blue plaque on this house was dedicated to Guy Gibson.

Here's a close up of the plaque. Guy Gibson was the pilot leader of the Dambusters (bouncing bomb) raid on the Ruhr Valley in May 1943.

It seemed to be a day for plaques. This one, again on the opposite bank was to mark where the second Lord's cricket ground was. This second ground was in the path of the proposed  canal and so the canal company paid Thomas lord  £4000 to move the ground about 500 metres northwest. Lord's cricket ground is the home of Marylebone Cricket Club and it moved to it present home on St John's Wood Road in 1814

There were some seriously large houses on the opposite bank as we walked towards Regent's Park. I had a picture of one but it refused to upload. Just before we reached London Zoo there was this bridge, Macclesfield Bridge, otherwise known as Blow up bridge. In the early hours of 2nd October 1874, a barge (the Tilbury) loaded with gunpowder and petroleum exploded whilst travelling under the bridge. Three of the crew died, several houses were destroyed and the keel of the Tilbury was found 300 metres away in a household basement. The embankment of the canal helped to reduce the effects of the explosion and the canal was repaired and reopened in 5 days.

This is a small stretch of the back of London Zoo that comes down to the canal. This enclosure is for the wild dogs but when I took the photo they were all up the other end of the enclosure. 

Another famous landmark on the canal is the Feng Shang Princess which is located at the beginning of the Cumberland Spur.  It is a three storey Chinese restaurant. It is moored here and no one knows if it could actually sail. The Regent's canal curves round to the left here.

As we headed towards Camden Lock we passed this castellated building, The Pirates Castle. This is the home of a water based club for disadvantaged young people that was founded in 1966

The banks of this part of the canal were once the home to the producers of Gilbey's gin. We reached Camden Lock which was quite quiet but it was the day after Christmas. This is the most visited and busiest part of the London canals. I've travelled through here on a canal boat and when you work the locks you are normally watched by hundreds of people.

We left the canal for a while to look at the main shopping area. it was a normal busy day.

There were also some building works taking place by the towpath and it was closed so we had to detour for a little . Once back on the towpath we had a short walk into King Cross.At Coal Drop Yard the old gasometer surrounds had been incorporated into the new flats. One structure had been left empty and a small park with seating area had been created in it.

Here we are near King Cross and at the site of the fountain from the end of part 1 of the walk. The picture is taken from a different angle. The building was originally a warehouse  but now has a new lease of life as the University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martins.

When we got to the station and had gone down the escalator towards the ticket office and the trains this was the corridor we walked along. The panel on the left has coloured lights which are constantly changing and the triangles on the other side and ceiling match those on the floor.

Another good day walking around London and a great way to spend the day after Christmas. I hope you enjoyed the second part of this walk.

Oh dear I promised you some stitching. I think that will have to wait until tomorrow as my fingers are sore from the keyboard.

Lyndsey