The Number 19 Route

Monday 29 June 2009

And what a splendid route the 19 is. We met in warm sunshine at Battersea Bridge (South Side) and travelled enthralled all the way to Finsbury Park. Firstly we went over the bridge and through Chelsea, admiring the shops along the King’s Road and around Sloane Square. The designer of Catherine's wedding dress has a posh shop here.

Right at Knightsbridge Tube and along to Hyde Park Corner, Apsley House and the Wellington Arch. Then along Piccadilly, passing the Ritz and a blue plaque for Palmerston and into Piccadilly Circus. None of us has yet visited Ripley's though we have all been to the Trocadero. Linda, especially, was pleased not to be going up Regent Street or Oxford Street, and we made rapid progress up the Charing Cross Road, and along Holborn, passing the Conway Hall. A brown LCC plaque to show that Benjamin Disraeli was born in Theobald’s Road seemed rather odd, especially since the Blue Plaque (English Heritage) website says it has one.

On northwards, as we passed Mount Pleasant sorting office, Sadlers Wells and over the Pentonville Road to enjoy Upper Street, Mary remembered her student past, and Jo remembered Kate’s wedding in Islington Town Hall. Highbury Grove School (‘building a better future for Islington’s young people’) is having major building works. When we think of the number of school building developments we have passed since we began this project, we can really appreciate where the government is putting our money.

The Finsbury Park Mosque did not look at all like the controversial place it has become, and then we were at the Arsenal shop, with glimpses of The Emirates. At least one of our followers won’t need the link to find the website. We reached Finsbury Park in 70 minutes, faster than the timetable says, and evidence of the benefits of avoiding the Strand and Oxford Street.