Ireland day 1467. Saturday 04 October 2025- London 3

Today’s summary	Val away in Bristol so I walked up to Primrose Hill (again!) to meet up with a friend at the Food Market. Went on from there to the Washington pub for a pint and a light lunch. Finished up at Finchley Road tube station. Spent the evening similarly to yesterday with a discounted toasted sandwich and some travel videos.
Today’s weather	Very blowy with occasional light showers as Storm Amy passed through. Gale force westerly wind. Appx 14c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where I walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Primrose Hill and Finchley Road

Commentary

With Val still being away in Bristol, I had a free day to myself in London. But I wasn’t at a loose end, as I had arranged to meet up with a friend who was working at Primrose Hill Food Market this afternoon.

So I had a pretty quiet morning just pottering about, then set off for the hour’s walk to Primrose Hill (yes the same spot as our destination for lunch yesterday). It was quite wild outside today, as the tail winds from Storm Amy swept through (the impact has been much worse in Ireland though). As a result, all the parks were closed because of the risk of flying debris. So I had to modify my route slightly to avoid the closures.

Once I’d met up with my friend, we walked the short distance to the nearby Washington pub for a light lunch and a beer. I have to say pint of Timothy Taylor’s tasted like nectar after four years of Guinness!

Eventually, after we’d spend a couple of hours putting the world to rights, we walked to Finchley Road tube station where we went our separate ways.

Once back in town, I got a cut-price evening meal from Costa in Southampton Street via the “TooGoodToGo” app. Basically three toasted sandwiches reduced from £11 to £3.50.

The toasties were fantastic bargain but actually not very nice and I don’t think I’d get them again. But there’s half left so they will do for tomorrow’s dinner too. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the whole episode was the discovery that a huge new Marks and Spencer food store is opening in the old Cotswold site in Southampton Street. It looks like it should open in the next few days.

Finally, like yesterday, I watched a bit of TV and managed to seek out some travel videos on YouTube too. A nice relaxing way to round off a comfortable friendly day in London.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Bedford Square, from the walk up Gower Street, just beyond the British Museum and before University College	Honestly – I don’t think it is

Floating Chinese restaurant (the Feng Shang Princess) on Regent’s Canal	Primrose Hill Food Market – it was mostly all packing up when I got there at 2:00pm. They had been forced to close early because of the high winds

The Washington Pub in Belsize Park – it was pleasantly un-crowded, even on a Saturday afternoon	Tonight’s dinner. Low cost at just £3.50 instead of £11. But whether it was good value or not is a different question, as it wasn’t actually very nice

I’ve been waiting four years for one of these