The view from Primrose Hill

I walked to Chalk Farm at lunchtime. It’s quite a way; up to Regent’s Park, right across the park, across the Regent’s Canal, over Primrose Hill, down the other side and through the streets to the station. Tomorrow they’re promising rain, though, so I wanted to make the most of what remained of the sun.

It was another scorcher, and again the park was filled with barely-dressed bathers, soaking up the rays. The zoo was very quiet; the animals no doubt sheltering inside from the heat.

I’ve never been up Primrose Hill before, but you get a fantastic view from the top. You can see Canary Wharf in the east, Battersea Power Station to the west, and Crystal Palace television mast way down south. In between are the finer details of the city, like the top of the London Eye, the towers of Parliament, the church spire in Marylebone, the dome of St Paul’s, the aviary and elephant house in the zoo… It’s like every highlight of the city has been laid out for you to survey, staked through the middle by the BT Tower, just one block away from the office.

I sat there for a good fifteen minutes, enjoying the sun with the crowd that covered the south-facing bank, before walking on to Chalk Farm, which looks like a rather nice place to live, or it would be if the tube wasn’t so picky about which branch of the line it was going to take. Allowing for the change at Camden, to zizz down through Mornington Crescent to Goodge Street, it took half an hour all told; not much less time than it has taken to walk to the top of the hill.

Regent’s Canal

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