Regents Canal - Islington to Haggerston

Erika and I, having ventured from Islington  along Regents Canal to Regents Park, now decided to go in the opposite direction towards Limehouse (without reaching there - for another day). But it was a grey day for it. On the positive side, we had rain in the morning but we pretty much got it dry for our afternoon rendezvous. And forecast for the week was cloudy at best, so we didn't pick such a bad day. I didn't even need my gloves😊

But grey as it is, I have tried to cheer up the kitchen with something floral on the window sill.

And the front garden too

Anyway, back in Islington, patches of blue sky were  highlighted by patches of dark cloud in late afternoon. Quite dramatic really.

And at the moment I can't just walk pass a good graveyard. This is St Mary's in Islington, a church with the dubious distinction of being the first in London to have been bombed out in WWII. Miraculously the steeple survived. The rest is post war reconstruction.

But back at the canal. I don't know much about this stretch of the canal, but it has retained some industrial, and some commercial, buildings, many of which now seem to have been converted to apartments.

We did duck out of the canal towpath at a couple of points to see what was "above," notably Arlington Square. London's Squares are especially glorious, and these ones will not be seen by visitors. Not really stimulating enough to be sought out for sightseeing, but actually very enjoyable just to be in. Would be great to live in too, and the houses here are not on the impossibly grand scale of the West End Squares. But nevertheless you are still probably looking at price tags around £2 million, so not what most people would describe as affordable.

Back on the canal...

The start (and, of course, end since this wasn't a circular walk) of this stretch in Islington is at Duncan Terrace, which is just a superb bit of residential living just behind the hubbub of Angel station and Upper Street. An oasis of genteel calm. Fine, tall Georgian terraces with a narrow, well-maintained strip of public gardens in front

And this is 64 Duncan Terrace - a cute white-washed cottage at the end of a row, once the home of the writer Charles Lamb - hence the plaque.