Joanne's long walks: Road to Home 2022 Day 21: Elstree

23.5 km

Who would true valour see,

Let him come hither;

One here will constant be

Come wind, come weather.

There's no discouragement

Shall make him relent

His first avowed intent

To be a pilgrim.

-John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress (1678)

Title page of the first edition, 1678

Today I expected one of those days that truly tests one's "avowed intent to be a pilgrim", with much in the way of wind and weather. But luckily the forecast rainstorms never materialised: the weather was damp and misty all day, but it never actually rained!

Well bundled up in waterproof layers, prepared for the worst, I left my host family in St Albans still recovering from last night's dinner party and summoning up the courage to face mounds of dirty dishes! I took the train back to Elstree, where I left off my walk yesterday, only a ten-minute train ride away. Once out of Elstree-Borehamwood station, I followed the road out of the town and onto the London Loop trail, in the direction of the nation's capital!

Surprisingly, the route is very rural and green right until it enters the city of London at Hampstead Heath. The only intrusion of modern civilisation is a 500-metre stretch along the side of the A1, a six-lane highway at this point, in order to cross it via a subway (underpass), emerge on the other side and walk back the same 500 metres or so in the other direction! 😅

I took advantage of the subway to take an Escher-style selfie.

Upon leaving the A1, or the M1 (I'm not sure which it was, but it was a very big road), the path plunged into the forest and became the Dollis Valley Greenwalk, following the Dollis Brook through the trees and fields. In one field there were several footpaths, and the Dollis Valley Greenwalk and I unintentionally parted ways. I don't know where she went, but I ended up going into the village: whichever direction I headed across the field, it failed to correspond with the direction taken by the blue line of the gpx trail I was trying to follow! Thus I found myself on a footpath heading into Totteridge, and decided I would walk through the village and attempt to meet up with Dollis again on the other side.

There were three things I hoped to find in the village of Totteridge: a hot drink, a snack, and (least likely of all) a stamp for my pilgrim credential, seeing as I hadn't got one in Elstree at the end of yesterday's stage. Passing by the village church, I saw that the door was open, and so I went in, as I always do when I pass a church on a pilgrimage route. It turned out that my timing was perfect: the sermon was over, and the parishioners were serving coffee and cake! 😁 I asked about a stamp for my pilgrim credential, and got something even better: the endorsement of the Bishop of Newcastle!

Well, the retired Bishop of Newcastle, but she was still wearing her purple cassock, and had been preaching a guest sermon in the church. I explained my pilgrimage to her and she signed my credential and gave me her blessing. Then I sat down with a cup of coffee and a red, white and blue Jubilee cupcake and chatted with some of the ladies of the parish.

St. Andrew's Church, Totteridge

I checked with the parishioners as to the best way to get back onto the Dollis Valley Greenway. Once Dollis and I had been successfully reunited, and I was back among the greenery, I passed under the Dollis Brook Viaduct: the highest point on the London Underground! (Not a difficult achievement perhaps, considering that most of it is underground...)

Dollis then accompanied me all the way into London: the Greenway is ten miles long (16 km) and ends at Hampstead Heath. It is almost entirely shaded by the trees, giving you the impression of being out in the country until you are at the very gates of London. I also passed among allotment gardens, and on one of the occasional bits along a road, rather than in the trees, I walked right through a Jubilee street party!

At Hampstead Heath I had a sit down on a bench to eat a banana pilfered from my host family's fruit bowl and decide what to do next. I felt I had walked enough for the day, and so I booked a room at a small hotel in nearby Golders Green. A small hotel with very small rooms - almost like a Japanese capsule hotel - but a very good price, for London, located right around the corner from Golders Green Underground and bus stations (convenient for those who do not travel exclusively on foot) as well as the Golders Green High Street and supermarket. My room may be tiny but it has everything I could possibly need: kettle, refrigerator, desk, wardrobe, bathroom with shower and hair dryer, and a television in case I have any time left to waste after I'm done writing this blog entry!