tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17461934.post-89797260881163524242009-07-01T09:09:00.001-07:002009-07-01T15:12:44.459-07:00<div>I love July as it's summer and when I was growing up in Northern Ireland the schools had already broken up and I was very likely on holidays by the sea. I love the summer and the sea and it's my birthday month so I always make sure I celebrate.<br /><br />I have a very good friend whose birthday is 3 days after mine so we always have a girls day out which includes food and wine.<br /><br />This year we decided to throw in some walking too. Having done the Big Fun walk in 2008 and 2009, I do love that route and as we always do it in March I was interested to see what it looked like in the summer.<br /><br />We met up at East <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Finchley</span> tube and started the day off with a coffee. It's interesting how the more often you walk a route, the shorter is becomes. It seemed no time at all that we were through <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Highgate</span> Woods and into the village itself and for the first time, the little clothes shop whose window I peer into was open so in we went. I need to take a note to myself regarding coming back here some day to shop as there were so many lovely things. </div><br /><div><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3XWqPfDcueM/SkvdIaHsq7I/AAAAAAAAA4E/-y1yS7VSalU/s1600-h/The+lake.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353615718580267954" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 308px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 231px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3XWqPfDcueM/SkvdIaHsq7I/AAAAAAAAA4E/-y1yS7VSalU/s320/The+lake.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3XWqPfDcueM/Skvc6ro_QfI/AAAAAAAAA38/5TfJBbwcrLQ/s1600-h/part+of+Hampstead+Heath.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353615482765132274" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 308px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 231px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3XWqPfDcueM/Skvc6ro_QfI/AAAAAAAAA38/5TfJBbwcrLQ/s320/part+of+Hampstead+Heath.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div></div><div> </div><br /><div>The next green area was part of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Hampstead</span> Heath (see photos above)and then, in the heat of midday we were on the streets of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Hampstead</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Belsize</span> Park but it wasn't too bad. We were not on some race so could take it at our own pace and keep in the shade as much as possible.<br /><br />Lunch was the Gourmet <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Burger</span> Kitchen in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Belsize</span> Park - excellent with wonderful burgers and salad washed down with cider, smoothies and copious amounts of water.<br /><br />At the top of Primrose Hill I had a call from one of my East End Girls who was amazed to find out where I was, I guess she would have liked to have been there too. The views were superb as it was such a clear day so we sat and looked, picking out landmarks and questioning others. Then it was off again, cutting down through the grass and across the road and into Regents Park.<br /></div><br /><div></div><div></div><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353616288997586050" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3XWqPfDcueM/SkvdpnFyNII/AAAAAAAAA4M/hWIdnMvGlfU/s320/Crossing+the+Regents+Canal+at+entry+to+the+park.JPG" border="0" /></div><div> </div><br /><div>In the open spaces it was very hot here which is probably why we planned to next stop to be an ice-cream one so we ended up in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Selfridges</span> Food Hall - yum!! - really tasty and creamy ice-cream, it was delicious.<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3XWqPfDcueM/Skvd6-_ankI/AAAAAAAAA4U/eCl1y5rOh4I/s1600-h/Elaine+opens+the+fizz.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353616587471101506" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3XWqPfDcueM/Skvd6-_ankI/AAAAAAAAA4U/eCl1y5rOh4I/s320/Elaine+opens+the+fizz.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Elaine and I do tend to be rather foodie so today had to reflect that. What would we do next then? Well I'd had no alcohol at all and Elaine had only had a cider so it was time to introduce some fizz into the equation. We weren't really very hungry and more so we bought some chilled pink <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">prosecco</span>, strawberries, a large bottle of water and some chocolates and headed for Green Park where under a tree we enjoyed this little feast.<br /><br />We had great fun people watching as the parks were all full and there were people playing football, office groups celebrating birthdays and just having get <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">togethers</span>, romantic encounters left, right and centre, children and families and singles enjoying the sun. It's so lovely to see so many people enjoying the weather and being outside.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3XWqPfDcueM/SkveOFzwmxI/AAAAAAAAA4c/PJZkwZzsntw/s1600-h/Spotty+trees+and+crowds.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353616915718773522" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3XWqPfDcueM/SkveOFzwmxI/AAAAAAAAA4c/PJZkwZzsntw/s320/Spotty+trees+and+crowds.JPG" border="0" /></a>About 7 we headed for Westminster through St James Park, across the bridge and onto the South Bank where we were greeted by red and white spotted trees. Tell me what you think, I love them.<br /><br />The South Bank was , not surprisingly, really busy so it took us a while to find a drink and a place to sit, finally beer in hand we sat watching the sun go down over the Thames and declared birthday celebration 2009 a great success.<br /><br /></div><div> </div><div></div><br /><div align="center">St Paul's in the evening sunshine.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353617195077459458" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 308px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 231px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3XWqPfDcueM/SkveeWgD3gI/AAAAAAAAA4k/-z3Z5qDMEfM/s320/St+Paul%27s+in+the+evening+sun.JPG" border="0" /><br /><br /></div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3XWqPfDcueM/SkvfBMjFBOI/AAAAAAAAA4s/bgmRdvvkCtA/s1600-h/One+of+those+pianos.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353617793701184738" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3XWqPfDcueM/SkvfBMjFBOI/AAAAAAAAA4s/bgmRdvvkCtA/s320/One+of+those+pianos.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div> </div><div>How many miles? </div><div> </div><div>Well by the time I walked on along the South Bank, across the wobbly bridge, spent some time listening to wonderful piano playing on one of the many pianos scattered around the city and reached Bank tube, I think it totalled somewhere between 10 - 11. Hopefully I used up quite a lot of the calories I consumed!!<br /><br />Wonder what we'll do next year?</div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17461934-8979726088116352424?l=heatherwaring.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Heather Waring and Teresa Baileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12778454115704864235heather@walkerscoach.com0