Eye to Eye London Walk

Today we participated in the Eye to Eye walk in London, to raise funds  and awareness for  Moorfields Eye Hospital charity. We did the 15mile walk which started in City Road, took us east to Haggerston Park, then to Victoria  Park , before returning west wards along the Regent's Canal tow path to the Angel, where we walked through interesting roads before rejoining the canal path. We continued west  via Coal Drops Yard to the oasis of old St Pancras church for  welcome refreshments.  Then  we were out on to  busy  Camden High Street, along refined Regents Park Outer  Circle, and finally back via St Pancras and Kings Cross stations through more of Islington's little  streets and squares, to the  Richard Desmond Children's Eye Centre in Peerless Street, just around  the corner from our starting point. It  took us just  under six hours to complete the walk, and I'm pleased to say although we felt tired, our feet were trouble- free.. More importantly, let's hope lots of money was raised. 

Sadly , there was not a glimmer of sun or blue sky all day, unlike last year when we had a gloriously sunny day, so not great for photos.

My main blip is of Martin at Coal Drops Yard. The original yard was built in 1850's of brick and cast iron and designed to carry four high level railway tracks. These were used, mostly, to bring in  coal from Yorkshire. The wagons  dropped coal into storage  hoppers, so the coal could  be transferred to horse drawn carts or narrow boats on the Regent's canal. By  the late 20th century this  area had fallen into serious disrepair, but from early in the  21st century it started to be revived and transformed under the Kings Cross Central Development Scheme. Thomas Heatherwick's team renovated the yard,  adding an extra couple  of storeys and  connecting the  two arcaded sheds with the dramatic "kissing roof" made of Welsh slate. It was opened  in 2018 and contains shops and restaurants (although we didn't have time to browse yesterday). You can see, also, how nearby redundant  gasholders have been transformed to provide  sought-after apartments.

The  extra shows an apparently bucolic scene- actually Hackney City Farm in Haggerston Park. We glimpsed sheep, goats and  four donkeys  (including a young foal ) as we passed by. We saw lots of this early cherry blossom throughout the day,  as well some striking Mimosa (Acacia  ) blossom and magnolia trees in bud.    
 A long day, but a good one.