We got up at about 8:00AM so we could catch the breakfast at the Euro (they end breakfast service at 9:30 through the week). Another delicious Euro brekkie was enjoyed!
Coal Drops Yards
Returning to our hotel room we prepped for the day out. First, we paid a visit to the Coal Drops Yard, the new-ish community that had been built up behind King’s Cross station. Originally, the two Victorian coal drops sheds were used to receive coal from South Yorkshire and trans-ship it to narrow boats on the Regents Canal and to horse-drawn carts. These days Coal Drops Yard has been transformed into a shopping complex and privately owned public space that forms part of the King’s Cross Central development scheme in London. The development was designed by Thomas Heatherwick and opened in October 2018.
It was an interesting place; it kind of reminded me of the Distillery District in Toronto. We walked all around the complex and got a feel for it:
Regent’s Canal runs through this development:
St. Pancras Lock:
New housing developments on the banks of Regent’s Canal:
We decided to return to this site later in the week when we had more time and follow the canal, which leads to Camden Market – a destination definitely on the agenda this trip.
Highgate Cemetery
We had tickets for the 2:00PM tour of Highgate Cemetery (Vince had booked our tickets online the day before), so at about 11:00 we left the Coal Drops Yard and took the Underground to Archway station. From there, we walked up the brutal incline of Highgate Hill… whew! Luckily we were still energized from our Full English breakfast earlier that morning.
Highgate Cemetery is a massive place of burial in north London, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. The East Cemetery is the newer of the two; the West Cemetery is the oldest. Highgate Cemetery is notable for some of the people buried there and as a nature reserve. The Cemetery is designated Grade I (i.e. a protected, historical site) on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Enroute to Highgate Cemetery we passed through the beautiful Waterlow Gardens:
We reached the Cemetery and picked up our tickets. By then it was noon, so we had a couple of hours to kill before our tour of the West Cemetery at 2:00PM. We made our way into the East Cemetery and made the rounds, noting the tomb of Karl Marx, among others. Fascinating place:
After touring the East Cemetery we felt in need of a little pick-me-up, so we went back to Lauderdale House, a nice eatery (among other things) on the edge of Waterlow Park, and had an Americano (Vince) and a tea (me), plus a slice of carrot cake each (just to keep body and soul together, you understand).
We lost track of time while at Lauderdale House, so when the time was checked it was 1:50! We had to race back across Waterlow Park but we made our tour group at 2:00. The group was led by an excellent volunteer named Paul. Over the course of the next 2 hours Paul led us through the highlights of the West Cemetery – he was truly an excellent guide… great tour. About two-thirds of the way through our tour the heavens opened up and it POURED!!! We continued the tour, soaked clothes and all:
The tour ended at about 4:00. Had it not been pouring rain we would have continued exploring the West Cemetery on our own (now that it’s allowed; in previous years you were only allowed in with a designated tour guide or group). Soaked to the bone, we left Highgate Cemetery, found our way back to Highgate Hill, and returned to Archway Underground station.
If you’d like to see more of this Gothic cemetery, have a look at my two Highgate Cemetery photo albums – one for each side of the Cemetery:
Highgate East
Highgate West
Drying Off + Evening Meal
From Archway Underground station we took the Northern line, getting off at Euston station. We made our way back to the Euro Hotel, soaked to the bone, and changed in to dry clothes. We rested a bit – at that point we had walked 19,000 steps according to our Health app!
Having regrouped, we went to North Sea Fish Restaurant for our evening meal (the TripAdvisor reviews for this place are exceptional). We had a delicious meal: the Haddock fish and chips for me, a Cheeseburger for Vince. Great meal, but very busy place (is highly rated and therefore always so busy). If you’re ever in the Bloomsbury area of London and love seafood, I highly recommend this place.
We finished up at the restaurant at about 7:30. From there we went to the Brunswick Centre to get a couple of take-home goodies from Ben’s Cookies. We got back to the Euro at about 8:00 and had our cookies – AWESOME! These were utterly delicious and put Toronto’s Craig’s Cookies to shame.
For the rest of the evening we just took it easy and rested our tired feet – we had done 19,596 steps today – a record so far!
We were both quite tired: Vince went off to bed at 8:50, me about 9:45. Another wonderful and busy day in London was behind us.
Today’s step count: 19,596
Let’s see if this works!
I’m guessing that you spent many hours planning your activities. That is the best part of a vacation for me. Are you going to the Horse Guards? I belong to a YouTube group called London City Walks that films daily activities of the horse guards. It’s a riot, lots of crazy tourists.
Too bad you got wet! Let’s hope it causes no illness. I’m sure it won’t, you guys are warriors.
Looking forward to tomorrows adventures.
Hi Neville… it works! Thanks for persisting. Actually, for this trip we didn’t spend a lot of time planning, but we knew of a few certain things we wanted to hit; wherever else we ended up was pure gravy. And yes, we survived the deluge while at Highgate Cemetery 🙂 Thanks for following our adventures.