This is it. it seemed like I had walked for so long. Sadly it was kind of a cloudy day. Cold too, though it didn’t seem so after the trek and I wound up having to take off and carry my jacket. Apparently you can see wonderful views of the city through the trees on Hampstead Heath, but it was a bit too overcast. It’s ok. I was content with the lakes, fall foliage, and unleashed dogs romping around through the leaves.
I wander by the water reading the signs about the scum and duckweed then find myself somehow pretty much accidentally stalking this couple and their small child who was in a stroller. So that’s awkward. I follow them up a hill keeping a certain distance that I had calculated to scientifically be considered the least creepy. i noticed a building in the distance and asked myself whether it was Kenwood House (which I was trying to reach) or even possibly somewhere with toilets, but it was far and I decided it was neither. Unfortunately I didn’t pause long enough to allow the couple and child to get far enough ahead so before long I caught up with them again. This time we were on a beautiful path lined with autumnal colored trees.
All of the sudden their little boy starts to run away from them and in my direction. “NO! Adam!” they yell. And he turns around and runs back to them. They look at me. I look at them. I smile a little and say hello, because what else can you do when someone just yelled as though you were going to steal their child? (as if I am remotely interested in being responsible for a child). They smile back. A little TOO smiley. A smile that says they clearly think I am nuts and want nothing to do with me. a smile that asks ‘are you planning on eating our baby?’ and a smile that answers its own question with an emphatic ‘yes. Yes you are.’ This is when I decided to make a point of using my freakishly long legs to quicken my pace and pass them.
After I have gotten far enough away, I decide to meander a bit more. Near a pond was a lovely blue winged bird that I DID actually stalk, and it probably also wondered if I would eat its babies. (note: I ate no one’s babies). Then I come across a street. Bad news. but then I find a map! Good news!
So I reorient myself and start wandering again. I come to a path covered in leaves, which were cleverly covering lots of mud. I decide to take this path because the colors just look so darn nice. I only almost fell twice.
Soon I see I an iron fence and decide it is probably a good idea to follow it. which it was. After I go in the entrance I see a sign saying ‘Kenwood House and Estate.’ Ha! Made it! and I am not even a girl scout. I walk along a path that seems to go on forever, yet get nowhere; past two old ladies with two matching poodles; past a young man throwing a ball across the vast expanse of green so his less sissy dog could retrieve it. Finally, I come across signs and follow them until I come to a gravelly driveway leading to a lovely mansion that was of course, undergoing construction (another theme of this trip, you will find). I let myself in, after my wiping my shoes on their shoe cleaner outside, and then a man at the front desk asks if I’ve been there before. After I say no, he kindly tells me that it’s free (obviously I look like I need things to be free, which is fine by me) and he tells me everything else I might need to know. He was very kind and informative.
this was interesting. i believe it was a way to buffer the old tree and protect it since it was weak.
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