Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps

Long Walk-About - October 21

["So, I drew up a map one day..."]

"I had three or four leaves in England and Scotland... I always slept at my relations or a Westminster Y. However, I enjoyed darts and a pint with Uncle Wally Fenner, my mother's sister's husband. A few pubs in London were the Long Bar Metre Club, The Old Ship, Bunch of Grapes, and Brunswick House."

In my father's WW2 memoirs, not only did he list some pubs he visited while in London, he recorded his Uncle Wally's and Aunt Nellie's exact address, i.e., "107 Emlyn Gardens, Shepherds Bush, Hammersmith, London, England." So, I drew up a map one day, headed out the door of my rented apartment, and had a long, long walk-about - my way of following faint footsteps.

 ["To save steps I take the tube to Stamford Brook, Hammersmith"]

 ["In shorts and runners I walk many a mile"]

 ["Emlyn Gardens. Number 107 is around back, third floor.

I find a way upstairs and have a chat w the current occupant"]

 ["On one of the possible routes to The Old Ship pub I

pass the fine Parish Church of St. Peter, Hammersmith"]

 [The Old Ship, next on left, offers me a free pint for my
troubles. "There will be no trouble from me," I say.]

"When I went to the Ye Old Ship pub to drink while on leave, I used to tell the bartender that when he thought I'd had enough to drink he should kick me out the door, and on one occasion that I remember, he obliged me." (Dad's Navy memoirs. He would have a one-mile-walk, in a fairly straight line, to Emlyn Gardens)

Me? I finished my free pint, took a deep bow to thank London's troubled bartenders, and continued on my way.

 ["The two distinctive buildings above caught my eye as I

followed a likely route to the South Kensington region"]

 ["In 1942 - 43, after pints and darts, my father walked his uncle
to the South Kensington rail yards, Wally's workplace"]

 ["This pub, named by my dad, is close to the Kensington rail yards"]

["During the last leg of my walk I thought about hitching a ride home"]

More to follow.

Link to more Scotland 2014 Photos

Photos GH