Run 4: Page's Walk to the St. Martin's Theatre.

     

Page's Walk. A few new yuppie blocks springing-up
but basically still a run-down crap hole.

     There are lots of options for this Run. Selection of a bridge and of a rat-run through Covent Garden are far from clear-cut choices.
     One of the main schools turns left out of Grange Road on to Tower Bridge Road and heads to Waterloo Bridge via the Bricklayers' Arms and the Elephant & Castle.
     Another uses Bermondsey Street and Marshalsea Road to reach Southwark Bridge Road, where it turns right and goes along Southwark Street and Stamford Street to get to Waterloo Bridge.
     A third turns right at the end of Southwark Street and uses Blackfriars' Bridge to cross the river; reaching Aldwych by means of Victoria Embankment, Temple Place, Arundel Street and Strand.
     Once in WC2, opinions also differ.
     From Wellington Street, the option to use Tavistock Street, Bedford Street and Cranbourn Street, before hitting West Street from the west, via a right into Litchfield Street from Charing Cross Road, is popular.
     Using Endell Street and entering West Street from Shaftesbury Avenue to the north is another option.
     Distance wise, there's not a lot between most of the choices. However, to me, turning back eastwards from St .George's Road into Westminster Bridge Road just seems plain wrong, so I didn't consider the Elephant option, reasonable "driving route" though it clearly is.
     I decided to nip thought the back streets of The Borough, which is where this Run traditionally went, until a few bollards went up, ending the possibility of using the shortest geographical route. I prefer the Seven Dials option at the WC2 end, mainly because of the traffic in Cranbourn Street, which traditionally has a very short green phase on the traffic light facing Leicester Square.

   

The St. Martin's Theatre, where "The Mousetrap" is in its 63rd year.
The abundant flow of commercially viable young
 playwrights in this country shows no sign of abating.  

     It's a long Run to call, whichever way you do it. Even using the least complex acceptable route, it involves negotiating cobbled backstreets and one-way systems in Covent Garden                

     Leave by left - Grange Road
     Forward - Bermondsey Street
     Left - Long Lane
     Right - Great Dover Street
     Forward - Marshalsea Road
     Left - Southwark Bridge Road
     Right - Great Guildford Street
     Left - Copperfield Street
     Right - Great Suffolk Street
     Left - Union Street
     Forward - The Cut
     Right - Waterloo Road
     Comply - Tenison Way Roundabout
     Leave by - Waterloo Bridge
     Forward - Lancaster Place
     Forward - Aldwych
     Left - Catherine Street
     Left - Exeter Street
     Right - Wellington Street
     Forward - Bow Street
     Forward - Endell Street
     Left - Shelton Street
     Right - Mercer Street
     Comply - Seven Dials Roundabout
     Leave by - Mercer Street (continued)
     Left - Shaftesbury Avenue
     Left - West Street
     St. Martin's Theatre on left

     There's not much to see at the start of this Run. The area is being converted to yet another district of Yuppietown, but industrial estates, disused factories and pre-war public housing still dominate the manor. Walking around isn't an option I considered.

   

Stompy, the Russian T-34 tank. Seemingly purchased from the
Czech armed forces and a perennial favourite with Examiners. It's
at the southern end of Page's Walk, on the Mandela Way junction. 

     The section of the Run south of the Thames sees a fair bit of the Crosssrail project that still blights the capital, but the line I took avoids the worst of it.
     At the conclusion of this Run it's just about essential to take a look around on foot.
     Leicester Square and Covent Garden Piazza both partly fall inside the 440-yard radius from the St.Martin's Theatre. Both are pedestrianised. Both contain shedloads of Points.
     I noted around 200 Points in a 4-hour perambulation of the area. that's more than a little dis-spiriting. I doubt if even 50% of them have stuck in my memory bank.

     

The Ivy, on the apex of West Street and Litchfield Street.
Probably London's most high-profile restaurant these days.

     Restaurants and bars in this area seem to change ownership and name on a regular basis. Being able to confidently call a line through Covent Garden is undeniably essential, but nobody's ever going to be foot-perfect on Points around here and many of those that currently exist will be gone by the time I start on appearances.
     This is an area that needs to be revisited frequently by all Knowledge Boys once they're on the cards and sitting in The Chair, but excessive pointing here at the end of this Run is unnecessary. Time could be better spent on something else.
     Four down, 316 to go.