The John Shinnick 84 Street, 10 Path Pledge
August 10, 2018
I started just after noon. Another sunshiny day, I correctly guessed a short-sleeved shirt would do. I would not need to drive to my starting point today. I had planned a specific route, which would start at the east end of Coventry Path, clearly marked which turns out to be a blessing. You’ll see. It starts on Coventry Road about 50 yards from my house, and ends on Coventry Rd., cutting off a long section I’d have to redo anyway. I walked the length of the path and turned left on Coventry, down to Marchant Ct., completing yet another segment of Kensington’s most winding street.
I then turned onto Marchant Ct., which I’d done on three days earlier. What I hadn’t realized at the time was that at the end of Marchant Ct. is Marchant Path. I knew there was a path in the area I’d walked that day but never saw it either from this point or its other end, across from the intersection of Coventry and Eldridge. Yesterday, after finding out that this is where the path should be, I made a brief stop to find it and failed after only a brief look. Today I found out why. On this end it’s an unmarked dirt path about two feet wide! Though short, it was quite steep with no stairs, and at one point I nearly lost my footing!
When I got to the bottom, I found the Eldridge end to be equally unmarked and inconspicuous. The only difference was that from my current location, it was uphill! I checked my map and decided I could reroute myself and avoid retracing the path. Good choice! I turned right on Coventry (I’d already walked this part) then right on Ocean View (another repeat) and right again on Berkeley Park Blvd. I’d done most of Berkeley Park Blvd. on the 7th, but today I walked past Lexington, finishing it up, including the short dead end. I turned around and quickly turned left on Avon Rd. I followed Avon until it ended at Beverly. Two curious things about this end of Avon: First, on the main roadmap, it appears not to go all the way to Beverly, but that’s probably just the writing of the word “Camelot” cutting it off. Also, there is no street sign here. Trust me, it does go through!
If I am to walk the length of every street and path, taking in the various dead ends is a requirement. If you look at the map of Kensington streets, you see that Berkeley Park Blvd. has such a dead end of a few yards. It used to have just one house there, but no longer. Whether the post office or the resident requested it, the address (and the mailbox) moved around the corner.
I turned left on Beverly and followed it to its end at Lenox where I turned around passing Avon and in a few yards turned right on Camelot Ct. Like everything else ending in “Ct.” is was short and I quickly turned around, and continued on Beverly to its end at Stratford. Here I had to turn right and go past Richardson to Avon to get that end of Stratford. I was tempted to take in Richardson again to get to the blue house I’d seen on the 7th, but pressed on instead. Getting back to the intersection with Beverly, I continued up Stratford where I should have seen one end of Stratford Path. I looked for it but didn’t find it. I knew there was a sign on its other end where Coventry intersects Lenox. I was mystified but moved on to the end of Stratford.
At that point I turned right on Coventry Rd. to pick up the short stretch up to Coventry Path near where I’d started the day’s journey. I turned around at this point and walked back up Coventry until I reached the marked end of Stratford Path. Turning left, I descended its length where it dutifully ended at Stratford Road. The biggest puzzle now was how I had missed it walking on Stratford. Though there was no sign, it was (unlike Marchant Path) easy to see. I turned around arriving again at Coventry. I turned left and a few feet later I finished the very last segment of Coventry.
In retrospect my route, though somewhat improvised, served me well. This walk lasted about an hour and I’ve now completed walking the southwest corner of Kensignton.
Completed:
Coventry Path (3)
Marchant Path (1)
Berkeley Park Blvd.
Avon Rd.
Camelot Ct.
Beverly Rd.
Stratford Rd.
Stratford Path (2)
Coventry Rd.
The YIMBY Project
A Tale of Two Paths
Left: Coventry Path is marked very plainly at both ends, making it very easy to find.
Right: Little wonder I had such a hard time finding Marchant Path! It's got no sign at all on either end, and is just a narrow dirt path which at one point is so steep as to be almost unwalkable.
The third path of the day, Stratford Path, turned out to be marked at one end, but not so at the other. The marked end was much easier to find.
