please empty your brain below

Does Washington Close count, as it sounds as if it was named after a person rather than a place?

Thomas Hobbes was born in (or near) Malmesbury. That's a claim to fame.
Terrific stuff, thank you.
I highly recommend Porto - it would certainly meet and exceed your need for steep inclines to traverse - and I hope one day to be able to revisit. However, in the absence of international travel I'll probably still give Douro Street a swerve.
What an interesting idea,DG. It has got us thinking if there are any 'places' we could visit around here. Goes off to fetch A-Z............
Wow DG.
You was on my road.

The quiet street I live in here in Bow never normally gets a mention.
Wrexham Street has slate tiled roofs - very North Welsh...
Shetland is great. We went there last June, so less than a year ago, but it feels like much longer. Bobby's bus shelter should not be missed, nor the northernmost point in the UK.
I just had to make a virtual visit to the 'insignificant shopping parade of the most miserable genre'. If I was looking at the same place, it appears to be row of lockups and workshops, though I suppose they would have been retail shops a long time ago.

dg writes: "appears to be" and "suppose" doing heavy lifting here.

It is quite easy to underestimate what might excite an architect.
I appreciate these walkabout discoveries. Even the duller bits, as your accounts and photos make excellent edutainment imo. L
Malmesbury is perfectly charming, in an exceedingly sleepy sort-of-way. One of the many appealling destinations you can reach by bus from Swindon, in normal times.
For me that was an entertaining bit of escapism for these times. I must try it on the roads named after places round my way. I'm also surprised that, on the evidence of this example, I have been to three places you have not visited so far. Your imaginative way of creating interesting material continues to amaze me. Thanks.
I have a tour of western Germany and Belgium in very close proximity, and another of western France a bit further away.
Ah, like a trip down memory lane.
But my memory also tells me that Douro Street was nowhere near Old Ford Road, and that the road at the bollarded end is really Wick Lane.

dg writes: originally Old Ford Road.
If you do ever get to Wrexham then you can sample Wrexham lager to see if it might replace Becks. The claim to fame is that it was the first lager brewed in the UK (or so I was told when I visited the brewery a very long time ago!)
Apologies DG, I had to go away and check for myself, I’m guessing it got a name change when what is now the A12 was built.
Been, over more than 40 years, to Malmesbury, Wrexham and Washington DC.

Malmesbury as a reporter for The Engineer magazine, around 1976, to visit Avon Rubber's factory. No idea what the story was.
Wrexham because it is the nearest big station to Trevor, where we started a three-week canal holiday in 2005. Main memory of Wrexham on a Friday night in July: streets full of people getting very very drunk.
Washington DC twice. First time, arrived on a beautifullly sunny afternoon but fell fast asleep until dinner time; it rained the rest of the trip. On the second visit, 11 years or so ago I got in early enough to visit the Smithsonian for an hour before closing time -- saw the Apollo 11 capsule and the Wright brothers' Kitty Hawk. Huge fun.
Excellent post DJ.
Can I suggest a virtual climb up Northridge Way to The Top of the World.
Architecturally the terrace houses in Wrexham Road look pre-WW1 rather than post-WW1. They certainly look older than the house which has the '1920' plaque in Baldock Road. This seems to be confirmed by this 6-inch OS map which is 'Revised 1913 to 1915' and which shows the houses in Wrexham Road but not the 1920 houses in Baldock Road and Ridgdale Street.

dg writes: Agreed, and updated, thanks.
One of the few saving graces of visiting Washington DC is the number of major museums, a bit like Berlin plus a bus trips out to Monticello and Mount Vernon. Certainly enough for a week.

Needs careful timing for weather and school trips; maybe not for a few years for various reasons.

Car not required, bargain accomodations can be found along the further reaches of the metro system.

If you do get a car then 3-4 days rural car tourism in a big loop taking in Southern PA (Amish country), Delmarva peninsula (Eastern Chesapeake Bay shore), into Virginia (maybe as far as Jamestown) and back to airport is an worthwhile addon option.
What a brilliant idea!! I thoroughly enjoyed today's compare and contrast!

It made me think of doing the same but seeing as my immediate neighbourhood is almost all 1930s & 1940s suburb expansion I fear one would look very much like the other!

Wrexham has long been on my list to visit as there is a portrait and poem of one of my husband's servant ancestors on the wall of Erddig House!

Would love to set up a Go Fund Me page for you DG so that you could visit not only Shetland but Orkney as well
Flats the LCC and GLC “once built”
The three Crossways Estate tower blocks - Hackworth, Mallard and Priestman - continue the railway theme, though have no local connection.
What a great idea - I shall visit Sandwich and Bedford in a short while.
Somewhat jaded about WDC because of working in the city for 30+ years. Fortunately retired two years ago. Haven't been back since.
As a Cardigan boy, I now feel rather homesick. I just hope that my summer visit will be doable this year.
Just this past week I mentioned that I follow your journeys along on a satellite map and now you go and make me have to open two maps so I can follow the London part and the "named after place in the world" part. That consumed the slow part of my morning nicely. Thank you, sir.
The line from Manchester Victoria to Liverpool follows the alignment of the Rainhill Trials for a short stretch, so you can do a virtual visit via YouTube.
Last year I found Wrexham Road when exploring around Stratford and wondered whether one day Diamond Geezer might mention the town of my teenage years when I was a choirboy in St Gilles Parish Church (one of the "wonders" of Wales); and this is the day. Thank you, nicely done.
You might like the Douro Valley line:
wikipedia.org/wiki/Linha_do_Douro (check in portuguese to see more pictures)
porto-north-portugal.com/linha-do-douro
winerist.com/douro-valley-by-train

You can go on the expensive historical train, which has a wide range of tickets available so you can travel in the national network or you can just board on a stopper or semi-fast service and mingle with the locals.

Oporto is a completely different city than Lisbon but it's a very nice place.
I do this every day without intending to, as every street near me (including the one I live on) is named after an abbey in the UK. I bet DG can work out which bit of London I live in.










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