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Unlucky for some?

Unlucky for some?

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We travelled 13 miles today. Well to be more precise we travelled from home to London first then we walked the next 13 miles before returning home. We arrived back home about 90 minutes ago. :yuck:
 
We started from where we left off last time, St Paul's Cathedral, walked down Ludgate Hill, up Fleet Street, turned right into Chancery Lane then turned off into Lincoln's Inn Fields, back down Chancery Lane, across Fleet Street and into Inner Temple.
 
Then out the bottom of Inner Temple Gardens, along the Victoria Embankment past Cleopatra's Needle and the London Eye to Westminster. From Westminster Abbey up to Birdcage Walk and St. James's Park, past Buckingham Palace back to Horseguards Parade, left along Pall Mall, north to Picadilly and St. James's Church, back along Picadilly to Picadilly Circus, south down Regent Street, left along Pall Mall to Trafalgar Square and thence onto the Tube to get our train back home. :cool:
 
Our legs are worn down to two short stumps and now, I suppose, I'll have to write a trip report of some sort possibly with the occasional photograph (or perhaps I could get away without writing it).  :soapbox:
A power station that isn’t and a wobble that isn’t.

A power station that isn’t and a wobble that isn’t.

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Wednesday was a delightfully sunny day and we had planned our next trip to London today so it was off to the station and on to the train again.

We changed, as we did last time, at Stratford on to the Docklands Light Railway headed for Tower Gateway. We were luckier this time and managed to get one of the front seats (there is no driver – remember?). This is how it looked through the front window.

I asked Amanda if she was steering and she said "No, I thought you were" so things got a little tricky but we didn't come off the rails. smilies

We had to change at Poplar which meant waiting seven minutes for our train so we took a few more pictures of the DLR. This is Poplar Station looking back in the direction from which we'd come.

And this is from Poplar Station looking in the direction of where we were headed. You do like looking at trains don't you?

We had planned to start roughly from where we'd left off last time so after getting to Tower Gateway Station we walked the short distance to St. Catherine's Dock going past the Tower of London on the way.

Just ignore the plastic covered scaffolding around the towers; 'they' always do that to me when 'they' know I'm going to take photographs.

We were soon back in St. Catherine's Dock for a leisurely walk round. There are some very large privately owned yachts here and lots of flats overlooking the water. Anyone tempted to buy here? You could then invite us up to stay together with a trip on your private yacht.

From here we crossed Tower Bridge to Shad Thames where we didn't have time for a long look round last time. We walked through to the far end and guess what we found?

These.

The outside boat is a replica of a 19th century Mississippi Paddleboat but I haven't been able to find out anything about the other boat. We didn't expect to see these within view of Tower Bridge.

There are lots of eateries around here and we went into one called 'Teapod' (no it's not a typing error) in Shad Thames on our way back towards Tower Bridge and had some lunch. They offer tea, coffee and various snacks including such things as soup and afternoon tea with scones, jam and clotted cream. Amanda had a sausage sandwich whilst I had some meatball soup, with bread, which was absolutely wonderful. It is only a small place with just a few tables but we would recommend it unhesitatingly for a light lunch.

We walked back to Tower Bridge and continued past on the Thames Path where we looked across to the Tower of London. This is the view that I would like to photograph but without the plastic covered scaffolding. They do it on purpose, you know, whenever I appear with a camera so I suppose it will have to wait for another time.

Then on past HMS Belfast now moored permanently in the Thames for visitors to look around.

After passing HMS Belfast we spotted the entrance to a place called Hay's Galleria. It turned out to be a converted wharf with an arched glass roof housing some shops and restaurants together with an interesting modern sculpture.

Our next stop was where we had to deviate slightly from the River Thames. The riverside path ends at London Bridge so we went inland for a very short way to the first turning which continued in the direction that we had previously been headed. This brought us to Southwark Cathedral.

I took far more pictures inside than I did outside. That's mainly because the cathedral is surrounded by buildings so the space available in the precincts is relatively small. Those interior pictures will appear on the web site in due course (whatever that means).

After leaving Southwark Cathedral we once again found our way to the continuation of the riverside path and it wasn't long before we had our first glimpse of the dome of St. Paul's cathedral.

The bridge directly ahead is a railway bridge connecting with Cannon Street Station; the two square towers are at the entrance. Soon after, we found the Golden Hind, a full-size replica of Sir Francis Drake's 16th century galleon which has sailed the world covering over 140,000 miles in the process.

A little further along the riverside path is the replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre complete with thatched roof.

A few hundred yards along there is the Millenium Bridge and the Tate Modern. When the Millenium Bridge was first built it wobbled when people walked along it which I think some found disconcerting. That has been corrected and there is now no wobble. Pity really – it might have been interesting.

Behind the Millenium Bridge is the Tate Modern art gallery in a giant building which used to be a power station and has now been converted to an art gallery – some gallery. We went in to have a look at the building rather than the exhibits and came out with two interesting pictures. The first picture is of the old turbine hall of the power station.

I'm not sure if the item on the left is a section of scaffolding or an exhibit.

The second picture I took from the restaurant which is on the top (seventh) floor.

You can see the Millenium Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral across the river. We set off across the Millenium Bridge hoping for a little wobble, but – nothing. Then just before we reached the far side I took this picture of St. Paul's Cathedral.

After leaving St. Paul's we cheated and caught the tube to Holborn. Our legs were getting a little tired by this time. When we came out of the station we saw Staple Inn – a timber-framed building which survives from before the great fire of London.


Then, having threatened our legs with dire consequences, they walked us a relatively short distance to Lincoln's Inn Fields. A group of ancient buildings, housing various members of the legal profession, and enclosed gardens such as you see here. At this time of year and in the late afternoon sunlight they looked very pretty.

At this point our legs mutinied and refused to go anywhere but the nearest tube station. So we toddled off to Liverpool Street Station to get our train back home.

That was yesterday, as I write this, and my calf muscles still ache and so do my thighs and I suppose we'll be silly enough to it again sometime soon.

A Capital Trip – Tower Hill

A Capital Trip – Tower Hill

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Back again on the DLR our train was headed for Bank but we wanted Tower Gateway so we had to change at Shadwell. This meant that we got off the train on to the platform to wait for a train to Tower Gateway which happened to be the next one along and we must have had to wait at least two minutes.  :grin: Tower Gateway was a very short ride being the next station.

Emerging from the station we didn't really need to orientate ourselves as the Tower of London was pretty obvious so we headed in that direction.

Just beyond the right-hand corner of the Tower you may notice a dome shaped modern building which is City Hall and close up it looks like a blancmange that's had a nasty accident.  We walked past the side of the Tower in the picture above until we reached the River Thames and this is the view looking east along the river.

It's Tower Bridge of course although a lot of overseas visitors mistakenly call it London Bridge which it isn't. London Bridge is the next bridge going westward. I was waiting for the right opportunity to photograph Tower Bridge when a young woman came up to me and asked me if I would photograph her and her friend with Tower Bridge in the background. I was quite happy to oblige and, in fact, I did the same for another two people later on the other side of the river. There were plenty of river cruise boats and water buses going up and down the river but they were all too small to make Tower Bridge open up – pity really. We walked along the river bank to Tower Bridge and crossed to the other side where we saw, in gory closeup, the aforementioned blancmange.

There was a good view of the Tower from over here but two of the towers which form part of the White Tower were covered in scaffolding and plastic sheet which rather spoiled a photographic opportunity. Ah well – next time.

Just before we turned to go back across the river we saw Shad Thames, that's the name of the street, with old warehouses converted into living accommodation, restaurants and shops. It looks rather interesting and we shall have to have a better look round another time.

We made our way back across Tower Bridge and turned into St. Catherine's Dock; another of London's old docks turned into a rather picturesque area. There were five old Thames barges moored here of which these are two.

Unlike Canary Wharf there are lots of boats moored here with access to the Thames. We wandered along the docksides crossing a footbridge before arriving at our farthest point looking across another footbidge to the Dickens Inn.

The Dickens Inn was an 18th century warehouse which has been converted to a pub and restaurant. It was originally marked for demolition until an interesting timber framed shell concealed inside the drab exterior skin of brick was discovered. It could not however stay on its original site because that had been earmarked for housing under the St Katharine's dockland development scheme so the 120 ton timber shell was moved some 70 yards and erected on its present site. The original timbers, tailboards and ironwork were used in the restoration of the building reconstructed in the style of a three storey balconied inn of the 18th century.

So it's not a genuine inn but a converted warehouse and doesn't really have any connection with Dickens but it looks nice.

We were now running out of time and so, after finding Tower Hill Station on the Circle Line, we made our way back to Liverpool Street Station to catch a train home. We'll be back!

A Capital Trip – Greenwich

A Capital Trip – Greenwich

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Map of this trip

Back on the DLR we travelled to Island Gardens Station which is just a short way further on from Heron Quays. We were going across the River Thames to Greenwich but not on a bridge or on a boat but on foot in the Greenwich Foot Tunnel. So that's just 112 steps down to the tunnel, walk the width of the Thames and up the 112 steps the other side. Did I really say 'just'?

The tunnel appears to be quite popular so it certainly wasn't lonely down there, the trip across didn't seem to take very long and we emerged from the nether regions near the Old Royal Naval College. This is an attractive area with the old naval buildings and the ground rising through Greenwich Park beyond to the Old Royal Observatory on the hill.

The Old Royal Navy College was established in 1694 and entry is free. It was, as one might expect on a warm sunny day during the school holiday, very popular and doubly so because the lack of any entry charge. There are a number of things to see here of which the most spectacular is the Painted Hall which James Thornhill took 19 years to paint.

This part of the Painted Hall shows one of a number of trompe l'oeil effects achieved in the painting and the  light coming in the window just enhances that. The fluted columns in the first of the Painted Hall photographs are also trompe l'oeil.

One other location not to be missed is the Chapel.

Very ornate with yet more painting and decoration including lots of gilding.

We moved through the buildings closer to Greenwich Park and saw this view of the old with the new. The domes of the Old Naval College and the new towers of Canary Wharf, where we'd been earlier, and although you can't see it the Thames is somewhere in between.

We left the Old Naval College buildings and made our way uphill across Greenwich Park to the Old Royal Observatory which comprises a number of buildings which are open to the public, at no charge, and the 28 inch telescope dome is one of them. A very worthwhile visit for those who are interested in Astronomy.

We also saw the Greenwich Meridian, the line dividing East from West, which was very popular with visitors all in a long queue waiting to photograph their families standing astride the line with one foot in the East and one foot in the West.

On our way back down the hill towards Greenwich we did notice the occasional daffodil.

We were now headed for the Greenwich Cutty Sark Station on the Docklands Light Railway and onward to our next destination.
A Capital Trip – Docklands

A Capital Trip – Docklands

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Many years ago I used to commute to London on the train to get to work and when the train passed through Stratford, where the Olympic Stadium is now being built, I saw the start of the work on what was to be the Docklands Light Railway. This was to run from Stratford, where it connects to the Central Line and the overground railway services, to Docklands at Island Gardens. Construction started in 1984 and that section of line opened in 1987 and it has extended over a number of other routes since. We hadn't any reason to use the Docklands Light Railway, or DLR as it is known, until yesterday when we had our first planned day trip to London to get photographs for the web site.

We decided to visit three separate areas of London and Docklands was the first. We left home just before nine o'clock in the morning and eventually arrived back just after 8.30 in the evening; a trip of nearly twelve hours.

We left our train at Stratford so that we could travel on the DLR to Canary Wharf. The DLR has all the appeal of a giant train set and has been described as "the biggest toy train set in the country". The drivers can't say anything, can't hear anything and can't see anything but that's how it is when you are an electronic circuit board. Trains are fully automatic and are operated entirely by an onboard computer system linked to a central control room.

Because the trains are driverless it is possible, if you are lucky, to sit at the front of the train looking forward out of the windows. The distance between stations is sometimes very short and when we alighted at Canary Wharf I took this picture from the end of the platform looking towards the next station, Heron Quays, which shows the train that we were on just leaving that station. It may look as if that train is crossing the right-hand track but, in fact, both tracks bend ninety degrees right at that point.

Having emerged from Canary Wharf Station we found ourselves in an ultra modern environment. If you like only old buildings then you would be wasting your time here as there are none but if you do have some interest in modern architecture then this is for you. The skyscrapers here are very, very tall and mostly seem to be faced with glass. The structure in the picture below with the curved roof is the entrance to the station on the Jubilee Line and the picture below that shows the view from inside the station.

I generally favour old buildings but I did find this area very interesting. There are a number of old docks here and it is easy to walk from one to another with footbridges to take one across docks where necessary such as that shown below. The 'toy train' is running on a viaduct having just emerged from Heron Quays Station on the right.

We walked across the bridge and took this picture from the other side looking back.

Walking along this side of the dock we passed a Turkish restaurant and had a look at the menu outside expecting, that in an area like this, it would be expensive so we were pleasantly surprised to find that one could have a two course lunch for £9.50 each and that smaller snacks, tea and coffee were also available at very reasonable prices. We made a mental note and continued walking on past the restaurant where we eventually found this view of the Millenium Dome.

On the way back along the dock we decided that, as it was now around midday, we would have an early lunch and went into the Hazev Turkish Restaurant we had spotted earlier which turned out to be a very good decision. Well appointed and light inside the staff were both cheerful and very helpful but more to the point is that the food was excellent.

The Docklands around Canary Wharf is certainly both modern and interesting. It is, in our view, worth a visit although I have to admit we didn't see a single canary.  :???:

We decided to move on, after lunch, to our next destination which will feature in the next post.

Up the tube without a camera.

Up the tube without a camera.

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Yesterday, Saturday, we had arranged to meet Marie in London whilst she was staying there on a short trip from the United States. We agreed to meet in South Kensington Station and from there to visit the museums. There are no photographs of this trip at all for the reason given below.

If only it had been that simple. We had to drive five miles to our local railway station and, of course, I took my camera bag which goes on the back seat behind me so that it's convenient to grab if I see something worth photographing that I wasn't expecting. We got to the station without incident and the train was even on time. It wasn't until the train was pulling out of the station that I realised that something wasn't quite as it should be – I wasn't 'wearing' my camera bag – I'd left it in the car.

That in itself was quite disappointing as it meant I couldn't take any photographs but what was really worrying was that it was in full view on the back seat. As you probably know insurance companies will use any excuse for not paying out and I believe ours stipulate that any valuables should be locked either in the glove locker or the luggage compartment out of sight. That meant if anyone did break in and take the camera I would have lost a lot of money. The village where we'd parked is not the sort of place you'd expect to find thieves but there is always the chance of an opportunist thief. However, to cut a long story short, when we returned the camera was still there – phew!

So, back to the visit. We knew that the Circle and District lines weren't running that day because of maintenance so we'd decided to use the Central Line to Holborn and from there to South Kensington on the Picadilly Line. The Central Line train was as I'd expect on a Saturday and we even got seats but when we got to the Picadilly Line we could see what effect the closure of the Circle and District Lines were having. The platform was fairly crowded when we arrived and people were still pouring in so that by the time the train arrived, although the wait was only a few minutes, the platform was very crowded indeed. The train itself was also crowded, with people standing, although some of them did get off but we still had to cram on – just! We remained packed in like that for the seven stations to South Kensington just like the rush hour.

We met up with Marie and headed off to the Natural History Museum. I have to admit that I last visited the museums about 50 years ago and for Amanda it's about 30 years. What shocked us was the long queue of people waiting to get in although it did move quickly and took only about five minutes or so for us to get inside.

If you are not interested in Natural History but are interested in buildings and architecture then you should visit for that alone. It is an astonishing building, built in 1881, with a vast hall, just inside the entrance, more reminiscent of a cathedral than a museum with an impressive staircase and little animal stone carvings everywhere.

After that we went across to the Victoria and Albert Museum which houses collections of sculpture, glass, ceramics, glass, jewelry, fabrics, furnishings and much more. We didn't have to queue to get in and it was much less crowded than the Natural History Museum except perhaps in their self-service restaurant. It seems to be very popular for whatever reason but it did seem that once you had got your meal you'd be lucky if it was still hot by the time you had found an empty table.

I don't know how a visit to the museums on a weekday would compare – this was a Saturday after all. We shall almost certainly go again soon but during the week so we'll let you know (see the 'News' section of the forum).

We decided to cut our visit short, because of the camera situation, and got a train out of Liverpool Street Station at around 3:18 PM. Marie came to the station with us so we said our goodbyes there. It was lovely to see Marie once again albeit for only a few hours and by the time you read this she should be on her way home.

We got back to our car just as it was getting dark and, as I've said above, found the camera still in place. :grin: I hope you enjoyed all the photographs I didn't take. :unhappy: