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Tag: Rivers

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!

You’ve heard of ‘Gold Finger’ – What about ‘Goldhanger’?

You’ve heard of ‘Gold Finger’ – What about ‘Goldhanger’?

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Goldhanger is a small village, in Essex, not far from us and this weekend they hold the annual ‘Goldhanger Gala Weekend’ and we paid them a visit yesterday (Saturday) morning.

They have a second-hand book sale in the church, an art show in the village hall, a display of classic cars, Morris Dancing etc. We didn’t see the Morris Dancing because it didn’t take place until the afternoon and we left about midday.

It’s a nice little village as you can see and the pink house on the left has ‘1750’ moulded onto the wall.

There were a number of classic cars crammed into the rather small village and things were, it has to be said, a little chaotic.

The green one in the foreground is a ‘Talbot’ although I don’t know the model or the year of manufacture. The church and pub, The Chequers, can be seen beyond.

We had a look around the book sale where Amanda bought a few books and on our way out through the church porch we heard a little cheeping sound. Looking up near the roof we spotted this.

Three hungry mouths – baby Swallows – waiting to be fed and the parent birds did vist fairly frequently whilst we stood there. It seems unusual for a brood to be produced so late in the year; after all they have to build up enough strength to fly to Africa for the winter. I did ask them to post a trip report on the forum when they get back next summer but you can’t trust these birds so don’t hold your breath. :razz:

After leaving the church we decided to go for a walk along the river wall and went out of the churchyard via this unusual stile.

We made our way down to the river and although the tide was out leaving large areas of mudflats exposed I took a picture simply beacause I liked the colours and the same for the view over the fields.

This is Amanda on the river wall as we make our way back to the village seen in the distance.

We said our goodbyes to Goldhanger and went home. Goldhanger is near enough that we could come back anytime for a walk round and I hear the the pub does very good food.

Bank Holiday

Bank Holiday

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Today, in Britain, is a Bank Holiday (Public Holiday) and we woke up to a cloudy sky. However by mid-morning the sun had started to break through and by lunch time it was a really beautiful day with blue sky and a few puffy clouds. After lunch we decided that although it was a Bank Holiday and the whole world and his dog will be out and about we should go out for a short walk.

Having driven the few miles to Tollesbury (We last went there with Marie when she was over here) we arrived just as the sun went in behind a large bank of cloud which had appeared from nowhere. In spite of that we started our walk to Shinglehead Point and although it was cloudy it was quite warm. It took us about an hour to get to the point and then walk a short way across the marsh to get on the shingle bank out in the river. The bank is covered at high water but it was about 3 hours after high water and the tide was still going out.

After waiting for about 30 minutes the cloud dissipated and the sun returned.

Here is a picture showing Amanda jostling for space on the beach and trying to work out where the North Sea is. :shock:

There were a few people about but it wasn’t exactly crowded out here. This is a view of the same shingle bank looking up river.

We turned round and walked back along the sea wall eventually passing the Marina with the boats moored in tidy rows.

Along the sea wall by the marshes with the familiar sight of the lightship across the marshes.

Finally here is a shot of Amanda on the sea wall fighting her way through the crowds as we made our way back to the car.

A nice little walk.

Oxon-Hants-Wilts: Homeward Bound.

Oxon-Hants-Wilts: Homeward Bound.

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Day 4 – Wednesday 19th August 2009

Having stayed in Andover for three nights we thought that we should at least have a look round before we left. It’s not a place that would interest the average tourist but it does have some attractive corners and old buildings.

There is the Town Mills pub, for example, which used to be a mill and has the River Anton flowing underneath it.

You could be forgiven if you thought that the Angel Inn was Victorian but it is, in fact, the oldest inn in Andover dating from the 12th Century. In 1435 virtually the whole of Andover was destroyed by fire except for the church and priory which were both built from stone. The Angel Inn was damaged, although not destroyed, and was rebuilt in 1445. It does look, however, that the facade was rebuilt in Victorian times masking its origins.

This timber-framed house near the church looks old and is old.

Having had a quick look around the town we left. We didn’t intend going straight home and headed for one of the local villages – Upper Clatford. The river running past the village is the River Anton – the same one that runs through Andover.

This is a pretty little village with many thatched buildings including the local pub, The Crook and Shears, shown here.

We moved on to Stonehenge for our second visit in two years (we also went last year). Why another visit so soon? Well it was nearby and we get free parking and free entry so we might as well make the most of it.

It was very busy, of course, being August but we were here earlier in the day compared with last year and the car park wasn’t quite so full although there didn’t seem to be fewer people.

This was our last port of call on this trip so We’ll leave you with the few obligatory photographs of Stonehenge in dramatic lighting.

Oxon-Hants-Wilts: Two rings and a spire.

Oxon-Hants-Wilts: Two rings and a spire.

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Day 3 – Tuesday 18th August 2009

Today is Salisbury day. We head off to the Park & Ride Car Park on the outskirts of Salisbury but just before we get there we find ourselves at a junction with the entrance to the Old Sarum site opposite so we elect to go in This is our first ring.

Car parking turns out to be free but entrance to the central part of the ring is chargeable so as it is now cloudy overall we decide not to go into the central area. There is a good view from where we are, allowing for the cloudy conditions, and we can see Salisbury Cathedral with its very prominent spire.

This is the central, raised, area which we didn't visit on this occasion which was the original site of the City of Salisbury including a castle, palace and cathedral. I gather that there are some remains of the old Normal Castle but nothing particularly spectacular and I believe that the original cathedral was completely demolished leaving just the foundations laid out like a floor plan.

The mounds and ditch were built during the iron age then adopted by the Romans and subsequently taken over by the Normans. The defensive ditch around the central area of Old Sarum is pretty deep and steep.

On to the Salisbury Park & Ride then a short bus ride into the city. As it was a cloudy day we went straight into the cathedral which we found, on first glance, a little disappointing. It didn't generate the same levels of interest that we found in, for example, Winchester, Wells and Norwich. The nave looked rather empty with little in the way of stained glass in the windows.

They did, however, have the oldest (Medieval – 1386) working clock in the world which has no face and only strikes the hours.

This view shows one of the arches around the crossing under the tower looking through into the Quire which had some remarkable medieval wood carving on the stalls which date from 1236 – the oldest complete set in England.

Looking from the Quire, past the Audley Chapel, towards the East Window which was designed in 1980.

We rather liked this next view around the tower crossing. It reminded us a little of the Scissor arches in Wells Cathedral.

The Cloisters are rather nice and are, in fact, the largest of any British cathedral. They are also unusual in that they have never been part of a monastic foundation which is normally the case.

From the Cloisters one gains entry to the Chapter House which holds one of the four surviving original Magna Carta, written on vellum in abbreviated medieval latin, sealed in 1215 by King John. Photography is not permitted in the Chapter House.

We finally ventured outside and managed to capture a five second spell of sunshine lighting up the West Front of the cathedral. The sky gives a good idea of what it was like generally throughout the day.

We left the cathedral precincts by this gate and were back in the surrounding city. As it was around lunch time we started to look for somewhere that would provide a substantial lunch to substitute for the meal we weren't going to have back at the Danebury Hotel in Andover.

Wandering around we stumbled across 'The Polly Tea Rooms' and liked the look of the menu. We were both glad that we chose to go in because the prices were reasonable and the food and service was excellent. Recommended! It's near Bridge Street not far from here.

We didn't really have as much time here to explore as we would have liked. This was one of the streets we wandered through where we noticed this old timber-framed building.

And we eventually found the old market cross complete with a little market.

It was getting late in the afternoon now, 5:30 PM, so we decided to call it a day and headed back to Andover. However on the way back we noticed that we would be going past Figsbury Ring, our second ring of the day, and as the weather was now taking a turn for the better, we thought we'd pay it a visit.

Figsbury Ring, like Old Sarum, is a prehistoric Hill Fort and the evening light up here was absolutely wonderful. Here is Amanda standing on the outer bank looking back towards Salisbury and we could see the spire of Salisbury Cathedral in the far distance.


On our way around the ring we spotted an Adonis Blue butterfly. Not a common sight although there is a colony known to exist here. Very pretty.

So back to our palatial lodgings and tomorrow we leave for home.

Yes and No

Yes and No

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Back from our recent trip the answer to the question in the title of the previous posting is ‘Yes and No’.

We were lucky in that it was sunny but unlucky because it was uncomfortably hot and humid. We were lucky to visit Houghton, Hemingford Grey and Hemingford Abbots but St. Ives was a bit of a disappointment but I’ll start at the beginning.

Wednesday 1st July

We drove to Houghton which lies between Huntingdon and St. Ives in Huntingdonshire and we were there by 11:30 in the morning. We parked the car in the Three Horseshoes Inn’s car park and announced our arrival although we didn’t go up to our room.

We wanted to look round Houghton village before we set off on our planned walk because it’s a pretty village with attractive old buildings and chocolate box cottages. We rather liked this display of Hollyhocks which is on the other side of the village square from the Three Horseshoes. The village square is called “The Green” and although it may have been green at some time in the past it certainly isn’t now.

Opposite the Hollyhocks is what is known locally as the crooked house. You can just see some of the Hollyhocks on the extreme left of the picture peeping out from behind a house.

We wandered down Mill Lane (We were now starting the route of our planned walk) passing this chocolate box cottage on the way. It just had to have roses along the front didn’t it?

At the end of Mill Lane there is, wait for it, a mill. Owned by the National Trust it is still in working order and in a lovely setting. The water wheel must be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, we have ever seen. We have mentioned this mill briefly before on our way up to Stamford.

From the mill we followed the path across the River Great Ouse to Hemingford Abbots. Hemingford Abbots, like its neighbour Hemingford Grey, is a curious village. Very attractive and well kept with a number of old buildings but the old buildings are easily outnumbered by large, relatively modern and very expensive looking houses. Although we enjoyed looking at the designs of the modern houses we were more interested in the older style buildings.

That phrase ‘Chocolate Box’ springs to mind again – I don’t know why. We soon reached the centre of the village and this view of their pub, the Axe and Compass, with the church in the background.

As Hemingford Abbots and Hemingford Grey are virtually touching it wasn’t long before we were on the outskirts of Hemingford Grey.

It didn’t take long to reach the centre of the village which is where this next picture was taken and the suspicious looking person lurking in the shadows is, of course, Amanda. On a day like this lurking in the shadows is the best place to be – it was sweltering!

Both the Hemingfords are close to the River Great Ouse and our path took us alongside the river on our way to Hemingford Grey Meadow with St. Ives beyond.

We weren’t really looking forward to the next section which would involve crossing the rather large Hemingford Grey Meadow because we thought that there may be no shade in which to to shelter for some time. One of the churches in St. Ives can be seen on the other side of the meadow together with a few other buildings.

Luckily there was a small water channel, running down one side of the meadow, which was lined with shrubs and trees and we were able to spend short periods going through shade.

St. Ives is an old town but as we approached all we could see on the outskirts were modern buildings – not an old building in sight. We entered the town near the old bridge and having soon passed the modern additions we arrived at the waterside.

This picture was taken from the old bridge which is unusual in that it has a small chapel in the centre which you can see here on the right as we cross the bridge into the main part of the town.

There was a tea shop on the other side with a river terrace where we stopped for a much needed drink and from where I took this photograph of the 15th century bridge.

The area around the bridge and river is very nice but the rest of the town has nothing for the tourist. It’s not an unpleasant place but just little else of interest to see. We weren’t particularly pleased after walking all that way on a very hot and humid day especially as we now had to walk back but that’s the luck of the draw.

We arrived back at the inn in time for a short rest, a shower and then dinner. According to my pedometer we walked exactly 11 miles today.

Thursday 2nd July

After our St. Ives experience we decided to drive through Huntingdon first to assess the place and didn’t really see much there of interest either so drove on to Godmanchester. That didn’t hold our interest either so it was on to Plan B.

We pass close to Cambridge on our route to and from Houghton so we had thought that if we had time, which we now have, we might vist Anglesey Abbey. Now you may think that that would be a gargantuan detour but Anglesey Abbey is not on Anglesey in North Wales it is just a few miles north of Cambridge and is owned by the National Trust.

So it was that we arrived at Anglesey Abbey and gardens just as it was about to open at 10:30 AM. Walking through the gardens we had a bit of a surprise when we came upon this grove of trees.

Each one of those tree trunks is silvery white and the bark is quite hard and shiny. They are a form of Silver Birch which come from the Chinese side of the Himalaya. They gave a really ethereal atmosphere like something out of Alice in Wonderland.

A little further on we arrived at Lode Mill which is a rather cute little watermill and is now part of Anglesey Abbey grounds. We were going to have a look round the inside but the mill wasn’t open today because of a shortage of volunteers. The mill site is described in the Domesday Book although the building will have been replaced, possibly a number of times, since then.

From the mill we found our way to the Herbaceous Garden. Now that’s what I call a herbaceous border and it goes all the way round this large area. Keep that lot clear of weeds if you can.

After leaving the Herbaceous Garden we followed a not so obvious path and eventually stumbled upon the house. Even with a plan of the garden showing the paths it’s easy to get slightly lost in this place. Not a bad country cottage is it? Although the name of the property is Anglesey Abbey it is actually a country house.

Walking past the house, through the Rose Garden, we managed to find the Formal Garden where Amanda took this picture of me trying to run off with one of the stone vases. This may be a formal garden but dress is informal.

The gardens are very large covering around 114 acres most of which is parkland like this.

There is a lot that we didn’t see but Anglesey Abbey is only about an hours drive from us so we will probably return at different times of the year to see the changes.

That was the end of our current trip.

  • Like the curate’s egg it was good in parts.
  • Better luck next time
  • Can’t win ’em all.

You know the sort of thing. :mrgreen: