Wednesday 11 September
We had an early organised start today, as Graham dropped us off at Whitchurch station for us to take the train into Waterloo. From there we knew to catch the little northern line underground off shoot to Battersea Power Station.
First stop was loo and coffee/hot chocolate and a pastry for morning energy before we started walking.
Looking ahead this was the blue sky we were walking into today, with even taller buildings as we get ever closer to the City of London.
We kept looking back until we could no longer see the iconic Battersea Chimneys.
We spotted Father Thames standing over the Nine Elms Riverbank. It's a while since we've seen him (and quite so much of him tbf!)
The polychrome was designed by Stephen Duncan in 1988.
There have been many tales about Father Thames over the years. I love this Gracie Fields song about him HERE
Here's Vauxhall Bridge that connects Pimlico to the north and Vauxhall to the south, it was the first bridge in London to carry trams and one of the first to have a bus lane. It's decorated with bronze monumental statues designed by Alfred Drury and Frederick Pomeroy.
The statues represent Agriculture, Architecture, Engineering and Pottery on the upstream side with Education, Fine Arts, Government and Science on the downstream side
It is believed that the name Vauxhall comes from a 13th Century Manor House called Fulkes Hall that used to be around this area.
After this we had to follow a slight diversion and came upon Vauxhall Bus Station, adjacent to the train and tube stations. It has two cantilevered arms that are contain 167 solar panels that contribute a third of the bus station's energy! It's the second busiest bus station in the City.
This was a day for keeping an eye out for diversion signs! And walking carefully around the edge of MI6.
Back along the river we noticed how beautiful the lamps and benches were.
The cast iron lamps are Grade II listed and were designed by George John Vulliamy and modelled by Charles Henry Driver, architect of the Victoria Embankment wall and river stairs. They were based on statues of dolphins or fish with intertwined tails at the Piazza del Popolo in Rome.
We'd not seen this before, this is the International Memorial to Seafarers jutting out of the International Maritime Organisation. It's a United National specialised agency that strives to promote safe, secure, environmentally sound, efficient and sustainable shipping practices throughout the world.
Created in 2001, it is seven metres high the 10 tonne bronze representation of the bow of a cargo ship with a lone seafarer on the deck and is the work of sculptor Michael Sandle
This is a great map to click on to enlarge and see the area we're in on this walk before lunchtime.
Coming up is the iconic view of Westminster and Big Ben.
And then something that had us in silence for probably the first time on our Thames Path Walk.
Every heart on the wall represents one person who was loved and who died in the UK from Covid-19.
It stretches for 500 metres directly opposite the Houses of Parliament
It just stretched on and on ..... very moving.
We arrived at Westminster Bridge at about 12:30pm, it starts to get really busy with tourists around here.
Westminster Bridge was constructed in 1862 and is one of the oldest bridges spanning the Thames, it replaced a much older bridge, this one was opened on Queen Victoria's 43rd birthday with a 25 gun salute as am honour to her 25 years on the throne.
It has the most arches of all London bridges.
The bridge is painted in the same green as the leather seats in the House of Commons, the closest part of the Palace of Westminster to the bridge. The bridge is lit by octagonal lanterns, grouped in threes. The decorative ironwork show a portcullis, the cross of St George, a thistle, a shield and a rose, all symbols of parliament and the UK.
This is the South Bank where the London Eye sits.
The South Bank is full of attractions, restaurants, bars, buskers, museums, galleries and theatres, it's lovely for a wander.
As we knew it was going to be busy from this point for quite a while, we decided to swap over to the North Side of the River Thames for the first time .
We had a crazy bit of rain around this point. There were many statues and monuments, such as this one to commemorate The Battle of Britain.
And this obelisk Cleopatra's Needle , carved in 1540BC, from the sands of Alexandria which was presented "to the British Nation in 1819 by Mahommed Ali Viceroy of Egypt a worthy memorial our distinguished countrymen Nelsom and Abercromby"
It was thanks for the British victories at the Battles of the Nile and Alexandria in 1801, but it only reached London in 1877, after an epic voyage during which the needle nearly sank to the depths of the Bay of Biscay. The 2 sphinxes that guard it were cast in 1882.
The Dragons along Victoria Embankment by Middle Temple Gardens proudly support the City's shield.
They are 7 feet high, painted silver with red details on the tongue and wings in 1849, they once adorned the Coal Exchange building, when this was demolished in 1963 the dragons were salvaged and mounted on Portland Stone plinths to guard on of the western routes into the City, on the boundary line between the City of London and the City of Westminster.
Around the same time, eleven half-size cast iron replicas were created and installed on other significant boundary roads around the City.
If you want to go and hunt them, google London Boundary Dragon Map and you'll see where they all are.
Up ahead you can see the Tate Modern, the Shard and the Millennium pedestrian bridge (also known as the wibbly wobbly bridge!)
The bridge is London's only pedestrian bridge and the first new crossing on this section of the river in more than a century. it links the City and St Paul's Cathedral to the north side with the Globe Theatre and the Tate Modern on Bankside.
Designed by architect Norman Foster and designer Antony Caro who won a competition to design and build it, it spans 320 metres, two y-shaped armatures support eight cables that run along the 4 metre wide pathway.
The bridge opened in June 2000 and the first weekend made the news as 100,000 people crossed over it, and that was when the unplanned movement was noticed, so it was closed for a 2 years. There are now dampers fitted beneath the deck to mitigate movement. It was funded by National Lottery Funds.
You may recognise the bridge from a few films such as in the opening scenes of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (the bridge collapses following an attack by the Death Eaters.
It's in Guardians of the Galaxy during the climatic battle on Xandar.
And it appears in Taylor Swift's music video for her song 'End Game' in 2017.
I love this little glimpse of St Paul's Cathedral from it.
There is now a planning policy that bans the construction of any building between St Paul's and the river that would block this view.
Across the river you can see Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and more of the Tate Modern Gallery.
The Globe Theatre you see today is actually the 3rd Globe. The first was built in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the company that William Shakespeare wrote for and part-owned. in 1613 during a performance of Henry VIII, a mis-fired prop canon accidentally caused a thatched roof fire and the whole place burned down in two hours. Within a year the entire theatre was rebuilt by the company but this time with a tiled roof. It stayed open until 1642 and it was closed by parliamentary decree.
In 1970 American actor and director Sam Wanamaker set out to build a reconstruction of the original Globe, he established a Trust in 1971, sadly he died in 1993 before it was finished. The Queen opened it in 1997.
It's the only thatched roof building in London, it had to have permission granted as there has been a law against them since the Great Fire of 1666!
The Tate Modern opened in 2000 and is now the world's most visited art gallery, it is housed in the old Bankside Power Station. It closed down in 1981 after years of polluting London and was on the verge of demolition when the decision was made to turn it into the Gallery retaining parts of the original building such as the huge Turbine Hall and a glass extension to the top of the building which houses the cafe.
Walking underneath Southwark Bridge, the original bridge was built in 1819, it was one of the largest iron structures of it's era but was unable to carry heavy goods. It was demolished in 1913 and rebuilt into the structure we see today in 1921, after many delays due to WWI.
It has cast iron arches with abutments and balustrades of grey granite and is painted green and yellow, with sentry box like structures on the turreted pier headings. The arches and piers are directly aligned with those on the west side of Blackfriars Bridge to ease the flow of the river, reducing the risk of cross currents.
Shortly after we came to London Bridge (it really was a day of bridges, railway bridges, traffic bridges and a pedestrian bridge).
Various bridges here have been called London Bridge, this current version has been standing since 1973. Previously there was an 18th century stone bridge, a 600 year medieval bridge and a succession of timber bridges from AD 50.
London Bridge has been depicted in song, art and literature for hundreds of years. I found this article in the FT about London Bridge is Falling Down, a song we all sang in the playground. It has fallen down at least 7 times since the Roman's built the first London Bridge!
In 1984 HMS Jupiter, a warship collided with the bridge causing significant damage to the bridge and the ship.
If you visit the bridge's wikipedia page, there are some amazing historical stories about the London Bridges through the ages, the houses that were built on it, how it was once one of the main shopping streets of London and how a gruesome tradition from Scottish Leader William Wallace in 1305 of displaying heads of traitors on the gatehouses!
Within 15 minutes we arrive at our next bridge Tower Bridge and the amazing Tower of London, the latter is a former palace, prison and secure fortress and is home to the Crown Jewels. I'd definitely recommend a trip here, it's amazing, the Yeoman Guards do fantastic tours inside the walls.
Tower Bridge has become a tourist destination itself, with a glass walkway that you can walk across a see the cars below, no thanks! To learn it's history yes.
It was built from about 1884, and took 8 years, with the relentless effort of 432 workers (without health and safety!)
Two massive pier foundations were sunk into the river bed with 11,000 tonnes of steel providing the framework, cornish granite and portland stone then covered the steelwork.
When it was built it was the first 'bascule' bridge ever completed. Bascule is french for see-saw.
Steam pumped the enormous engines to lift the bascules up and down, the hydraulics are now operated by oil and electricity, they rise to a maximum of 86 degrees. And you may have read they were recently stuck raised ... for about an hour, causing chaos in the morning's rush hour. The bascules raise about 500 times a year.
This statue is the The Girl with the Dolphin fountain
We were getting hungry by now and the clouds were darkening so we carried on to St Katherine's Docks, London's only marina, to find some lunch. Built in 1825 the dockmaster's house at the entrance and the elegant Ivory House in the heart of the docks are the best survivors of the late 20th century makeover.
En route we passed the rowing barge Gloriana, the late Queen named the barge as a lasting legacy to mark her Diamond Jubilee and the 84ft vessel is a resident berth holder. She cost £2 million and took 5 months to build and was launched in 2012. It's design and build resonates from traditional Viking boat construction along with other Royal and state row barges of the 17th and 18th centuries.
And it poured! We stayed put for a while eating lunch and drinking hot drinks, charging our phones and digging out our raincoats.
We came out of the Dock and Susan was overjoyed to see a double rainbow, even pointing it out to passers by who were facing the other way!
Looking back on a very moody sky!
The Thames Path now comes inland for a bit as there is no river walk, the boats would just come right up to the warehouses with their goods, there are occasional steps and doorways, but we enjoyed our wander round this quiet area of Wapping. The estate agents showed photos of beautiful warehouse loft apartments.
Here we are in Shadwell Basin, quiet near to the Rotherhithe Tunnel, still very quiet for a mid week walk.
And there is Canary Wharf, our final destination within sight. With one of the very fast and speedy rib boats taking shrieking customers for a ride. Named Thames Rockets, if you fancy a ride!
We now came into Limehouse, which was once a village area where lime kilns were built and for hundreds of years a centre for ship building, then in the 19th century the area became known for opium dens, allegedly run by Chinese sailors.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American writer and novelist, described the place in the mid 1800's as ... "the Limehouse shore is lined with the shabbiest, blackest and ugliest buildings that can be imagined, decayed warehouses with blind windows, and wharves that look ruinous ... and the muddy tide of the Thames, reflecting nothing and holding a million of unclean streets within its breast .... is just the dismal stream to glide by such a city".
Out of nowhere appeared this very sweet and colourful pub, The Grapes, one of the oldest pubs in London, Charles Dickens used to be a patron and Sir Ian McKellen has been the leaseholder since 2011, it's history goes back over 500 years, it's on Narrow Street and has a small Thames side terrace.
A great view looking back along the Thames towards the City
And here we are we made it to Canary Wharf's Pier!
The End of Today's Walk
But now we have to find our way back to where we're staying ....
We went inside Canary Wharf's large shopping area and found the docklands railway and got on a little train that took us to London Bridge station where we found a tube back to North London.
It was amazing to arrive and be able to see Canary Wharf there in the distance where we'd just come from!
The sunset hitting London (look at the rush hour traffic below!)
And here's a brief shot of our walk today from Susan's app.
Altogether today we walked 12.5 miles, over 29,000 steps.
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