Walk Report

Along the North Side of the Thames, Wednesday 10th June 2009
8 walkers, 7 miles - leader Peter Russell
8 walkers in total. Well I thought this would be a straightforward walk north of the Thames courtesy of Walk London with an early pub stop at Wetherspoons Trinity Square on the site of the scaffold, but it went mainly south of the river to avoid the heavy traffic occasioned by the tube strike and ended at dusk at 9.30, now read on. To begin at the beginning: we passed a male Chelsea pensioner and the sign telling us to break step as went south over Albert Bridge to stop and I made LDWA view the gold Buddha peace pagoda close up. At Chelsea Bridge we crossed back to the north bank, had to avoid cyclists on the footpath, averted our eyes from the sad shell of Battersea power station, looked at the stone statue of the unfortunate man, now wearing a toga, who was killed by Stephenson's Rocket in 1830, passed the statue of Agriculture on Vauxhall Bridge, saw Jeffrey Archer's massive penthouse on the far bank looking across to the site of the old Millbank prison and also the conservative party HQ in Millbank Tower. We nearly got run over as we jaywalked back to the south bank across Lambeth Bridge, do not repeat during a tube strike, and saw unappealing, but bombproof (maybe it now needs to be), Portcullis House full of MP's offices, across the water. We traversed under the London eye and the spiral County Hall, saw the new statue to Violette Szabo, 'carve her name with pride', I next persuaded the walk to divert to the foreshore which started as muddy sand and photographed the huge shield of the old LCDR next to Blackfriars Bridge. Some wisely returned to terra firms and saw Drake's Golden Hinde that looks too small to have sailed round the world. Three others carried on under wooden piers and across slippery rough stones beneath the Millennium Bridge with unique views but had to make/attempt an escape up a vertical ladder and over the fence to a pub just upstream from the more famous Mudlark pub to the surprise of the drinkers, what's Neptune doing here?, because water lapped around the buttresses of London Bridge. We all skirted around the moat of the Tower of London, saw part of the wall with a statue of the Roman Emperor Trajan, dropped off some at Tower Hill tube, were reminded about the 2 LDWA members attending upcoming the no cameras allowed nude cycle ride by the naked Neptune (statue) above the portico of Trinity house and then retired to the familiar comfort of Wetherspoons for food and Tiger beer.

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