April 6, 2016
London Half-Marathon.
I normally do these here blogposts according to the following M.O.: if there aren’t many photos to go on, then lots of text needs to make up for that; if there are plenty of photos, I let them do the talking and ease off on the word count…
Today folks, there’ll be few words. That’s the thing about the UK’s capital: there’s always so much to see and snap. I was there at the weekend with my travel companion A.B. – also a Londonophile – and we ran a veritable photographic half-marathon along stretches of the banks of the Thames I hadn’t checked out before, taking in all the nooks and crannies along the way.
The night before our photo-marathon we stayed in my fave hotel in the capital: Ham Yard. Not the nearest lodgings to the Thames, but just as well: our warm-up in getting to the river took in St. Paul’s Cathedral – and of course we just had to get up to its famous dome…
Taking photos and videos is forbidden inside the cathedral, but the views from the top and also all around it are simply stunning – desktop-wallpaper-able.
Up we climbed, around we gawped and snapped, down we shuffled, and onwards to the Thames…
Orchestras play alfresco…
Next up: Yoda, in the air floating, and the kids a-bewildering with hocus-pocus Jedi assorted:
Fiery tuba. The gimmicks they think up, eh? Well, if you can’t beat them – join them: add marshmallows on sticks and you’ve got a barbie!
Low tide + sunshine = the sand comes out to play…
We headed for a certain pier, and there we boarded a boat for a waterborne excursion – at last! I’ve strolled along the Thames’ embankments that many times… but never once had I actually sailed upon it. Until last weekend. And I recommend you do the same if ever visiting London: a wholly wholesome experience.
Thames cruising: all sorts of architectural and/or historical wonders pass you by, bridges new and old fly past overhead, and boats large and small to-and-fro here-and-there. A perfect afternoon, if the weather’s nice…
The one and only Tower Bridge, and the one and only Tower of London:
After Tower Bridge the ‘speed limit’ goes up, so our captain helpfully hit the gas…
…Which is fun for a while with the spray in your face and boat banking upon the water, but then you realize you’re missing all the places of interest passing you by…
Royal Naval College, Greenwich:
An A380 flying into Heathrow from Dubai, I guess (‘Emirates’ was visible on the undercarriage).
The O2 (note to self: take a closer look next time) :
Aha! Our destination: the Thames Barrier; much like the one in St. Pete, just smaller.
And this is how it works:
A footpath starts out from the Thames Barrier and stretches 180 miles (!) west along the river’s bank.
A.B. and I figured doing the whole route in one evening was perhaps a little beyond us, but we could at least have a nibble. Which is what we did…
The first few miles of the path aren’t much to write home on your blog about: Abandoned buildings and ruins and mummified remains of docks seemingly dating back to the Industrial Revolution. Dirty. Dusty. Depressing. If ever here – miss this bit out…
Woah – a funicular. But there was a line queue, so we decided to save that one till next time too…
Strange but cool:
Piers so old there are trees growing on them…
Whoa! The Greenwich Meridian – where east meets west; or where time begins, kinda…
The Wharf over there. Filth and ruins over here.
Whoaeea! The Cutty Sark!
An underground, no – under-Thames – foot tunnel! What a wonderful bit of engineering/architecture. Its construction began in 1899 and was completed in 1902.
Phew. That’s enough for one day. All day on our feet. Wait – let’s have a look: almost 22km we walked!
All the photos from our London excursions are here.
