Travels: London: Thursday 6th Apr. 2000

Part 2

We received a highly informative and entertaining commentary and got excellent views of many interesting features. I took lots of pictures, particularly of the many elegant wharf redevelopments.

[Details of sights seen will be added as pictures are added - 78 taken this day! Highlights: rear of the Savoy; Somerset House; old City Boy's School; old Billingsgate Market; Tower Pier; HMS Belfast; Tower Bridge; Traitors Gate; Thistle Tower Hotel; St Katherine's Dock; Prospect of Whitby; Canary Wharf.]

At 14:37 we docked at Tower Pier where most tourists got off and the rest of the journey was much more pleasant. The river bank there is being rebuilt and the tourist provision looks to have been refurbished recently.

We made an extra stop at St Katherine's Dock, which brought back memories of my aborted 1987 trip to Docklands. We were alongside the Thistle Tower Hotel and the sculptures I remembered, such as the strikingly elegant sundial. Across the river was Butler's Wharf.

[Subsequently I discovered Butler's Wharf is a project of Sir Terence Conran, and includes his Design Museum. Also there's a large Bass All Bar One at the downriver end. I saw it on a later trip.]

Executioners Wharf (if I haven't got my pics muddled up): apparently Cher has a penthouse at the top of the twin-peaked warehouse redevelopment and the garden area to the right is that of the late David Lean. The Wharf is where river pirates were usually executed, by being chained to the river wall for three high tides.

Some more flats...

<- Each flat has a different alignment so as to guarantee good views
<- I vaguely recall some national media coverage for these...
<- ...and for these next door - apparently inspired by old ships, the classic poop deck in particular.

The famous tower of Canary Wharf, 1 Canada Square, is in the background.

At Deptford (south bank) there's a huge development in progress: flats, shops and a cruise liner terminal - the last place upstream the river is deep enough. The HMS Ark Royal has moored there.

Further down there's a huge 1980-style shed warehouse: Rupert Murdoch's place for processing incoming bulk paper. However he's now building a new one further downriver to sell this site to a property developer.

Greenwich Pier is large, hosting a range of services. I could have caught a Fast Ferries service to the Thames Barrier (a Dome ticket is needed to get off at the Dome pier). I walked around Gypsy Moth IV (Sir Francis Chichester's boat) and past Curry Sark (I'd been round it at least three times during the late 1960s/early 1970s). The area is very different from the grey cement dry dock I remember - it's all bright, airy and paved now.

Wandering a little way into Greenwich I soon found the Docklands Light Railway station. The entrance had the air of a building site and I subsequently learned it only opened sometime around the 1st February. There were no ticket barriers. Being the DLR I didn't expect to see any staff and there were none. A sign said that Zone 2 tickets were valid (it's on the 2/3 border). I had a 4-minute wait for a train to Bank station.

The driver/conductor noticed at the next stop (Island Gardens) that some idiot was hanging off the rear of the train and at the 2nd stop (Mudchute - lovely name) he put the train into auto (seemingly) and got off to sort it out, locking a cover over the console. The ride is quite rickety and is generally slow along the elevated track due to the tight bends. It was reminicent of various childhood summer resort train rides.

At Heron's Quay Station I saw in the distance the Canary Wharf Jubilee Line Extension station. There was only about 200m to the next DLR stop, which seems odd.

[I subsequently learnt the station is by Norman Foster, another architect I greatly admire. It seems similar to his American Air Museum hangar at Duxford. The London Transport Museum site has a virtual tour.]

After Shadwell the line splits and we dived down into a tunnel along the spur to Bank.

Back on the surface I walked along Lombard Street, noticing many big names in the financial world. Once again I went along Gracechurch Street and through Leadenhall Market. The Lamb Tavern ought to have been open but there was no clear sign (no lights visible or noise). Around Lloyd's again, westwards along Leadenhall Street, up Bishopsgate to Liverpool Street Station.

A train was due at 16:50 so I had 15 minutes to get a snack from Boots. The train was at platform 6 rather than the usual 3 - these occasional changes can catch people out and be very frustrating. The front carriage had sideways seating at the front, like a Tube train. This meant there would be less of a crush for those standing but it was difficult to read my newspaper whilst holding my Boots bag for about 25 minutes until the adjacent seat became free. Arrived back about 18:15.

The weather forecast had been for sun all day but in London it was cloudy about 50% of the time and chilly out of the sun. Cambridge was sunny all day.