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Eye Saw

The long way down

For the first time in a long time, I got on the bike yesterday and rode. The plan was to ride to the Thames barrier or barrier park as it is called. I walked there back in 2020, I think, or was 2021. It was November the 5th, I know that for sure because I had to be back by the evening to light the fireworks for Lucas. They were still living in Green street. Anyway, I chose the usual route of crossing Enfield to the eastern corridor and picking up the river Lea navigation at Ponders end. I made my way easily down to Stratford within the hour. Passing the stadium, I continued with a vague memory of the right direction, I stayed by the river till I reached the Limehouse basin. Once there, I picked up national cycle path C3, which led to barrier park. I didn’t know that at the time but figured I would follow it as it led to Canning town and I knew that was the right direction. I crossed the Thames, forgetting it meanders round at Greenwich. Believing I was in south London, I then became confused, why the Thames was infront of me because I could see barrier park and by extension the huge Thames barrier. That lasted for a few seconds, then I felt relieved and proud of myself. Having not ridden for a long time, I just rode 20 miles to get there without feeling it on either my legs or my bum.
So what to do know? I thought I’d ride to Westminster bridge, taking me the scenic route along the Thames. Speed and time were of no concern or issue, it really was a sight seeing adventure. I took a few photos of my bike at the barrier and headed west, again retracing my steps/ wheels along C3 till I reached the south side of the basin. There I picked up the Thames path or rode a long side it because bikes aren’t allowed.
The first stop was Tower hill, with a rather large Police presence, a neighbouring draw bridge opening, I had to find an alternative route round it. Once that took me right up to Tower bridge itself. Not the best place to walk a bike as I tried not to bump into people. I gave a thought for two seconds about passing along in front of the Tower of London. I saw the sign saying no bicycles just time to turn around. I jumped back on my saddle and rode past three Police vans to meet the traffic getting onto the bridge, then turning left on to the cycle path that leads the way to Westminster. It is one of my favourite rides in London, it takes you past all of the best bridges, London, Blackfriars, Farringdon, Charing cross, Embankment, (I think I’ve missed one). Past the Royal festival hall and the London eye on the southside and new Scotland yard on the right, before sight of the Queen’s tower housing big Ben. In a split decision, I kept going, turning right past the houses of Parliament and heading up alongside Green park. Since I was here, I thought heading into Hyde park to be a good idea and I was right it was. I passed the Royal Albert hall with a gold monument to the monarch on the right. That’s right a gold monument. Two months in the past six, I have worried about going overdrawn and having money to last the whole month in a time of the rising cost of living. Yet, we pay for and build a gold monument of the countries most useless man. People then ask me why I support a Republic.
Once I had arrived at the memorial garden/ monument past Kensington palace. I stopped for a flapjack and an apple (come on, you wanted to know that). I considered my next move and possibly going home, it was around 4:10pm at this point and I had ridden 34 miles and my bum was killing me. The best and easiest option was to ride to Finsbury park and get on the train there with the bike. Then I thought, I would have an easier time getting on a station before, the train would be less crowded. Either Drayton park or Highbury and Islington. As I am not a football fan, I didn’t know if it was match day and whether I would have to contend with Arsenal fans taking up the whole train. This has happened to me before. I rode to Drayton park, taking my milage up to 39.5 miles and I made the station with 15 minutes to spare. The football game was still going on and I could hear the fans chanting. I spent the last ten minutes with my heart in my mouth, thinking the game was going to end and the fans would then over run the platform and I would have to wait for the next train. This didn’t happen and the train was relatively empty for a Saturday afternoon.
By the time I reached my front door, I had ridden over 40 miles. A day well spent and I feel like I have returned. Also I know, with little effort, I can get on the bike and go.

Forgot to mention, I worked out in the morning and ran a 5k.

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The Whistle Stop Museum Tour

My journey starts at Enfield town station and the realisation that there is a bus replacement service from Gordon hill, my closest overground line. I now have a time frame for getting there. I am out the door at 10am, to get to the town to catch the 10.23 to Liverpool street. I walk at my usual brisk pace and arrive on time. I can’t say it’s a line I enjoy travelling on but, I have a seat and I arrive at my destination without any hassle. I help a young Mum up the stairs with her pushchair and dodge a beautiful Afgan hound in the process and make my way to the Elizabeth line. I pass the escalator with the incredibly tall ceiling, take a photo and luckily, I have two minutes to spare to catch my train.

The Docklands museum was packed, they have a Chinese new year celebration on, something I knew about but had forgotten. However, much to my disappointment, they did not have the model of ‘Nonsuch House’ anymore. A quick scout round the galleries which were not to my taste and on to Greenwich. I found the DLR and ran up the stairs to the West India Quay platform, only to find there weren’t any trains to Lewisham. I could see Canary Wharf platform as it was 100 yards down the line and that did go there. I turned around and walked fast round the pathways, looked up at the tower and found the correct platform and caught the right train with 1 minute to spare. After arriving at Island Gardens, I made my way via a short walk to the Thames. I crossed the river or rather under the river using the Greenwich foot tunnel, about a mile in length and dips at the centre.

I arrived at the Maritime museum after passing the Cutty Sark in all it’a splendour and I asked for the Robert Falcon Scott exhibits. The rather nice young Lady had no idea what I was talking about and went off to look it up for me. Once I had suggested it was part of the Antarctic exhibition, she knew what I was going on about and was able to direct me. I walked through the many galleries, some more aesthetically pleasing than others and found the gallery. I have to say, I was a bit disappointed to see what was on offer. There were a pair of Scott’s snow shoes, his discarded snow glasses, a couple of photos of Scott you can get on the internet with a quick search, a sleeping bag that was used by a member of the Terra Nova crew and a penguin teddy designed by Ponting the photographer to raise funds to pay off the expedition’s debts. I also found the ‘Helios’ exhibition and I am going to take Lucas there so there’s that. I still have a good amount of time left in the day and, there are few other places left to visit on this adventure.

For the first time in years, I have wasted half an hour on a broken down train, well 15 or so minutes and 15 minutes on a detour to get to Tower hill.

Tower hill did not disappoint, it rarely does. I came out of the station and was rewarded with a glorious view of the Tower. I crossed over the road and headed to All Hallows, the oldest church in the city built in 675 AD. It was everything I was expecting, it has an amazing crypt museum, the reason I went there. It details and displays exhibits and models of how Londinium would have looked. After I took some photos, I made my way to London bridge, the site of the old original bridge you can no longer see. It’s about 30 metres from the current bridge on the east side. There is a large church called ‘Magnus the Martyr’ or the Eucharist which would marked the entrance to the old bridge. Inside the church which still stands by the way, you are greeted by a haze of incense and more importantly, a amazing model of the old London bridge. With all the buildings spanning across. I could not see the ‘Nonsuch’ house on there though. I believe the depiction must been from an earlier time.

I made my way on the modern London bridge and got a cool photo taken from the centre of the road. I was caught in between two stations, I opted for Bank and waited for a northern line train to Kings cross. I changed onto the Piccadilly line and got off at Russell square. I climbed 182 steps to get out of the station instead of using the lift. I arrived at the same as the people running past me to catch it. However, by the end of the climb, I was done. The British museum was just round the corner and I took my time to reach it, stopping off to buy some snacks. As I reached the museum, I chose to enter though the side entrance and I had to go pass security, that I thought was a bit weird. Then I saw the items they were looking for and it made sense. Spray paint, knives, hammers.

#notgivinganythingback #notsorry #imreallynot

I was pleased to see despite the time it took to find them, my favourite exhibits, the Sutton Hoo helmet, the Rosetta stone and the Easter Island head. I also took time to see some Grandfather clocks (is that you yawning) and some Islamic art. After that I was finished and I decided to head into the west end, where the roads were closed for Chinese year. I went to a couple of shops but didn’t buy anything. This has been one of my favourite solo adventures and a great way to start off the year. I made it to Liverpool street with 2 minutes to spare, now I am looking forward to a well earned rest.

#Footnote: This is the first adventure I have been able to write in real time. All of the writings were taken down in my notebook on train journeys between destinations.

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Zero Imagination Day

Zero Imagination Day

I have been trying to put together a last minute training plan for my major hike next month, I wanted to walk to Harlow but I felt that had less imagination than the walk I ended up doing. So I walked to central London via the river Lea… again. To be fair, the last time I completed this walk was at the beginning of December 23. Not a lot had changed if anything, only the decorations.

Despite it being a 17 mile odd walk to the London bridge, my end point, it wasn’t a challenge at all. It didn’t start getting interesting until I reached Stratford. I was excited by recently booking our adventures to Holland and Cornwall in the summer, so my mind was mostly on bike servicing, route making and booking campsites, with the odd stop where I checked for items on my phone.

The main reason for the walk other than the practice was to record a #hikenpod and that never happened, but, i am saving up my big adventures for the channel and the little ones for here.



The Zero Imagination Day/ Walk Podcast

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