Happy Wanderer: London 2023

22 October 2023

London 2023 - Day 4 / London

Steps today: 32 430 / 21.37km

We started the day with a journey to the Greenwich Peninsula with the goal of walking to the Thames Barrier which we've been wanting to do for a few trips now. Breakfast was just a coffee and croissant on the go, and we arrived a the O2 around 9:30.

We didn't linger around there much, we already did the roof climb back in 2015, so we set off on the River Path towards the Barrier.

One thing that is on our list for the area but we didn't do it, is to ride the Cloud Cable Car. We'll save that for another visit.

The Barrier is really neat... if you know what it is! LOL. I'm the kind of person who loves engineering and construction shows on the Discovery Channel so I know all about it and it was really cool to say I saw it in person.

From there, we decided to walk back to Greenwich but it was an unpleasant walk along a busy street. I feel like it was a waste of our time (about an hour).

We didn't go up to the observatory this time, I already have 2 pictures of me with a foot in each hemisphere, but on a future visit I would like to explore the park a little more. Frankly, that would have been a better way to spend the time as opposed to walking from the Barrier... but whatever. done is done.

A few humorous sights:

The Cutty Sark is always an impressive sight. We toured it in 2015 when it was restored and reopened to the public, I love the way it's mounted and you can actually go underneath it! Very cool.

After that long walk we were ready for some refreshments, and true to form it was a Gin and Tonic for me! They are dangerously refreshing and I have to say the tonic water they use is leaps and bound better than the no-name tonic I buy I home. I think I need to up my tonic game going forward!

Next on the agenda was to cross the Greenwich Foot Tunnel and walk to the Canary Warf district to have lunch. The tunnel opened in 1902, almost 400m long as is used by over 4 thousand people a day!

In Canary Warf, I wanted to see the Traffic Light Tree

Then it was off to search for a place to eat. It was a failure, perhaps because it was a Sunday but all we could find that was open were brunch places and a few burger joints, so we cut our losses, got back in the tube, and headed back to Central London. We skipped the museum of the London Docklands that was on my list of things to do but we were too fed up and I don't know about Frank but I was getting 'hangry'.

Random images taken during our search:

It was about 2PM by then, but I'm glad we decided to come back because we ended up having a lovely meal on an outside terrace. It was touristy, but yummy.

After lunch, it was a wander around through Soho and Covent Garden, which like Piccadilly Circus is always too crowded for me so I am not keen on that part of town.

We stopped for a coffee to rest our feet for a bit, then picked up the stroll again and eventually ended up on the Strand.

Royal Courts of Justice:

Then somehow I managed to convince Frank to drop in at the Bank of England Pub, one of my favourites because of the splendid décor. He wasn't feeling it because he had a milk-shake during our coffee stop! We stayed about an hour, and had a snack for supper.... well, I had a baked brie which can be considered a helluva lot more than a snack!