A day out in Lahndahn Tahn

Even with the weather forecast being something like a biblical flood by mid-afternoon, we thought that we would like to go to lovely jubbley London town for a while and go for a walk along the banks of the Thames.



And so, even though the ideal early start was missed, we hit the road at eight and were heading through the south eastern suburbs before nine. We found a place to park in Woolwich, right beside the river, picked up my camera bag and a family sized umbrella and set of westwards towards the bright lights of Greenwich.



In truth, the walk is not the most beautiful walk in the world, heading as it does through an industrial wasteland, half made acceptable by some beautification. At least the rain did not turn up before lunchtime, and I got some good shots, I think.



The main point of the walk was to get a close up look at the Thames Barrier, the main part of the plan to save London in the event of a storm surge, and so the city not drown. At least it's nice to look at, and is still looking good as it did when built in the 80s.



I guess it was inevitable that we would end up at the Dome; to call it the O2 would mean that the millions spent on rebranding would have been money well spent. If there was any avoiding it, then we would have got a coffee somewhere else. In the end we had a coffee, a bite to eat and and some fruit juice under some quite impressively fake palm trees.



We walked tot he tube station and got a train to Canary Warf, still standing after the financial disasters of the past two years, and looking like people are spending lots of money in the fake Italian rustic restaurants and designer handbag shops.



We walked past.

I wanted to show Jools how the Olympics were shaping up in Stratford, and so we headed up on the DLR. In truth it's a huge building site, but it seems to be on time, and will be stunning when finished.



What to do now? Head to Regent Street to go to Liberty's? Maybe some trainspotting?? In the end we decided to head back to the car and home. So, we retraced our steps back down to Canary Warf and then through the part desolation of the east end and docklands; past docks transformed into high quality flats with waterfront views, and even a few proper terraced houses. Past the London City Airport before diving under the river and back into Woolwich.

Our car was trapped in a car pack, and to free it we had to pay £6 to get our ticket validated; it would not take notes. It would not take credit cards. Any credit cards. I headed into the streets of Woolwich to get a fiver changed into coins; I managed to convince the woman in the shop that I was not a forger and just wanted to get our car out of the car park and needed money. She just about believed me, and with a handful of coins we headed to the car park and were free.

As wonderful as London is, and full of great things, it is always wonderful to be heading home back into the Kentish countryside and towards the coast.