Walk: Lisson Grove to London Bridge

[rydra_wong]

The muggy weather in London at the moment is making me grumpy, so I decided it was the right day for an epic symbolic walk, seeing if I could link the psychiatric hospital on Lisson Grove (where I spent far too much of 2009) with the Arch Climbing Wall, my favourite place to climb.

I knew various bits of the route, and took a glance at Google Maps, but didn't take a map with me; I like ensuring that my navigational skills have to do a bit of work.

At 10.52am, I sent off from outside the hospital, and promptly ran into one of the nurses, who recognized me, thus ensuring an appropriate symbolic tone for the whole day.

After Trafalgar, I got sidetracked down Whitehall by mistake (at that point, I was mostly navigating based on being able to feel the wind from off the river) and ended up crossing the Thames at Westminster Bridge instead of Embankment, which extended the journey.

(There were also detours involving pharmacies and department stores that stock obscure scents I needed to sniff; I don't think ritual should be taken too seriously.)

Enigmatically, the South Bank is currently covered in beach huts decorated by assorted modern artists and celebrities (including Phil Jupitus.)

Between two of the huts, a sign on the pavement reads,"Do not draw or write on the trees. This is an artwork. Please respect it." Nobody seemed to be drawing or writing on the trees, and I was unsure whether the artwork was meant to be the trees (which seemed to be the regular South Bank trees) or the sign itself.

There was also an artificial beach, a long rectangle cordoned off and filled with sand. A few toddlers were paddling about in it.

The RPSB had a booth with a sign reading, "Take home an albatross today," which, if you're familiar with the Ancient Mariner, does not seem like a winning strategy. They were selling stuffed albatrosses.

At Gabriel's Wharf, there were real geese walking on the real sand beside the Thames.

At 12.44, I got to the Tate Modern and had fish and chips and sticky toffee pudding in the excellent Cafe 2, before walking to the Arch, which is located in the brick railway arches next to London Bridge station.

The toffee pudding made the ensuing climbing somewhat leisurely, but no worse for that.

It was a good walk.

Comments

[oursin]

I think it's killing the albatross that is the no-no: I'm sure taking one home and hugging and petting it and calling it George would be an entirely benign exercise.

I was in the Southwark Playhouse on Saturday evening, watching a performance under one of the many, many railway arches in the area!

[rydra_wong]

The Arch is in the arch next to the one inhabited by the Southwark Playhouse! The entrance is on the other side of the pub, though, just round the corner into Bermondsey Street.

There was an incident once where clouds of smoke started filling the central corridor of the Arch, and someone had to be sent next door to tell them to turn the dry ice machine off ...

Was the performance good?

[oursin]

Excellent - J B Priestley's They Came To A City, very well-done.

[kake]

I love how the railway arches around SE1 have been repurposed for so many different uses. I must get around to expanding my minuscule collection of photos of them before I move to Croydon.

[rydra_wong]

If you're in the vicinity and would be interested, you should stick your nose round the door of the Arch -- they're cool with people wandering in off the street for a look, and I'm sure would be fine with you taking photos.

[kake]

Ooh, thanks for the tip — I will do!

[rydra_wong]

They also have what must surely be the cheapest espresso in the area, a fact that I appreciate on a regular basis. *g*