Jane's Journeys: Cycling to Greenwich

Saturday, August 29, 2015

The morning began with the sound of hoof beats outside our window. I was just in time to snap the last few horses going past. The riders are soldiers -- apparently they have their barracks in Hyde Park, and according to this article, the high-vis vests are a fairly recent addition to their wardrobe. Londoners definitely keep the high-vis clothing manufacturers in business -- cyclists, police, construction workers, motorcyclists, garbage collectors can all be seen sporting the yellow or green -- sometimes pink -- vests and jackets.

Today was the day for our bike ride to Greenwich, so we set off on the Boris bikes to the bike shop, "On Your Bike".

Actually, first we took a tube ride to our other hotel. When I was booking hotels, the Best Western didn't have a vacancy for tonight, and although we asked again at reception, there was nothing available. Fortunately, it was a straightforward ride on the Circle line from Kensington High Street Station to Paddington Station, and then just a couple of blocks from there to the hotel in Sussex Gardens. This is a good location, close to Marble Arch, but the hotels along here are definitely pretty basic. (I stayed here when I came to London in April as well.)

St. James Church -- Sussex Gardens

Once we got settled in at the Queensway Hotel, we rode off on the bikes through Marble Arch, along the eastern end of Hyde Park, through the Hyde Park Corner Ionic Screen (which I almost didn't recognize, since it was covered in green scaffolding), through Wellington Arch, past Buckingham Palace and along the Victoria Embankment to Blackfriars Bridge. Here we crossed the Thames and rode back to the Southwark area, trying to find the bike shop. This is easier said than done. Even though we had just been there yesterday, we couldn't quite remember how to get there, so wandered around a bit, taking wrong turns a few times before we finally stumbled on the right alleyway.

There was a bit of trouble initially, as the bike they had assigned to me was too small, but they had a larger one that was even a bit better, so it was all good.

We started heading east but weren't sure exactly which road to take. While we were studying the map, a local cyclist asked if we needed help. Upon hearing that we were headed to Greenwich, he recommended riding on the north side of the river, because it was better for cycling. We listened and nodded and thanked him, but then after he rode off, we looked at the map again and decided we'd ride on the south side. There were bike route markings that were quite easy to follow, so we took roads and pathways that generally followed the Thames, consulting the map only occasionally.

We rode through a somewhat insalubrious residential area (but interesting nonetheless) and through a wooded park with multi-use trails and a small canal with bridges, which I can't find on the map. I also didn't take any photos -- too bad!

Next we came to Greenland Dock on the Grand Surrey Canal. We rode around this rectangular body of water and then continued east along the river, arriving at Greenwich.

A few years ago, I read the book Longitude, by Dava Sobol, and Dave and I both watched the movie of the same name. (Both are well worth checking out.) So we were really interested to see Greenwich in real life. It is much more than we expected.

Unfortunately, you have to pay for absolutely everything here, even for a map of the park (50p or 1 pound, I forget exactly how much.) We wanted a map, but they didn't accept credit cards, and we didn't have any cash... so, we just wandered around on our own, trying to figure out what was what.

This is the painted hall, in the Old Royal Naval College.

These photos are all from the Royal Hospital for Seamen, which used to be a palace. Sir Christopher Wren was involved in its design and construction.

These buildings -- the Naval College and Hospital -- are at the bottom of the hill, near the river. When you head away from the river and cross the street, there is a museum -- the National Maritime Museum.

And I lied: you don't have to pay for everything; the museum is free. And very interesting.

When you leave the museum, a steep climb, involving a pathway and stairs, takes you to the top, where the Royal Observatory sits.

View from the bottom

View from the top

The Royal Observatory and (below) the Prime Meridian (the white sign on the wall of the building)

The next photos were taken from the top of the hill:

Statue of General Wolfe -- a Canadian hero who hailed from Greenwich and is buried there.

The Titanic Memorial Garden (below)

From here we took the Greenwich Foot Tunnel to get to the north side of the Thames. (photo from linked website)

Once across, we rode towards Canary Wharf, planning to check it out, but somehow we overshot the mark and ended up at the Limehouse Basin. I suggested that we might turn around and try to find our way to Canary Wharf, but Dave didn't like that idea (I admit, he had a point, since we didn't really know how to go because of a traffic circle and tunnel that were in the way) so we just continued on our way west. Of course, because of the bends in the river, west does not mean straight west, but following the long and winding road as it loops along. We rode through an area called Wapping, past a canal (seemingly called the Ornamental Canal - photo from website)

Unfortunately, again I neglected the camera. I guess I was concentrating too much on the map and on making sure we were on the right path.

The next area after this canal was the St. Katharine Docks, and then up to Tower Bridge. We rode across the bridge back to the south side of the Thames and then turned right to go back to the bike shop.

After returning the bikes, we were ready for dinner. Dave was in the mood for fish and chips, and I remembered that I had seen a sign advertising fish and chips near St. Paul's, so we decided to head that way, via London Bridge. We found the pub with the sign: "Fish and Chips £6.95" so we went inside. At first we sat down and waited for someone to come. Then we remembered that we had to go to the bar and order. Well, when we did, we saw on the menu that fish and chips were £10.95. The explanation? They were 3 pounds cheaper for take-away. Well, since 3 GBP = $6.00 Canadian, that made take-away sound pretty good, so we opted for that. The food came in neat little boxes, so we took them and went out to find a place to sit. There were some benches, but by that time it had started to rain so we chose to sit on the steps of a building, where we had some shelter, as well as a good view of St. Paul's. It was a pretty good dinner.

Before long, the rain stopped, so we wandered around some more, walking past The Royal Courts of Justice. I wanted to see the Old Bailey, but we didn't find it.