Captain's Log

Queen's Walk

It was a crisp, fine morning as I walked across Blackfriars Bridge to the south bank of the River Thames. Over to the east, light scudded across the top of The Shard. The sun was rising and gave a golden glow to the buildings as well as the clouds. I reached the south bank and started heading westwards alongside the river on a route known as the Queen’s Way. It was Sunday and there were more runners than walkers. It was a lovely start to the day. 

Today’s walk would follow the river to Westminster where I’d transfer back to the north side of the river. I’d booked a ticket to visit the Churchill War Rooms that are situated in Whitehall. I’d spend the morning there touring the underground rooms and learning about Churchill’s life (see Churchill War Rooms). After that, I’d walk through St James’s Park and tip my beanie to the King when I walked past Buckingham Palace. I’d then head westwards through an urban route. Not your normal housing estate though. This would be through Belgravia with all its posh embassies. I’d then continue westwards to South Kensington where I’d spend the afternoon touring the halls of the Natural History Museum. My return to Blackfriars would go through Knightsbridge to Hyde Park Corner. I’d walk down the edge of Green Park to Buckingham Palace and St James’s Park to Westminster. I'd then follow the Thames downstream, The Victoria Embankment would lead me back to Blackfriars. 

Southbank

The route provided a lovely view back along the river towards St Pauls. I couldn’t stop turning around to admire the panorama. Just before Waterloo Bridge I reached the National Theatre where there was a collection of theatres. It was founded in 1963 by Laurence Olivier and there was a statue of him bracing himself in a dramatic pose. The building didn’t look that inspiring to me; it looked more like a multi-storey carpark than a hub of creativity. 

I stopped to watch a grey squirrel scamper in a tree above me. He had a plastic bottle top in his mouth. I’d see examples of bird nests made of plastic rubbish in the Natural History Museum later in the day. The Southbank Skatepark was an underground concrete den that was also a gallery of graffiti, making it more intimidating than inviting. The river turned southwards now and I reached the London Eye. The big wheel was turning, but was closed to the public for maintenance. That was a shame; I wouldn’t have minded completing a circuit on the big wheel. The Gothic halls of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben came into view, with the twin towers of Westminster Abbey poking up, just beyond. I was interested to see about 20 Cormorants standing on the rails around a rubbish collection point that was anchored near the middle of the Thames. 

Big Ben is actually the nickname of the bell in the tower. In fact, the tower got renamed to the Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to mark her Diamond Jubilee. For me though, the whole tower is Big Ben, the same Big Ben that was sketched on to the label of my HP Sauce bottle when I tucked into my Unlimited Breakfast at the Premier Inn this morning. There’s another classic view of Big Ben, just through the walkway under Westminster Bridge. I’ve seen it in so many photographs that it feels like a cliché now. It looks along the side of Westminster Bridge to Big Ben, but the photo is framed by the arch of the walkway. Of course, I’ve tried to take my own photo of this scene, but I’ve been scuppered twice. Once by an overwhelming smell of urine in the walkway and another when a homeless person was sleeping there. Today, there was a family standing there with a collection of suitcases. I walked straight past; that classic cliché photo would have to wait for another day. 

Westminster

I started walking over Westminster Bridge. Thank goodness it was early Sunday morning, since this place would be heaving on a weekday. Halfway across the bridge I looked southwards down the river. The skyline was a mass of high rise towers around Battersea and Vauxhall. It seems ‘levelling up’ in the Provinces still has a long way to go. I continued past Parliament Square and reached St James’s Park. I was half an hour early for the opening of Churchill War Rooms and so I walked over to Horse Guards Parade. Half a dozen horses were trotting back to the stables. The riders looked so young, I wondered whether they were cadets. I followed them through the arch of Horse Guards and reached Whitehall road. I retraced my steps to the parade ground. I was still early for Churchill War Rooms and so decided to fill the 20 minutes with a circuit of the lake in St James’s Park. The place was Squirrel City. People were feeding them and the birds despite the signs saying you shouldn’t. A few homeless people slept on the benches. It must have been freezing for them last night. At least it didn’t rain. There was quite a nice view down the Lake from Blue Bridge. I crossed to the other side of the lake and returned to Westminster, just in time for the opening of the Churchill War Rooms (see Churchill War Rooms for an account of my tour).  

The 1% Club

I’d had an enjoyable and enlightening time touring the Churchill War Rooms. I needed to get to South Kensington quickly so that I had time to explore the Natural History Museum. I retraced this morning's route through St James’s Park and continued onwards to Buckingham Palace. The Union Jack was flying and so I presumed Bug-a-Lugs was home. Later research revealed that assumption to be incorrect. A Union Jack means he’s away, the Royal Standard means he’s at home. There was no sign of him, but plenty of other people mooched outside the gates hoping for a glimpse of some blue blood. I’m not that keen on the design of the Palace itself, but I think the Victoria Memorial was quite impressive. Further along the road, I came to a collection of neon-lit pedicabs, one blasting out loud music. I wondered if Bug-a-Lugs could hear it over the Palace wall. It must be an annoyance as he takes a stroll around the Buckingham Palace Garden. 

I started heading westwards and came to the grass rectangles of Eaton Square. I turned off and headed to Belgrave Square. The houses looked large and posh. Flags started appearing above the doors of some of them. This was Embassy territory. You won’t find kids playing football on these streets. Come to think of it, you don’t find kids playing football on any streets nowadays; what happened to that? It didn’t really feel like London. The streets were wide and there was little traffic. I was quite intrigued by the design of St Columba’s church at the end of Pont Street. A sign said it was the Church of Scotland. It was actually quite a new church having been rebuilt after the previous one was destroyed by bombs in 1941. 

Beauchamp Place was busier. A metallic coral coloured Rolls Royce was squeezed into a parking space. It made me feel sick, not through jealousy, but it seemed as tacky as those neon pedicycles. On Brompton Road a Ferrari growled its way amongst the heavy traffic. All that horsepower to drive at 10 mph. The streets were packed with people now. A lot of them were heading in the direction of the museums. I soon reached the architectural splendour of the Natural History Museum. It was time to broaden my knowledge of Natural History. See Natural History Museum for my account of my tour of the museum. 

Dark Knightsbridge

It was dark when I came out of the museum. Yet another Ferrari was trying to back into a small parking space near the museum. I wouldn’t even have attempted the reverse even in my small car. The streets were still busy with people. Harrods was all lit up, but its offerings would be way above my position on the pay scale. The Mandarin Oriental had a better light show display. I wondered if they did a Meal Deal like Premier Inn. I checked out the February prices and figured that the £800 a night was almost twice as much as I’d paid for 5 nights at Blackfriars Premier Inn. I guess it was handy for Harrods though. 

I seemed to lose most of the street lighting at Hyde Park Corner, but the heavy traffic provided some handy additional illumination. It seemed even darker walking along Constitution Hill with Green Park on my left and Buckingham Palace Gardens on my right. The Union Jack was up so Bug-a-Lugs was still away. Westminster was a lot busier than this morning. Pockets of people supporting Palestine Action moved about the area. A 4x4 drove past beeping its horn with Palestine flags displayed. There was a long line of people waiting for their photos to be taken at an old style red phone box near Big Ben. I’d never heard of this phenomenon, but it appears that couples like having their pictures taken standing next to this phone box with Big Ben in the background. It seemed odd to me; I never found the smelly phone boxes the most salubrious of places, and if I was ever to take a selfie then I’d prefer it to be a bit more original. 

Victoria Embankment

Groups of Palestine Action followed me down Victoria Embankment. I don't know whether they were continuing their protest down there or had just given up for the day. The river looked pretty with all the buildings lit up along its banks. The London Eye was lit up with blue lights  and the County Hall a mixture of three. There weren’t many street lights along the embankment which was a bit of a shame since I wouldn’t have minded a photo of the RAF memorial along there. Gradually the river started turning from north to east. Light rain had started and with it the air felt milder. I had to take a layer off as it got warmer. I eventually reached Blackfriars Bridge and my walking loop was complete. I now had a Premier Inn Meal Deal to look forward to. I wondered how much an evening meal would cost at the Mandarin Oriental. 

I could so easily have caught the Tube to Westminster and South Kensington to see the Churchill War Rooms and Natural History Museum. I think this walk was a good example of why you should walk everywhere in London. Catching the Tube would have meant missing all these interesting sights.