Thames Barrier Walk

Younger brother's turn to select the route for the long walk for family members who wished to attend, chose  as our destination, the Thames Barrier, walking from King George V Docklands Light Railway Station.

Having arrived at  the King George V station, which I had not visited before, the whole station was  surprisingly to me, quite empty. Younger brother and sister not having arrived I found  nearby coffee shop to wait a while.

Upon meeting, we commenced the walk beginning with the road to the Woolwich Ferry

There was quite a demand for the ferry from lorry traffic though there were hardly any other foot passengers.

From the ferry we began to follow the Thames footpath which more or less followed the banks of the Thames though diversions around several inlets and buildings were not infrequent.

Amusingly we came across a sign in one section signifying that the walk could be as long as 180 miles long.

We also passed by what was presumably the original Woolwich Ferry - pictured below.

Later, the Thames Barrier was reached. Although we could see  from a distance that  the Barrier had been fully raised, by the time we actually arrived there, all the individual barriers bar one had been lowered. 

None the less the site was interesting  and as I hope the pictures below illustrate,  well worth the walk.

After some photography, we walked on to Greenwich where John had selected the Trafalgar Tavern as a suitable pub lunch venue. 

Then on to what was The Royal Naval College Greenwich. Years ago when still a schoolboy at Beaumont College, I recall being invited  by  Nick Shand who was a fellow Beaumont boy, to a New Year's Eve party at the College. 

Nick's father was a captain in the Royal Navy and that was then their home. At the stroke of midnight, in addition to fireworks from the College and elsewhere from the banks of the river, the sirens  blared from  a large number of vessels both large and small, on the Thames. Quite a memorable occasion. 

Now the College is  a college no more although the fine building is a museum of some kind. The line demarking the meridian is pictured below  with youngest sister.

We walked on to Greenwich Park,  which is the start point of London Marathon running  for the amateur runners who are in the main, charity fund raisers see eg:

London Marathon

Then on to Greenwich, where we had some tea and buns before commencing what turned out for younger brother and I, to be a long trek back. Youngest sister took an Uber Thames ferry back to London Bridge Station from Greenwich but the two of us decided to walk back along the Thames to that station. 

In the event the walk turned out to be long, though not too difficult as there were  no hills. 

Photographs of the route back are essentially covered by the pictures taken on an earlier walk from London Waterloo  to Greenwich also organised by John - see Previous Walk  

A tiring but very fulfilling day covering   about 15 miles walking.