World’s First Tunnel Under a Navigable River...

Oops! Missed a few posts from May, so switching back to London and will post about Belgium Nash Hash later....

On May 19, Jimmy and I visited the Brunel Museum, housed in the Brunel Engine House which was part of the infrastructure for the Thames Tunnel, the world’s first tunnel built under a navigable river.

This tunnel is of particular interest to us since it is between our local station of Wapping on the northern side of the Thames and Rotherhithe on the southern side, so we use it frequently.

It opened in 1843 after 19 years of being dug out by hand! It was originally designed for horse-drawn carriages, but was mostly used for pedestrians until it was converted to a train tunnel in 1869. Today it is used for the Windrush Line on the Overground (which is obviously not always above ground).   

It’s nice that there’s a plaque on the wall at the station about this amazing achievement, but I’m disappointed that there’s no announcement when going under the river. 

 

Neighborhood Cygnets...

The first time I photographed our local swan nest at the end of Spirit Quay was on March 17.

On our walk to a London H3 trail starting in Aldgate on April 20, we spotted a newborn cygnet.

Then on the 24th, I saw the whole brood. 

From this angle you can see the fencing put up to protect the nest.

Not sure when they first swam, but they didn’t hesitate to leave the nest at just four days old.

One of the eggs never hatched.

Both parents took the seven cygnets off for a swim... 

…but while one sat with them in their new house down the canal a bit, the other sat on the remaining egg.

 

Shadwell Basin...

When I walk to the grocery store, I often take the long way to walk along Shadwell Basin, which was once part of the London Docklands. While it looked particularly inviting for a swim on this calm day in mid-March, the water is deeper (up to 30 feet) and colder than it appears. Apparently several people have died in the recent past, so there are lots of no swimming signs.

Further along on my route are two old ships permanently on display at Tobacco Dock, a cool old warehouse from 1812 that hosts occasional food festivals. 

One of the creepier things I spotted on my walk in early April. 

While these photos weren’t taken from the same angle, they show the transition of spring arriving in our neighborhood.

More April 7th...

As you can see, we still needed to wear coats, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying our first drinks in 2024 on the terrace of The Salt Quay, a pub which we can see from our flat.

To get there is just one stop on the Overground, although it is actually entirely underground at that point as it crosses under the Thames. 

We were greeted by a lovely sunset as we walked to the Prospect of Whitby...

…for dinner and a few rounds of Rummikub.
 

The Girls Head Out...

On the morning of February 12, I  went with Veronica to Crossrail Place Roof Garden to help her shoot a video as part of an application for a Sustainable Futures course she was hoping to attend. 

She didn’t end up using the video, but was accepted into course to be held in Utrecht.

On our way back from Shadwell DLR Station, Veronica brought me to some cool murals I’d never seen in a park I walk through all the time.

She and Brett left that afternoon for Exeter.

Meanwhile, Ashlynn and Ciaran moved into the guestroom and it quickly looked like a hurricane had hit. Of course, it was challenging to pack for a trip to the tropics while leaving during winter.  

On February 13, Ciaran accompanied Ashlynn to Heathrow where she was catching a flight to Tahiti (via LA), where she would be spending the next three months studying tiny sea snails.  
 

Low Tide...

After having our first Sunday roast at the Prospect of Whitby in early February, Jimmy noticed that the tide was low and that a beach appeared in front of the pub. He thought we should investigate if it was possible to walk along the beach to our building. Turns out it wasn’t, but we soon learned that there was another access further down the street in the opposite direction. We were warned to watch out for quicksand.  

Luckily the staircase down wasn’t too slippery and we were able to avoid getting sucked into any muck. It was cool seeing the back of our building from up close...

…although it was still difficult to see our patio, which is on a 5th floor addition added in the 1990s. 

The following weekend, we bought a lovely print of our building from a local artist. 

Our New Neighborhood...

When we stood on the deck of our new flat, we looked across at a pub in Rotherhithe that seemed familiar to us. Then it dawned on us that it was where Thomas ended his trail for London H3 in October while Jim was visiting from Berlin. 

Jimmy then remembered that I had taken a series of photos when we witnessed a cruise ship being turned around right in front us while standing on the pub’s patio. Little did I know that I was taking photos of our future flat in the smaller building just to the left of the tugboat. 

While we can’t see the Tower Bridge or all of The Shard from our new flat, this lovely view is less than a 10-minute walk away...

…and just a few minutes further away is St. Katharine Docks. You can expect that I’ll be posting lots of photos of similar views.

While there are five pubs in Wapping, three of them on the river, we have designated The Prospect of Whitby as our “local” not just because its the closest, but because we really like it.

We were rather shocked when we saw a noose hanging outside, but at least there’s a logical explanation. The pub was a favorite of The Hanging Judge, who regularly had pirates hung and eventually died himself in the Tower of London.

Not that this map covers our entire giant city, but you can see our new district on the far right along the northern bank of the Thames River.

Wapping Overground Station is just a five-minute walk from our flat and is connected to the Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel in the world built under a river for transportation. More on that later...

The platforms at Wapping Station are very narrow, but at least there are nice historic panels throughout.

 

Canary Wharf Winter Lights...

The following day we checked out our local Saturday market. It mostly consisted of food trucks/stalls with plenty of seating, which was convenient as we were in search for some lunch.

The market is along Shadwell Basin, a remnant of the historic London Docks...

….with nice views towards the City of London.

Later we walked to Canary Wharf, London’s financial district built in the early 1990s to replace much of the dilapidated London Docklands. 

Our goal was to visit the Winter Lights Festival. It wasn’t as impressive as Amsterdam’s Light Festival, but still entertaining.

We especially enjoyed walking through these long strands of changing colors.

This wasn’t actually part of the show, but some cool lighting that Jimmy spotted by one of the Tube stations. We had assumed we’d eat at one of the food halls, but they were too crowded. So we walked back to Wapping, arriving at 9pm, to learn that all of the five pubs close their kitchens at 9pm. And the Italian restaurant serves until 9:30pm, but was full. At least the local minimart was still open, resulting in our second dinner in our new flat being a baguette and hummus.