A Winter Walk Along the Thames

Nothing beats an introduction (or re-introduction) to London like a walk along the Thames. Every time we visit, I like to renew my acquaintance with this vast city by coming to the river. London stretches far from its banks, but its history began there, and it's along the Thames that the city becomes approachable and more human in scale.

That's why Kevin and I put a walk along the river at the top of our list of things to do. But our usual view of the tower that houses Big Ben was not what greeted us as we emerged from the Underground ("the Tube") to begin our walk. Instead of something like this (photo from www.parliament.uk website):

We instead found the tower sheathed in scaffolding:

The mechanism of Big Ben, which is actually the name of the bell in the clock tower, is under restoration along with the clock faces and tower. The bell will only toll on special occasions until 2021. (Big Ben weighs 13-1/2 tons. The foundry that cast it also made our Liberty Bell.)

Kevin and I enjoyed our stroll in the brisk air, crossing to the South Bank and wandering past the art galleries, cafes, and the booksellers near the National Theatre. 

Across the river, we caught a glimpse of St. Paul's Cathedral, bathed in the golden light of the winter day.

We encountered some river residents too. These beautiful Egyptian geese seemed not the least perturbed when we stepped down to explore the shingled and gravelly bank.

And Kevin got his first taste of mudlarking, or scavenging along the river mud to find items of interest or value. 

He did not find any of the thousands of old clay (smoking) pipes that are supposed to lie buried in the mud, nor did he find any Roman coins or Anglo-Saxon treasures. But here is what he did find:

Kevin, like the artist Henry Moore, is fascinated with flints and accretions, and now he has new ones in his collection. He also found what we think is a bone, which possibly could be very old, from the days when butchers threw bones and offal into the river. We saw a similar bone used as a scraper in the London Museum, which dated from prehistoric times. But it's doubtful that Kevin's discovery is that ancient.

Still, you can be sure there will be more river walks and more mudlarking. I think I may try it myself, just in the hope that I might find a precious Anglo-Saxon brooch. But, alas, if I find one, it must become the property of the British government. (There's always a catch, isn't there?)