We’ve done a lot of traveling and I hope we’ll do a lot more traveling in the future together, but you never know what’s going to happen that might throw a wrench into those plans. We’ve been fairly lucky in the injury department, so far…
Saturday, I saw that there was a free walking tour being offered by London Walks sponsored by TfL probably in an attempt to get people walking and exercising more. Apparently these occur three times a year. I saw walks 2 in our area, one leaving from Tower Bridge and walking to Greenwich (supposedly 8 hours) and the other leaving from City Hall and walking to Canary Wharf (3.5 hours).
Rain was in the forecast for the afternoon, so I picked the shorter of the two, City Hall to Canary Wharf. Expecting a similar walk to one I’d taken previously through Bermondsey, I thought I would check out how a different company conducts their tours to see if I’d prefer one over the other. Turns out this one was highlighting sights north of the river, so it was a bit different than I thought it would be. Here is the description of the tour I took:
Walk along the Thames Path with the Chairman of the River Thames Society This special walk passes over Tower Bridge, looks at St. Katharine Dock and follows the Thames Path past the former London Docks, through Wapping, Shadwell to Limehouse, with its historic Narrow Street. The walk also takes in a visit to Limehouse Basin, before crossing Limekiln Creek to Canary Wharf, with great views of the river along the way. Part of Walk London's Spring into Summer weekend of free guided walks funded by Transport for London.
So I set out towards City Hall and met up with the tour. We crossed over Tower Bridge and saw the small cruise ship, Berlin, docked beside the HMS Belfast bringing many visitors to London where they’ll tour the city in motorcoaches.
We crossed over to the north bank of the Thames, and learned a bit about the St. Katharine’s Docks, home to the M.V. Havengore which has the distinction of being the vessel that took Churchill up the Thames for the last time.
The tour continued through Wapping, to the Hermitage Riverside Memorial Garden, designated as a peace reminder with the WWII Blitz Memorial.
It began to drizzle as we passed a couple of high end restaurants overlooking the Thames, past the ICC International Maritime Bureau, down a short flight of steps, and BAM!, down I went. My left foot slipped on a metal step and didn’t find grip on the next step either. My hands were in my jacket pockets keeping them dry. My right arm pulled up before I hit the ground seeking a place to brace my fall. I landed primarily on my hip with my chicken wing pinned under my chest. My left foot continued down the steps, taking the legs out of the girl in front of me, and down she went too. She jumped up, grumbling something about my needing to be more careful. Not sure how I was doing, I slowly got to my feet. A well wishing Samaritan grabbed my sore arm and shook it asking if I was okay. I said I hoped so. I brushed my jacket off and found my arm tender and it stung, but I didn’t see any blood and it still worked properly, so I took those to be good signs. My leg and hip hurt, but they supported my weight, so check, another good sign. My chest hurt where my arm had cushioned the fall and I had developed a head ache. Time would tell. Would they stiffen up and turn black and blue? Would I be spending the night in the urgent care clinic looking at x-rays and casts?
I kept walking with the tour group. It wasn’t the senior citizens that fell, it was me. Apparently rubber soled hiking boots aren’t necessarily non-skid. I did try to avoid walking behind people and I noticed a few did their best to avoid walking in front of me. Even so, I was still walking better than the majority of them.
We continued along, past the Wapping Police Station and dock, the Captain Kidd pub, Wapping Overground Station, along the Wapping Wall, through King Edward VII’s Memorial Park, and stopped for a story regarding the East India Company’s saltpeter warehouse. Continuing along the Thames Path through Shadwell, we got stopped at the Limehouse Ship Lock as the Narrow’s Bridge was blocked to allow a sailboat to exit the Limehouse Basin. While waiting, the heaviest rain I’ve experienced so far in London began to fall. I felt as if it was egging me on to fall again. Up a long stairwell, holding onto the railing, we crossed the bridge. We followed Narrow Street until we got to another bridge leading to Dundee Wharf and began following the river once more to the Canary Wharf pier where our tour came to an end.
For the record, this is the relationship between Canary Wharf and our flat.
From there, to get to the nearest Underground tube stop, I walked up the stairs and along West India Ave until I reached the Cabot Place shopping center. There, for good measure, my left foot slipped on the last wet step before getting out of the rain. I didn’t fall this time, but it was a jarring conclusion to the walk.
I took the tube back home to Bermondsey, walked home, and surveyed the damage. Fortunately, my clothes were not torn. My arm was scraped up a bit and bruised, ribs were sore, but unmarked, and I’ve got a huge, very sore welt on my hip. A couple of Aleve later, a full nights rest, more Aleve in the morning and it still hurts, but nothing turned black and blue, so I guess I’m in the clear!
Just remember, even the most basic of adventures can cause you to end up in pain. It was just a 3.5 mile walk that many senior citizens were able to complete, without injury I might add.
To quote the 1980’s crime drama,
Let’s be careful out there…
