Sunday was one of those London days: pretty gloomy and overcast, with a constant threat of drizzle. Undeterred, we walked across Southwark Bridge and strolled along the south bank of the Thames. Even in bad weather, the south bank always delivers: great views, great people watching, and great reminders of cultural history. Like the rebuilt Globe Theater. When Sue leaves Viv and Iggy, she always says “parting is such sweet sorrow,” and the girls say it right back to her. This theater was the home stadium for the guy who wrote those words, girls!
Normas Foster’s Millennium Bridge offers especially fine views, with Saint Paul’s directly opposite.
The view downriver toward the City with its skyscrapers (and Tower Bridge in the background) was especially socked in this morning.
You will have noticed the cranes in several of these pictures; the London development boom continues unabated. Where there used to be street art as you walked along the south bank, now you see glossy pictures of new commercial development a la Hudson Yards in New York. This little riverscape was just about the sole exception.
The walk was all too short, since we had to get to Paddington (the station, not the bear; perhaps you saw the video of Queen Elizabeth having tea with Padddington, after which they tapped out the opening beat to “We will rock you?). We were sorry to leave the hotel, which was a real oasis in the city, with an exceptionally warm staff and an unusual intimacy. Some of our regret stemmed too from a certain apprehensiveness about the walk to come. 100 miles is 100 miles, any way you cut it.
We arrived early, anticipating the usual surprises that accompany rail travel in England. And, sure enough, we found that our train had been cancelled. Staff shortages in the UK seem at least as bad as they are at home: we encountered understaffed restaurants, tube stations closed because there was no one to run them…and now our train couldn’t run because there was no train personnel. As it turned out, though, a train scheduled to depart 30 minutes before ours was delayed…by 40 minutes. We were told in the station that this train had been delayed by a slow-moving freight; one aboard the train, we were told that the delay was caused because this train had to be assembled….from the cars of our cancelled train. It was a pleasant trip down to the southwest though…and we were the lucky passengers. The train was terminated at Exeter, our stop, because a signal box had supposedly been struck by lightning. Must have been a phantom thunderstorm.
We were soon aboard our connection, making the short journey down to the sea. The last section of the tracks runs alongside the great estuary of the river Exe (thus the name Exmouth for the town where it meets the sea).
Our hotel is simple but very pleasant, part of an early nineteenth century terrace set on a ridge high above the sea. Our room had a lovely view over a park, across the estuary, and out into the English Channel.
After a short break, we headed down to the seafront and ambled along, thinking we had time to kill before our dinner reservation. That would have been the case had I turned the right direction when we reached the Esplanade…when we discovered our error, we had a mile’s forced march back the way we had come in order to get our dinner.
Dinner was exceptionally nice, at a very casual seafood restaurant on the water called Rockfish. I had never had Dover Sole and, after all, we were on the English Channel…great choice! Sue had an equally good grilled skate wing. We were very happy diners.
The walk home along the seashore looked like this:
As we walked back through the park near our hotel, we saw evidence in the twilight of just how temperate the climate here must be.
Tomorrow brings us to the path…wish us luck!