Walking with Keilyn: Aldgate to St Katharine Docks... and beyond
Sunday September 13, 2026.
Cloudy with a high of 22°C (71.6°F), with light showers.After a quick bite for lunch, Keilyn and I made the short walk to Watford underground station, where we caught a Baker Street-bound, changing at Finchley Road for an Aldgate-bound train.
On leaving Aldgate we headed east along Aldgate High Street, joined Whitechapel High Street and then headed south along Leman Street.
Our first stop was at Goodman's Fields to admire the horse statues, before continuing along Leman Street and passing beneath the railway bridge that carries the mainline trains from Fenchurch Street station and the Docklands Light Railway from Tower Gateway, before we stopped at Cable Street.
While Keilyn checked out the items in the window of the 'Jack the Ripper Museum', while I busied myself taking photos of the various plaques adorning the walls of the buildings. Suitably satisfied we both continued south along Dock Street, crossed The Highway, and continued along Vaughan Way. Keilyn pointed out that we were taking the long route to get to our destination, but I assured her that was a method to my madness, as we turned onto Thomas More Street and then St Katharine's Way.
Within moments we were approaching St Katharine Docks and Marina, via Mews Street, where a vintage jazz band was playing to a small group of people and the patrons of the nearby 'Dickens Inn'. Across St Katharine Basin we could see from where most people were entering the docks, which was why I had chosen this entrance. We headed to our left where a number of stalls were set up. One was being run by personnel from the Royal Navy, while another was the stall of the Victoria Model Steamboat Club, which is one of the oldest modelling clubs in the world, having been founded in 1904. We then headed down the gangway to the floating pontoon, from where we watched one of the Victoria Model Steamboat Club members launch two vessels onto the waters of the basin.
We then took a counterclockwise route around the basin, stopping to admire the collection of Dunkirk Little Ships that made their way to London for this weekend's festival. Keilyn spotted a ship named 'Starcraft Enterprise', which was cool, considering Star Trek had celebrated its 60th birthday on September 8th. The owner was even wearing a 'To Boldly Go' t-shirt, so a few photos were taken of him, the ship and myself beside the ship. The Bates Star Craft is a mid-20th-century wooden motorboat.
We continued on, passing the 'Anchor of the Amsterdam' and fully restored retracting footbridge, which was wonderful to see from the vantage point of being almost on the water. Along the north edge of the basin more Little Ships were moored, side-by-side, with some allowing visitors to step aboard. Even though the River Thames was at high tide, the water in the marina was almost as calm as a mill pond, allowing for some great reflection photo opportunities.
As we continued on we could hear singing coming from one of the boats ahead of us, so went to see what was going on. Sure enough we soon spotted a lady, in 1940s attire, standing at the bow of the 'Bou Saada', which was built in Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, in 1933. Her name was Kitty Mazinsky and she was performing vintage jazz numbers and songs from the American Songbook.
We were then invited aboard the 'Guide of Dunkirk', where we got to see the engine and peer into the tiny rooms fore and aft. Commissioned in 1939 the 'Guide of Dunkirk' was one of the first self-righting Lifeboats built for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. During 'Operation Dynamo' she was one of 19 lifeboats who, between them, saved 3,400 people from Dunkirk. In total she made three trips from Ramsgsate to Dunkirk. On her launch she was named 'Girl Guide', as it was the Girl Guides who had paid for her to be built after fundraising £5000, which was an incredible achievement in wartime.
Following her exploits in Dunkirk, and after repairs to her stern, she was renamed 'Guide of Dunkirk'. After working as a lifeboat from 1941-1963, she became a bit of a tourist attraction in Cornwall, before she was put up for sale in 2025 for £5000. The same amount that it had cost to originally build her.
We then continued along the east side of the basin, by now used to the rocking of the pontoons, as we admired the myriad vessels. Everyone was friendly and the boat owners were genuinely happy to talk about the history of their ship, its exploits and what they did with them when not at festivals.
The next ship we boarded was 'M. T. Kent', a 1948 single-screw diesel harbour tug. Every inch of the ship was open to explore, while items were for sale midships and handmade wooden games were at the bow, ready for people of all ages to enjoy.
As we were disembarking we spotted Mr Tim Dunn, one of the presenters of 'Secrets of the London Underground' and other railway orientated shows on television. After clambering over the side of the tug we headed along the gangway up to the dockside, where we lost sight of him. It would have been nice for Keilyn and myself to have had a quick chat with him, but it wasn't to be this time. So, we headed to the Rotunda to have a look at 'Gloriana' the Queen's Rowbarge and more of the sailing ships.
On the dockside was a stall operated by the 'Ocean Racing Team' who explained to Keilyn what the adventure entailed and the work that went into it. Keilyn listened, asked some questions, took a brochure and a pen and, after saying "Thank you", we made our way down the gangway to the eastern dock.
The queue to see 'Gloriana' was quite long, so we busied ourselves by looking at the yachts, Dutch barges, motorboats and the like. Returning to the queue we found it had grown a lot longer, so we headed back up the gangway and headed towards the River Thames.
As we still had some time to wait before Tower Bridge was due to raise her bascules, we headed into the Tower Hotel, where we purchased coffee and sat in the comfortable surroundings of the foyer. The Tower Hotel is one of those places that, from the outside, looks horrible with its brutalist architecture, but inside it is amazingly light and airy.
Following this we went for another quick look at some of the stalls, before Keilyn headed back to the 'Ocean Racing Team' stall, where she waited patiently to speak with one of the racers. Minutes later, after promising to sign up when she turns fourteen, Keilyn walked away with a bright red 'Clipper Race' beanie hat.
We then returned to the riverside before making our way up onto Tower Bridge, which we crossed so that we could watch her open from Butler's Wharf. A few minutes later we were in prime position as the sirens sounded and traffic, pedestrian and road, came to a halt. Now, I have seen Tower Bridge open on numerous occasions from this vantage point and from the west of her. I have seen her open from the deck of the bridge, from the glass walkways above the bascules and from the Tower Hotel, and it still brings a smile to my face.
Six stops later and we were travelling up escalators and climbing up stairs to the Metropolitan line platforms. According to the display our train was almost ready to leave, from Platform 4, but we needed snacks, so we continued up to Platform 1. After purchasing drinks and snacks we watched our train pull away, confident that another would be along shortly. Indeed, minutes later the next Watford train arrived on the screens, but only to be replaced with an Uxbridge-bound train minutes later.
As has become a regular occurrence, we boarded the next train to pull in. While we waited we watched a mouse nibbling at some dropped food between the railway sleepers, before it disappeared from view as a Semi-fast Chesham-bound train pulled into the station. This was perfect, as we could take it to Harrow-on-the-Hill or Moor Park, from where we could wait for a connecting train. We could also take it to Rickmansworth and either walk or get a bus from there to home.
Fortunately, Keilyn was keeping her eyes peeled. As we passed Neasden Depot she spotted a Watford-bound train leaving the depot, so we got off the train at Wembley Park, which allowed me to take some photos of the station. In particular the signs for the stadium, arena and conference centre. To those of you who are visiting this part of London, either from overseas or other parts of the UK, Wembley Conference Centre was opened in 1977, but demolished in 2006. It has always tickled me that 90% of the signs still show 'Conference Centre', while some of the other signs have these words masked out with tape.
I had barely taken the photos I wanted when our train pulled in which was empty, as it had just left the depot. We sat near the front and were soon speeding towards home. Arriving at Watford Keilyn ran ahead, as she likes to be the first through the ticket barrier, while I helped a mother carry her pushchair up the stairs to the ticket foyer.
The walk home was spent talking about the afternoon and what a good time we had had, along with talking about Mr Tim Dunn. Yet, another great day out.
Distance travelled:
- Bus - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- Cable Car - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- Car - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- DLR - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- Ferry - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- Overground - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- River Boat - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- Taxi - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- Train - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- Tram - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- Underground - 40.9 miles (65.82 kms)
- Walking - 4.86 miles (7.82 kms)
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