Saturday September 5, 2026.
Sunny 24°C (75.2°F)
As Keilyn and I had tickets to an event, in the afternoon, we decided that we would make a day of it.
We walked to Watford underground station and boarded a Baker Street train, which we took to Finchley Road. Here we changed to an Aldgate-bound train to Liverpool Street station.
On leaving the station we headed along Bishopsgate to Leadenhall Street and then Whittington Avenue, where we visited the Terrace at One Leadenhall. I had visited here on the previous Monday, but, due to a glitch with my phone, I had lost many of my photos and videos from the viewing terrace. Hence my second visit. We were greeted by the concierge and headed into a waiting lift.
When the lift doors opened we were greeted by the sight of the Fenchurch Building (The Walkie-Talkie). Next to it, and looking remarkably small from this perspective, is The Shard. Although the viewing terrace is only on the fourth floor, and only on the south side of One Leadenhall, it does over an amazing view. Again, like my previous visit, the entire terrace was empty, with the exception of a lone security guard.
122 Leadenhall Street (The Cheesegrater), Lloyds of London, The Scalpel, the Garden at 120, the Minster Building, Fenchurch Building (The Walkie-Talkie), The Shard, The Monument, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower 42, are just a few of the buildings that can be seen, along with the roof of Leadenhall Market.
Once we had seen enough, Keilyn decided to check out the toilets, leaving me to talk with the security guard who informed me that we were the first visitors this morning. I asked if it ever got busy, to which he replied at lunchtimes when office workers use it. When Keilyn returned we headed down in the lift and wandered through Leadenhall Market. The Wunderkammer display wasn't opening until 14:00, but it was nice to peer through the windows into the three distinctly different miniature shops. The 'Tronage Yarns' shop harks back to Leadenhall Market's medieval past, as this is where, from 1463, wool tronage was determined. This was a tax that traders paid to have their goods officially weighed using a specially installed trona (or beam).
The 'Leadenhall Film Library' store celebrates Leadenhall Market's credentials as a filming location, with its involvement in Harry Potter, Slow Horses and many more films and TV series being filmed here. The third shop is 'Lilliput Cards', from where five miniature postcards can be purchased from the City's smallest serving window. This shop will be hosted by various retailers until its closure in December.
Dodging the tourists, and the tour guides with their guests in various Harry Potter costumes, we made our way out onto Lime Street and onto Fenchurch Street. We then headed east, joining Aldgate High Street, where we stopped at Subway to get Keilyn a bite to eat. A half sub with chicken, ham and cheese with a drink was soon in her hands. I would eat later.
From here we found ourselves on Whitechapel High Street, which we followed to Commercial Road, passing the Whitechapel Fire Station. There has been a fire station on this site since 1875, with the current building opening in 1932. It is one of five fire stations in Tower Hamlets. Then we passed The Proof House of the Gunmakers Company of the City of London, which has a history dating back to 1637.
We then turned south, along Cannon Street Road, passing the crossroads where John Williams, the suspected perpetrator of the Ratcliff Highway murders was interred, before continuing our journey. On reaching The Highway we turned eastward, again, following the road until we crossed it and headed south on Garnet Street. This brought us to Shadwell Basin, where, across the water, we could see the stalls of Wapping Docklands Market. We followed the path around the basin and had a peruse of the stalls. There were food stalls, a black cab selling coffee, along with various other stalls selling their wares. One of the stalls was run by the artist Ed Bucknall, whose work I have seen on many occasions. He uses a mixture of media, from pen & ink to watercolour, acrylic and oils on paper, canvas and marble, drawing inspiration from the River Thames.
After a mooch around the stalls we headed for Wapping Wall and carefully descended the Pelican Stairs to the River Thames foreshore, in front of the Prospect of Whitby pub. The noon sun was glorious, making the breaking waves sparkle as they broke against the shore. The tinkling of glass against tile, as the waves receded, gave the foreshore its own melody, with the sound becoming almost hypnotic. After a few minutes we headed, carefully, back up the Pelican Stairs to Wapping Wall and the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station.
After showing our tickets at the entrance we entered the grounds of the power station, where a Flea Market had been set up for the weekend. There were stalls selling everything that you could think of. From vintage clothing to old postcards. Stamps, horse brasses, furniture, vinyl albums, shoes, glassware, objects found along the River Thames foreshore and so much more. There were also vintage cars, such as an Alfa Romeo, a Chevrolet pickup and a Porsche all for sale.
Once we had explored the various stalls we headed inside the main building, where every spare space was taken up with more stalls. Knickknacks, lamps, more furniture and a myriad other items were all for sale and we checked them all out. Keilyn saw a silver ring, so I purchased that for her, along with a small penknife, from another stall.
Once we had seen all that there was we headed back out onto Wapping Wall and headed west, back to Garnet Street. Here we dropped down onto the path beside the Ornamental Canal, which we would follow back towards St Katharine Docks. It had been quite a while since I had walked along this part of Wapping and I had forgotten how tranquil it is.
Once we had passed through Wapping Woods we joined the main Ornamental Canal, beside Tobacco Dock. There were baby ducks, young moorhens, coots and cygnets either swimming in the shallow water, or sitting on the steps in the sun.
There were also some large Carp swimming in the almost clear water, while a shoal of three-spined stickleback glittered just below the surface, while a Coot was busy splashing around below one of the small weirs. Eventually we arrived at Hermitage Basin which, many years ago, had connected the London Docks to the River Thames. However, much like the rest of London's Docklands, following the advent of containerisation and the shallow channels, the entire area underwent massive regeneration resulting in the construction of the Ornamental Canal and the residential properties that now cover this area.
We then descended the Alderman Stairs, where we enjoyed another stroll along the foreshore. soon though the tide began to turn, so we headed back up the stairs to St Katharine's Way and headed towards the marina.
Here we saw 'Gloriana' the Queen's Rowbarge and one of the Dunkirk Little Ships, that had arrived in preparation for next week's festival at the docks. There was also a large wicker basket that Keilyn and I took turns to have our photo taken in.
We then rejoined St Katharine's Way, crossed East Smithfield, where I took a photo of the old Royal Mint, before we headed up Mansell Street and rejoined Aldgate High Street. Here I stopped to buy some sausage rolls, from Greggs, before we headed back into the City. Once on Fenchurch Street, again, Keilyn decided we should walk down one of the alleys, so we headed through Hartshorn Alley. It is a short alley that links Fenchurch Street with Leadenhall Street, with a slight bend in the middle and home to a Coral betting shop. Still, it was another alley struck off our list.
We saw some of the Sculpture in the City pieces, on Rood Lane, before continuing along Leadenhall Street brought to Cornhill and the amazing church of St Michael Cornhill. We then found ourselves by the Bank of England and moved onto Poultry which brought us into Cheapside. We passed the oldest tree in the City of London, before stopping at New Change Garden, where Britain's oldest private bank was founded in 1672.
We then crossed New Change and made our way through St Paul's Churchyard and onto Ludgate Hill. We followed Ludgate Hill before heading north, along Farringdon Street, and passed beneath the Holborn Viaduct with its ornate columns and lamps. We crossed West Smithfield and Charterhouse Street, where the London Museum is still hidden behind scaffolding and hoardings, although it is still due to open this November. Soon we were on Cowcross Street and our final destination of Farringdon station.
After passing through the ticket barriers we headed down to the platform and caught a Circle line Hammersmith-bound train to Baker Street. At Baker Street we headed up to the ticket hall, where one of the helpful TFL staff allowed Keilyn to pass through the barrier to use the toilet, while I waited patiently for her return. Once she was back through the barrier we headed down to Platform 1, where we purchased coffee and snacks, before boarding our train for home.
A bit of messing about between the two of us kept the journey from being dull, as we were whisked through suburbia and into Metro-land. On leaving Watford station it seemed to take no time at all before we were walking through the gate to our garden.
It was yet another fantastic trip visiting a wonderful old building, that I had walked by many times, exploring a wonderful flea market, and walking some more familiar streets, all with great company.
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 - 41 miles (65.98 kms)
- Walking - 7.74 miles (12.45 kms)
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