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Published: August 16th 2008
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Modern London
The Barrier, Canary Wharf and the Dome. "Do you know where the owls are?" I hear a small voice below me at the same time I feel a tug on my trouser leg. I look down to the discover that the voice belongs to a small Asian boy with eyes the colour of dark chocolate.
"No, love, I don't."
"Oh," he says with that tone of disappointment that only a small child can muster. My heart melts.
"Would you like me to help you look for them?"
"Yes!" His face breaks into a smile that lights up those gorgeous eyes. He takes my hand and tugs me in the direction he believes the owls might be. I obediently follow and we go to meet up with his mum. Smiling her gratitude to me (she has another child in a pram), we go to look for the owls. We looked everywhere as my new friend was not going to be deterred, but the owls were well hidden. His mum tried to explain to him that owls come out at night and sleep during the day, but he had heard there were owls and he was going to find one. Eventually, his mum distracted him with
Woolwich Market
The sign states that there has been a market here since 1619. the promise of an ice cream so as he ran off to the cart, I had a quick chat with his mum and then headed off in the opposite direction.
I had started the day with great plans for a long walk. The sun was shining and it was just way too nice a day to spend inside, so with the rucksack fully loaded, I headed off. One of the great things that Europe does is long distance walking paths. I have always wanted to do one, but have never really found the time. By chance, I stumbled across a new one called The Capital Ring. It is a 78 mile circle around London, each leg of which starts and ends at a train station. This seemed like a good path to start with, so I headed off this morning to do Stage One. Two tubes and a train ride later, I emerged at Woolwich, the start of the walk.
Woolwich is located on the Thames, just down the river from Greenwich. It's history has been traced back as far as the Celts. The Saxons had a fishing village here called Uuluuich (which historians believe meant "wool harbour").
Woolwich
These workers saw me taking photos at the Arsenal and asked why I hadn't taken one of them. I laughed and obliged. The spelling is odd, isn't it. This town is so old that the letter W was not yet in existence.
The Royal Naval Dockyard was established here in 1512, followed quickly by the Royal Arsenal and the Royal Military Academy. In 1886, some workers at the Royal Arsenal decided to form a football club. They were originally known as Dial Square, then Royal Arsenal, then Woolwich Arsenal and, when they moved to Highbury in 1913, they became known as just plain Arsenal. This football club is the most well-known London club and one of the best known in England. Jeremy and Crouchy are both ardent supporters and the only football match I have been to since I've lived here was to watch Arsenal. They still call themselves the Gunners.
I learned all this by walking through what was the Arsenal on my way to the beginning of the walk. Just before I hit the Thames, I passed by the Firepower Museum. I thought that was such a cool name that I had to go in. It is a museum dedicated to The Royal Artillery. Basically, it is four floors of big guns. In chronological order, it begins with
Royal Naval Arsenal
One of the original buildings and where some of the big guns were. the invention of gunpowder and then proceeds through time to the modern day. It's amazing to me the number of ways man has come up with killing other people. The guns got progressively bigger and more complex, until at the end I saw one capable of setting off a nuclear warhead.
Little boys and guns. The only people in the museum other than myself were small boys with their adult guest and one large boy with his very patient wife. The best part was that they had military marches playing while one walks around -- that's always great music.
I finally left the museum and continued on to the start of the walk. The wind had picked up along the river, so it was a bit chilly, but the sun was shining and there was a lot of boat traffic, so it was a great day to be walking. I eventually got to the start of the walk -- several hours after I was meant to. The walk begins at the south end of the Woolwich Foot Tunnel. This tunnel is for pedestrians and there is a ferry just up the river. There has been a ferry crossing
Firepower Museum
Some of the big guns on display. here since at least the 12th Century. As I was walking past, I fell into conversation with one of the ferrymen. I asked him how he liked being on the river all day. "I wouldn't do anything else, love" he said. We had a smoke together and debated the merits of living in the US versus the UK. Like so many people, he thinks I'm barking to live here. I asked him where he would live in the US if he could. The answer was quick and to the point, "Orlando". I laughed, shook his hand and continued on my walk.
I passed through the old Royal Naval Dockyard, also established in 1512. Some of the most famous British ships were built here, including the HMS Beagle, the one that Darwin was on when he changed the world.
I eventually made it to the Thames Barrier. This is, without a doubt, one of the great engineering feats of our time. The Thames is tidal and has been known to cause massive floods in its time. The last really bad one was in 1953. 300 people died and the property damage was immense. The Powers That Be decided that
Firepower Museum
Just because we're at war doesn't mean we can't do a proper tea! this probably shouldn't happen again, so they commissioned a barrier to control a tidal surge. It took years to build -- just pouring the concrete for the foundation took five solid days and nights. It is fascinating to walk around and there is a small museum that shows how it was built and how it works. Now, I am by no means an engineer, but I was suitably impressed by how complex this achievement was.
One of the things I loved most about being this far down the river was the view. I had a magnificent look at what I have termed Modern London. In one place, one can see the Barrier, the Millennium Dome (now the O2 Centre that I have written about many times) and Canary Wharf. Brilliant!
After spending way too long at the Barrier (I even had lunch here as I couldn't tear myself away), I continued on the walk. I walked through Maryon Park and Maryon Wilson Park. These two parks were once part of the estate of (surprise, surprise), Maryon Wilson. He made his fortune in sand (back in the day before there were carpets) and donated his land to London County
Capital Ring
The start. How exciting to be setting off on this new adventure. Council when he died.
After a stiff walk up 115 steps (yes, I counted), the path dropped down into a children's petting zoo. I was here taking photos when I felt the tug on my trouser leg. Deciding that helping a small child look for owls was going to be the high point of the day, as well as the fact that it was closing in on 5.00, I decided to leave Stage One at this point and jump on a train back home. At this rate, it is going to take me years to complete the circuit!
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