Ian Jelf wrote:
In message A.Lee writes
Hello all, I'll be making a trip to the Whitechapel Gallery on Saturday.
Afterwards, we'll be having a walk around, a few things on the list -
Smithfield, Borough market, Globe Theatre, Lincoln and Grays Inn.
From the map, all of these look pretty walk-able from Whitechapel. Is
that so in real life?

Well, if you're on foot you certainly won't cover all of those in
anything like a half day (ie after enjoying Whitechapel Art Gallery).
However, providing you're up for a bit of walking, a good route would be
south from the Gallery via the Tower of London, across Tower Bridge and
then following the south Bank of the Thames, past HMS Belfast to Borough
Market. You can follow the Thames beyond there to Tate Modern then go
across the Millennium Footbridge to Saint Paul's.

Thankyou for all of the replies. A good day was had by all!
Got to Whitechapel just before 10am for opening, but opening is at 11am
doh! So, a walk up Brick Lane.
What a dump. I'd planned to walk up one side, then down the other, but
turned left at the top, as I can see rubbish and deriliction anywhere if
required.
So go to Spitalfields Market, and see what has been done there - it was
15 years since I had last been there, and I remember it as a fruit
market, with acres of boxes and rubbish piled around. It is a nice
transformation, but I felt it a little soulless - there was no market
inside, so maybe a market day would have been better.

On to Whitechapel gallery. Very disappointed. £8.50 entrance fee for the
India/Pakistan/Bangla photo exhibition, I was there 15 minutes. Probably
150 pictures, mostly very mediocre, none jumped out at me as being good.
On a downer, instead of walking to Tower Hill, I took the tube for the
one stop (well, i was right next to the Tube stn.).

Surprised by the amount of people around the Tower area. This carried on
along the South Bank to the Millenium bridge. REALLY busy. I took a few
pics to show just how many people were around - a cold February day,
what is it like in the Summer?
And why on earth do joggers want to go along that section? It is rammed
solid in places, yet I must have seen 50 joggers trying to get through
the crowds.

Did the tourist thing and took loads of pics. The Globe Thetre tour
would have been interesting at £6. At the actual £10.50 for 40mins, it
was deemed to be overpriced, so we didnt go in.

On to Borough Mkt.This was so busy as to be uncomfortable. I walked
through the right, which you could just squeeze through, took a few
pics, then carried along the river path. Over the bridge. packed out. No
chance of a pic without people directly in front of you. So took pics
with people in front of me!

Comic moment at the North side of the bridge. To the East of the bridge
is a set of steps to the foreshore.At the previous bridge, I had noticed
the really strong tide coming in.
4 youths decided to get some pics from the river bank. No probelm
getting down, the water was well below the first step. From above, it
was quite clear that the water was rising rapidly. After 5 minutes, the
first step was under water. They didnt realise as they were too busy
larking around.A crowd had now gathered on the bridge, watching these
youths get stranded!
A few more minutes passed, and they realised they would be getting wet.
The 2 boys climbed up the wall, after deciding that knee deep Thames was
a little cold. They got up leaving the 2 girls. The girls werent sure
what to do, so stood there. It was at this point that people thought a
999 call may be in order. Luckily the girls decided to move. The thin
one tried climbing, but could not make it, the boys eventually helped
her up. The fat one would not be pulled up due to her size. She did the
sensible thing, took off her shoes and socks, rolled her trousers up,
got a little wet, but made it onto the steps. It was funny then as
everyone on the bridge started clapping and cheering, she then turned to
them and did a bow!

Up past St.Pauls, toward Smithfield. It was at this point that things
started to go quiet. Shops shut, little traffic, few pedestrians.
Smithfield was shut, but I went into the open gates, and took a couple
of pics from the door, and was promptly accosted by a 'Security' man.
"Cant take pics without a permit". I didnt bother arguing, as there was
nothing much you could see from the door ways.Stopped for a late lunch
at Wetherspoons on Farringdon Road. Then walk around the jewellers on
Hatton Gdn. There were a number of suspicious looking characters hanging
around - my thoughts were possible muggers looking for expensive
jewellery, or undercover Police - either way, they were definitely
watching people, not looking in the shops.

If you see this at a reasonable pace (ie *enjoy* it, don't just *do*
it), then that will probably be enough but it's not impossible to walk
along Newgate Street, Giltspur Street and finish at Smithfield. My
personal opinion is that Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn are steps too far.

After dinner, I had a hour and half to get back to St.P, so decided to
do the walk. Gray's Inn was completely locked up, even the gardens, so
that was a slight disappointment.
Had time for a drink at Betjemans in St. P. Quite nicely done in there,
with reasonable food prices.
The only downer was the train back which was 2 hours+ late, standing all
the way.

Enjoy your day!
Yes, did do thanks, just did the tourist thing, which is a change.
Ta
Alan.

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