Mick Hartley

Let's just check that calendar again. Yes, it's mid-March - and here we are in t-shirts and short-sleeves, smiling, sitting out on the grass, putting on the sunglasses. Bloody hell.

How's my doggy friend? Seems to be surviving. Like everyone else, he's enjoying the warm weather…

I'm heading down the Lea to Docklands:

 

 

Over – well, under - the Blackwall Tunnel Northern Approach and down to Poplar, past Goldfinger's Balfron Tower – Trellick Tower's smaller and less well-known cousin:

 

Past all that Docklands glass and steel:

   

And under the Greenwich foot tunnel. One or both of the lifts are nearly always out of action. This time it's the south lift, which means carrying the bike up and round and up and round, trying not to count the stairs.

Christopher Wren's old Royal Naval Hospital is now part of the University of Greenwich; whereas in the old days it was all closed off, now there's public access:

 

 

 

Heading east, the cycle path along the river's interrupted by building work, so it's inland down the back streets, and eventually up the foot/cycle bridge over the Blackwall Tunnel Southern Approach – looking back at the Dockland towers:

 

Past the gasometer. I can't resist gasometers:

Out onto the Thames path below the Millennium Dome, where the river opens out and the sense of space and light on a sunny day like today is just exhilarating:

 

The Thames barrier in the distance, and, looking back, the pier of the Greenwich Yacht Club (yes, the tide's out):

 

Behind, some sand… 

 

 

Over the river, the derelict Millennium Mills in the centre, and a new tower block at the edge of Lyle Park to the right:

 

 

 

 

And here's the Thames Barrier at last:

  

Cup of tea and bacon roll in the cafe, and….oooh, planes coming in to land at City Airport across the river, over a huge pile of rubbish. But…the camera memory's full. Bugger. Never happened to me before on a single day trip. No more pictures.

Back under the Woolwich foot tunnel. Both lifts working, thank god (manned, too….what a tedious job, but always friendly). Up to the Beckton Alps, and back along the Greenway.

I've caught the sun. My forehead, if not exactly tanned, is no longer pale. In March!