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 Walking

I like walking, and you certainly do enough of it when you live and work in London.

So a fitting end to my working life, I thought, would be to walk home from Canary Wharf to Oakley. My account of that journey can be found in the Walking home section.

I actually thought that when I retired I would do more long distance walking, such are the dreams of the newly retired!!

I did walk back to Cribbit one night from Paddington, it was too late for the tube, a pleasant moonlit night and I had no idea where to find night buses in my be-fuddled state. As I recall it was about eight miles and I saw the dawn come up over Greenford before I was home.

I was also full of plans for an extended walk from Anglsey to Derbyshire, following in the footsteps of the Green Knight, and incidentally, taking in places associated with my youth [and later] in Cheshire and North Wales. I still have the plans but need the time.

Now I find myself back at work, and so far, no-one has asked me if I intend walking home again, I DON'T. But an idea has developed in my tiny mind, stemming from the photographs I have been taking from the sixth floor.

When I finish this current contract, sometime in March 2011, my intention is to walk back to Cribbit at Willowtree Marina by way of the Shard.

The Shard is the thing that looks a bit like the Eiffel tower near the middle of this pic

pics of the Shard in progress and an article about it.

I had another look at my walkhome pics from April 2008 and I think that the cranes in the one below may be demolishing Southwalk Towers, the building the Shard is replacing.

The South Bank as photographed from The Thames Path on my walk home April 2008

And here is the same aspect taken this time.

The South Bank as photographed from The Thames Path on my walk home April 2011