Floating bookshop

I love London and we often spend hours just walking around and exploring the hidden alleyways, cobbled streets, marketplaces and old buildings.  It was last year that I heard of this fabulously quirky bookshop that is known as the "Word on Water" a floating bookshop barge on the Regent's canal and so we had to go and investigate.

On our visit it was moored at Granary Wharf near King's Cross, where regular jazz bands play either alongside or on the roof.

It cruises and moors up between various locations on the Canal including The Angel at Islington and another close to the Olympic Park at Stratford.

It was a book lover's delight - so many fabulous second hand books

Its uniqueness had me enthralled

It had its own resident dog and even an old iron stove below deck

  

 This visit certainly came up to my expectations and didn't let me down.

Have a great weekend.

Anniversary trip

John treated us to a day out this week for our 44th wedding anniversary. We boarded the 70 year old and much preserved Paddle Steamer Waverley for a trip up the Thames to London.  It was a beautiful day, albeit a bit windy but nevertheless sunny. Because of this the boat couldn't dock at Southend pier so we were coached to Gravesend for our embarkation.

As you must be aware by now, I am passionate about London and this was a fabulous way of approaching it. Passing many landmarks, old warehouses, factories, ports areas, cranes and so much more besides.

This is the Queen Elizabeth ll bridge that joins Essex with Kent at Dartford 

I've only ever seen the Thames Barrier on the tv and it was fascinating to cruise past

Next came the O2 centre and the Emirates cable cars which takes you from one side to the other side of the river - a ride upon which is definitely on my wish list!

This is the Greenwich Maritime Centre and Royal Observatory

The Cutty Sark standing proudly in the background

When you are in the City you can never actually see the skyline and this was great to see it as we approached London

Again, Docklands is so vast that you can never appreciate it when walking about

Steaming towards Tower Bridge was just the most thrilling experience

and such excitement when it was opened for us to pass through

Once in the Pool of London we had a half an hour moored up before leaving

So what better way of spending the time marvelling at the scene around us 

This is the Old Custom House which we visited in my last post

And of course the majestic Tower of London - standing dominantly by the Thames

And so, as we steamed past Wapping Steps

we made our way back down the Thames towards home

A perfect day that fulfilled all my expectations.

See you soon x

A month ago....

....I said that I was returning after my summer break, and here I am returning again! Where does the time go? Thank you for your lovely comments welcoming me back and yes this time I'm definitely back to stay.

A few weeks ago London was hosting an Open House weekend, whereby many famous and otherwise closed buildings were opened up to the public for viewing free of charge. Not wanting to miss this opportunity, we hot footed it into the City early Sunday morning.

Our first port of call was the church of St Botolph without Aldgate, a prominent and significant church in the City and although a church has been on this site for over 1000 years, this was built around 1744 outside the 'ald' gate on the eastern edge of the City.  Churches at city gates were often dedicated to Botolph, so travellers could pray on arrival and departure from London's busy port area. London had four such churches - Aldersgate, Bishopsgate and Billingsgate and thus the church is regarded as a sort of English St Christopher. 

                         

We had a fascinating talk and wonderful (but very loud) demonstration in the Bell Tower. The church is in possession of a fine peal of eight bells, cast during the eighteenth century at the nearby Whitechapel Bell Foundry (a trip to be made there soon methinks). The tenor bell weighing in at 45 cwt actually caused the tower to sway and rock with the momentum of the peal. Very scary.

A few famous residents in the Parish include Chaucer who lived above the Aldgate gatehouse, Daniel Defoe was married there in 1684. St Isaac Newton lived opposite the church when he was master of the Royal Mint as well as Edmund Spenser the poet who was born there in 1552.

We then attempted to visit the famous Gherkin almost next door but were disappointed to find the queue went around the whole block and would have taken at least an hour to get in so moved on towards the Lloyds Building.

walking past this Old Tea Warehouse - 

there's always something to find in these lovely old allies and back streets.

Our son J works in the Lloyds Building and we've been inside a few times, so we were not too disappointed to find it closed. We then walked along towards Billingsgate and the Old Custom House.

 

In feudal times in order to fight wars, dispense justice and run the country, the King needed money, so tradesmen were charged a fee for importing and exporting goods.

The Thames provided London's access to trade during the middle ages. It is a tidal and navigable river and the city of London developed around the only crossing over it - London Bridge. This was where the ships converged for trading and the reason Custom House was built here - east of the bridge yet within the protection of the city walls.

There has been a Custom House on this site for over 2000 years from when the Romans were here.

We then strolled along the Thames Path towards the Tower of London for our second trip to see the poppies in the moat. A very emotional and spine tingling sight I must say.

It was then back to the car via Pepys Street and the end of a most enjoyable day out

I hope you enjoyed this trip too and I'll be back again in a few days.

Back from a blogging break

Well, when I say break it definitely wasn't planned I can tell you. Since the hubster retired one month ago, our feet haven't touched the ground - added to which this glorious weather we've been having of late was simply too good to miss. So, many apologies if I haven't caught up with you recently but hopefully I'm back on track now, just need to be organised and get myself into a routine again. As for housework - Mmmm that's another story. Oh well, live for the day that's my motto!

Anyway I've cobbled together a few piccies of some recent good moments during the last month.

A trip to Rochester in Kent - a place very synonymous with Charles Dickens. Wonderful Cathedral and we used our English Heritage passes to visit the Castle.

A much awaited visit to London's Royal Albert Hall to see my favourite Puccini opera La Boheme - simply wonderful!

Visited a local venue for an Artbookart book fair, where I met the lovely Sandie from Itchifingers who designed and created these wonderful journals - a very awe inspiring morning to say the least.

Several trips out in the campervan - stopping for a brew along the way. Do you like the jar of places to visit that my sister Helen gave me? She'd cut out lots of articles of local beauty spots from magazines - a lovely homemade lucky dip.

and of course it goes without saying that we simply had to partake in the obligatory Monday Munch! Look at the weather too.

Anyway dear friends, I hope to be back very soon. Wishing you all a lovely day today.


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Spontaneous end to a lovely day

Sunday was such a gorgeous day that we took ourselves off to Kent to visit the place where John was born - Erith. We visited his father's old shop, the school, Sunday school and a plethora of memorable places. It was good for him to re-live his childhood and we both enjoyed it. Now many of you will know that I just love the work of Charles Dickens and have a fair collection of his books. One of my favourites is Great Expectations. With this in mind and as we weren't too far away we made our way to the tiny village of Cooling in the midst of the beautiful Kent countryside

                             

passing on our way many of the lovely old Oast Houses or Hop kilns with their distinctive cowls - designed for drying the hops as part of the process of brewing beer.

I particularly wanted to visit the medieval Church of St James 

Charles Dickens loved to walk here from his home at nearby Higham

Dickens used the churchyard of St James as his inspiration in the opening chapter of Great Expectations where the hero Pip meets the escaped convict, Magwitch. This site on the Hoo Peninsula is dramatically bleak in winter, recalling the opening scenes of the book.

It is here that we find what has come to be known as "Pip's Graves" the forlorn gravestones of thirteen children aged between 1-18 months old - that Dickens describes in the chapter as ...five little stone lozenges each about a foot and a half long which were arranged in a neat row.....and were sacred to the memory of five little brothers of mine..." 

These graves belong to the children of just two families who died in the late18th century. Dickens reduced the number in the book to five to make it more believable.

These two sets of medieval benches at the rear of the church, complete with woodworm were probably installed in the 14th century

Loving the sun through these windows

As we entered the churchyard I spotted what I though were flowers on a tree stump but soon discovered it was fungi and oh so pretty.

Just along the lane stands Cooling Castle - which was a bonus as I didn't know this existed. Built in the 1380s the main part of the castle is in ruins with a private house inside and where the barn is licensed to hold marriage ceremonies.

A lovely spontaneous trip to a place I'd longed to go to one day.

Just out of interest, we drove a mile or two towards the coastline of the Thames Estuary and I was amazed to see (through the zoom lens on my camera )- that we were in fact exactly opposite Leigh on Sea where my son and his family now live. Probably as the crow flies about 3-4 miles across the river but because we had to travel to the QE2 bridge and then come back on ourselves a trip of 37 miles.

Have a great week

xx