Walk: Discover the Secrets of the Riverside Part 2 - Cannon Street to Blackfriars

Today, ended a Meetup drought with Discover London - History Walks and Events (DL), for a walk entitled Discover the Secrets of the Riverside Part 2: Cannon Street to Blackfriars. One of those groups that never get listed when I do a general search for a particular day.. I just have to remember to search the group individually. When it's a weekend I'm in London, anyway! They're always good. Crikey though, it's over a year since I did Part 1..

Was aiming to get there by 1.45, when they were gathering - but happily, the walk doesn't start for 15 minutes afterwards. Happily, because I had more bus woes.. I saw one disappearing just as I approached (hate that), then had to wait some minutes for the next. Thankfully, it wasn't that long - and when it was a minute away, I moved to the edge of the pavement. When it was due, I kept an eye out - and when it was approaching, I stuck out my arm. It was still stuck out as the driver sailed right past.. OOH, I hate that! Have complained to TFL - again. They must be recognising me by now on that complaints website..

Well, I did get there in the end, with a few minutes to spare - we were meeting quite centrally, of course. Breezy enough day - we were quite chilly as we waited to start. When we set off, we followed the route of the Walbrook River, down to the Thames:

The streets that follow its length slope down steeply enough - along the way, we passed the Forgotten Streams sculpture, which commemorates it, and found a bit associated with Dick Whittington:

D'you know, he was responsible for the construction of a massive public toilet, called the Longhouse? Now, that's proactive..

Engravings on tiles in a passageway on the Thames Path show views of London through the years - an interesting pair contrast it in 1616, with the old St. Paul's:

and, on the other side of the passage at that point, the view in 1710 - much altered after the Great Fire:

Note the spanking new St. Paul's, with its massive dome, to the left - and the Monument to the fire, to the right.

The river was, of course, always the beating heart of the city, providing the easiest and quickest (and probably most comfortable) means of transport in the days of narrow and crowded streets and unpaved roads. As we continued along the riverside, we came to Queenhithe - always a popular dock, with mention of Alfred the Great:

..but it got its name from Queen Matilda, wife of Henry I, who was given its revenues some hundreds of years later. Seems this right was passed on to successive medieval queens, until the dock fell out of use:

An unusual sundial, around the site of the former Baynard's Castle:

No sun today to test it, of course!

We saw the remains of the old Blackfriars Bridge, which was left intact while the new one was being constructed:

..and noted the columns on the footbridge, which look like pulpits:

Our guide pointed out to us how Queen Victoria reopened the newly widened bridge in 1869 - eight years after the death of her husband, which affected her so deeply:

She dressed in black from then on.. but of course, a black statue would be appropriate, for the Black Friars!

And so, gratefully, to t'pub:

What a relief to get in from the biting wind - and I know they do a good chicken schnitzel here. And honestly, how long it'd been since I'd had a chicken schnitzel! Well, we gatecrashed a table - and the schnitzel did not disappoint. We also had a nice chat.. I realised, during the walk, that this was my first guided walk of the year! And what an interesting one to start with.. delighted to be back with this group again.

For the next two days - yep, a small Meetup drought again - I'm with CT again. Improv both nights - tomorrow is for Shake It Up - The Improvised Shakespeare Show! It's at the Hen & Chickens - and phew, I still have my membership card, given out automatically at every show there, and good for a year. After all, I was there for horror films at Hallowe'en.

Tuesday, I'm at Stage Time - an Improv Variety Show at Shoreditch Balls. Tickets generally available through Eventbrite.

Two nights with Meetup then - on Wednesday, I'm back, for the first time in most of a year, with The Horror Book Club! They always either clashed with something else, or were reading something I didn't fancy, you see.. well, I couldn't avoid this one, where they're reading Ramsey Campbell. I don't like everything he's written - but he was responsible for my favourite horror book ever, Incarnate. And I see he's still writing - the book they're covering on Wednesday is The Lonely Lands, written just last year! I just bought the Kindle edition - and couldn't resist reading the first chapter, which consists of just one sentence:

"When he heard his wife say 'I'm not alone' he thought at first she meant to reassure him."

Ooh, I cannot wait to get into the rest of it - thanks, book club, for reintroducing me! Better get a wriggle on though, I've still only read four chapters.. As usual, they're meeting in the Prince of Wales, Covent Garden - and I can eat there.

On Thursday, I'm with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) - another group that never appears in the general Meetup listings, despite being one of the busiest - for Northanger Abbey, in the Orange Tree Theatre. Another place I haven't been in nearly a year..

Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend. On the 12th and 13th, back with CT for the Bitesize Festival at Riverside Studios - on the 12th, it's for Second Temple, a Jewish comedy.

On the 13th, it's for All the Men Are Going to Hate Me, another comedy, about a woman trying to write the century's great (female) novel!

Then I have five (!) days of Meetup: the next three with UITCS. On the 14th, we're at When You Pass Over My Tomb, at the Arcola. A "story of love and lust beyond the grave", as described, it sounds like an interesting way to spend Valentine's Day.

On the 15th, we're at Double Feature, at Hampstead Theatre.

And on the 16th, we're at Hir, a transgender comedy at Park Theatre. My companion of Friday is coming to that as well.

On the 17th, I'm back (whee! at last!) with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners.. I've been persuaded to redo his Dickens walk. Well, it's months since I was on one of his - and he now only does one Saturday a month, says there's no real demand! And since I can no longer go on the midweek ones, in general.. well.. it'll be great to be back with them anyway.

And on the 18th, back with DL - it was a while before I thought to check that website to see whether there was another walk, and there is, that day! So we're off to Discover London's Oldest Market and Original "High Street"..