UK 2024 - March 20th London and Barcelona

 Wednesday was a down day for Rhys, but not for the rest of us. Rhys needed to stay in and nest for a day. We left him with strict instructions not to leave the boat. (Narrator - Rhys would leave the boat).

Tracy, Hannah and I walked down to the river taxi and took that back to Tower pier.

A picture standing on the roadway after visiting the engine rooms.

Our first stop was Tower Bridge. We've never been, in all the times we've visited London.

There are exhibits as you walk up the stairs in the first tower.

Looking down river towards Greenwich and the sea.

The views from the upper walkways were great.

The Shard on the left. St Peter's in the distance on the right.

The Tower of London from above.

The Belfast. The prospect of all those steps led us to wave off on this one this trip.

Hannah, Tracy and I.

The steam boilers for the draw bridge. It's all electric now.

Coal cars and lift. They used 20 tons of coal a week.

One of two flywheels.

After the bridge we walked along the Thames walk down to the area of St. Paul's.

The last working wharf in London. This is where the city's trash is barged out.

Trash, waiting for high tide.

St. Peter's from the Thames side.

Closer up.

Gate from Paternoster square to St. Peter's.

The column and fountain(?) in Paternoster square.

We were going to go to the London Museum but it is closed so we headed down to the City of London Distillery.

Not open yet.

The tired little pub next door. I waited here while the ladies checked out the local shops.

All of the Whitley Neel gins.

Smokey bacon and horseradish gin sour.

Cheese board and more cocktails.

We spent about an hour and a half here. Great vibe and excellent cocktails.

We had scheduled dinner with friends at DTF, for soup dumplings.

Soup dumplings. One of the Earth's greatest foods.

Rhys had gone walking around the marina after we left. He managed to lock himself out of the boat. By the time we got back he'd been sitting on the stern for a few hours. He was very cheerful about it, but also happy to see us.

Meanwhile, in Spain...

The 21st is a transition day. We're moving off of the boat and into our hotel in Paddington. We're all pretty worn out from the 10 plus miles a day we've been walking so we're planning on taking it easy.