Pretentious title for a Cable Car that goes from nowhere and ends up at nowhere, unless you are of the opinion that the O2 is somewhere, I certainly don't, and don't get me going about the cinema there and the free parking arrangements!
I thought I better get the Cable Car now before the dark evenings are upon us once again. This will be my third trip on the Dangleway and I expect my last as I can only take so much excitement, so unless I have a need to visit Royal Victoria again, bye bye Dangleway.
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| Hanbury Street |
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| Synagogue in Commercial Road |
But first things first, I left work at just gone 17:00 and felt in fine fettle, the freshest I have felt walking home since I covered the four odd miles from work to the Dog and Bell in Deptford in a hour back in January. The weather forecast had changed throughout the day, with rain originally forecast I had brought with me full foul weather wear, but by the time I left it was very pleasant, if a little blowy.
My route took me round the back of Spitalfields, across Brick Lane and down onto the Whitechapel Road, past the London Hospital and then left into Commercial Road (A13) which led me past the Troxy Night Club / Cinema, a fantastic Art Deco building.
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| The Troxy, Commerial Road |
Over the Regents Canal and Limehouse Cut, through Popular, passing the magnificent All Saints church and DLR station (the former being magnificent) over the Blackwell Tunnel approach road ( a future Thames crossing!), skirting Bow Creek over the Lower Lea Crossing and past the Crossrail site and round the corner to the Emirates Royal Docks, a total of 4.9 miles and a far more interesting walk than the Lower Road in Bermondsey / Surrey Quays I did last week.
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| The Limehouse Cut |
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| The Regents Canal |
I mentioned how good I felt when starting out, however, by the time I got to Commercial Road I was beginning to feel somewhat under the weather, light headed and a touch of sickness, this called for emergency action! I purchased a bottle of lucazade and a double Mars bar, it perked me up a little, just enough to get me to the Cable Car.
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| Bow Creek |
The prices have gone up since I last travelled, the CSO claimed only 10p but I reason at least 30p. It appears now that TFL are putting all their efforts into selling this as Tourist Attraction as opposed to being part of the integrated transport system. All the tickets are geared up to trips on the Cable Car, DLR and the Thames Clipper, with rovers, family tickets and the like. They also have boards advertising local attractions, if you can call them that - Canary Wharf, Container City II (whatever that is), Cutty Sark, Emirates Aviation Experience (by all accounts not much of an experience), ExCeL London, Greenwich Peninsula, The Crystal?, The O2, Thames Barrier, bit of a walk, Trinity Buoy Wharf, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, a nice place but hardly local, Royal Observatory, why catch the Dangleway when you can go by train, and SS Robin, I don't think this is open yet.
The Dangleway was busier than when I last past through, mind you it was dark then and in the winter, but I still managed a pod for myself, the trip took about 13 minutes with a couple of stops mid way. I think I prefer travelling at night as every thing looks better all lit up. Mind you in the sun it would have been better, and I expect at dawn and dusk it's pretty impressive, need to keep an eye out for a suitable opportunity.
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| The Dangleway |
Having landed safely in Greenwich, I made my way to the re-furb Pilot Inn, now called the Pilot. This has been one of my favourites for some time, I had noticed it had had a make over when passing by a while back, the name change in its self was rather disappointing so I was a little concerned at what I might find. Firstly the garden out
front was very busy with loud speaking locals, entering the Pub I discovered it was very busy, until I realised most people where there for the Shakespeare event in the back garden, A Midsummer's Nights Dream. - hope they did not get too wet!
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| Emirates Greenwich Peninsula Station |
I found myself a seat with the assistance of a member of staff and ordered my meal, a burger with bacon and stilton and a serving of chips. Whilst the pub looked nice, it was not the Pilot Inn I have enjoyed in the past, gone were the model boats and local knick knacks, gone was the comfortable snug bar (well I found it comfortable) to be replaced with plush seats. The dinning area had smaller tables and taller barrel tables. I guess most people would say it was an improvement but not in my book, but hey I'm a dinosaur! What I can say is that the food was really nice, I reacon that was the best burger I've ever had and the pint of Summer Ale went down a treat too. I did sample a lager, but I just don't like lager and could not drink it, it was a free sample I might add.
By the time I left the Pilot and made my way home the rain set in, I never bothered to put on my jacket and just used my umbrella by the time I got home I was slightly wet. My route took me along Bugsby Way, up Charlton Church Lane, past Charlton House, through Hornfair Park up Shooters Hill and home,
a further 5 miles, I think I arrived home at 21:30. An enjoyable evening!
And here's a video of the Cable Car trip
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