Exploring The Docklands

For this month’s London extravaganxa I decided to go out a bit further afield and take a trek out to Greenwich and the Docklands. A long time ago I went on a scout trip staying on the Lord Amory and remember a night walk including the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, and I am in general quite interested in the development of the Docklands. I’m also a space nerd, and Greenwich has the Royal Observatory.

I took the DLR to Island Gardens and walked through the tunnel to Greenwich (where I also had an excellent Sweet and Sour Chicken and Rice from Greenwich Market) and up to the Observatory.

Here I am half in the East and Half in the West. To be fair I do cross that line if I go back home to Cambridge, but standing on it here is somehow more poignant.

Greenwich Park is of course lovely. This is the view down to the Queens House.

After this I took the DLR again back into Canary Wharfe. My Photographer’s Eye loved the reflective plate glass making these almost monochrome blue tinted shots.

Here’s some more general Docklands shots. One thing I love about London is that sheer diversity of the terrain. There’s a lot of space that we try and tame, but the city as an organic entity rebells against this and there is a lot of parafunctional space under flyovers, in the corners behind buildings.

I love, in the Docklands, how the railway winds in and out, under, over, and through buildings, connecting this space which is both compact and sprawling, with over 100,000 people working there.

Finally, I had to post a pictue of this poor little tailless fellow in Greenwich.