Hammersmith

Weather - Cloudy, cool morning, sunny afternoon - Min 12, Max 18

Today was a resting, washing, regrouping and planning day mixed in with some local sightseeing with a long lunch.  It was a good day to do all this as it was May Day, a Bank Holiday in the UK and it was busy with many making the most of the public holiday. 

First came the washing. Our walking clothes nearly walked to the washing machine on their own. It’s good to have all clean clothes in the cupboards.

We decided only to go out once during the day and combine sightseeing with lunch and have a light meal in the flat for dinner. We explored more of Hammersmith to get more of our bearings. We firstly returned to the railway station area with its many shops to understand the railway routes as Hammersmith has two distinct underground stations. One serves the Piccadilly and District Lines whilst the other serves the Hammersmith and City and Circle Lines. There seems to be many exits onto the Hammersmith streets and we had to use Google Maps a few times to see which exit we had used. 

We returned to the banks of the Thames River and it was busy. There were people strolling, jogging and cycling and all the many cafes and restaurants were overflowing. The tide was way out. I attempted to do a panoramic photo to show how low the tide was. Yes, I think I am obsessed.

We chose to have lunch at a picnic table outside the very old pub called The Blue Anchor which dates back to 1722. The pub featured in the movie ‘Sliding Doors’ and often appears in the TV series ‘New Tricks’. There was a plaque on the outside wall with the pub’s history.

Henk chose his favourite English fish and chips for lunch. The battered fish was about a foot long. I chose sirloin steak and it was very tender and delicious. 

After lunch we walked further along the bank of the Thames and passed many boats resting on the Thames mud. 

We came across the William Morris Society Museum and Shop tucked between some buildings. It was Morris’s London home for the last 18 years of his life. I was thrilled to see it but unfortunately it is only open Thursday to Sunday so we will have to return.

We also passed some beautiful riverside houses with inviting entrances. 

When we were returning to our flat we went under a subway and found it to be covered in a William Morris design. I would have been left wondering why Morris’s designs were on the subway walls if I hadn’t seen his museum. 

We spent some time planning and trying to be strategic with our sightseeing so that when we go to an area we make the most of it. After a large lunch we had toasted sandwiches for dinner.

Tomorrow we start our sightseeing of London.