Canals, reflections and then home

It really was too nice a day to stay in so we didn’t. Over breakfast we got out the maps then turned on the computer to find out what problems there were with the transport system. The Man made our sandwiches while I ran around like a mad thing and did a quick tidy up. Sammies packed and map stashed in bag, we set out for a walk along the canal, well part of it anyway. Quite a while ago we did a similar walk, and this time we decided to walk in the opposite direction towards Little Venice.  We took the oveground part of the way, changing to the underground to complete the run to Westbourne Grove. The Man had, in his usual inimitable fashion, read the map once and didn’t’ need to see it again to head us in the right direction. How he does that I just do not know, me, I’d have the map out every few minutes. I guess it is a man thing. Well for some men anyway. There was a man once, in my past, who would have had difficulty finding his way out of a wet paper bag with out directions, but that is an entirely different story and not one I will be sharing.

On the walk from the station to the canal we spotted a huge and interesting engineering site with an enormous round piece of equipment. , well we thought it was interesting. It turned out that what we had been looking at was the circular working face of a tunnel boring machine.  Huge pipes with concertina like joins fed down underground. They were, according to The Man, air ventilation pipes for the guys working underground. There were also lots of lengths of conveyering. . This must we decided, be the beginning of a new part of the underground tube system.

The canal we were looking for was only a short ten minute walk from the station, and pretty soon we were strolling along the waterway. Passed frequently by runners, and passing parents with buggies. Along the other side of the canal new apartments blocks reflected themselves, very nicely thank you, into the water that was rippled by the Coots and Canada Geese. I do love a nice reflection. The tums let us know that it was time to eat and shortly we found a couple of seats to sit down on in the sun while we ate our lunch. By now the glass fronted towers were on both sides of the river, and looking very new.  At the end of the canal we walked out though a very modern shopping complex, decorated with a lovely statue appropriately called Family.

We weren’t really sure where we were at this stage so decided to just stroll on and see where Marble Arch for us to realize where we were. So Hopping on the next one and settling down in the front seats of the top deck we had a mini bus tour to Lewisham, that’s somewhere that we know how to get home from.

At Lewisham we did a bit of grocery shopping before hopping on another the bus that brought us back to Crystal Palace.  And we’ve had another great day out.