Lots Road to Westminster

Yesterday morning was misty and gray, much like my poor, mildly hung-over brain. But I wanted to get a walk in this weekend, so despite feeling like a squashed toad I hopped on the bus and went down to Chelsea to resume my walk along the Thames Path.

I started at Lots Road, where you may remember I left off way back in early October. The good thing about walking the Thames Path through the city is you don't even really need a map. The path runs pretty consistently along the shore and when it doesn't, it's easy to figure out where you need to be.

That's the Battersea Bridge, above, behind a line of houseboats that have been stranded by the river's low water levels. (Seems like that would be hard on the structure of the boats!)

There are some fine old houses and apartment blocks along the Chelsea Embankment and Cheyne Walk, with windows overlooking the river.

After passing the Albert Bridge I could see across the river to Battersea Park and the Peace Pagoda, hazy in the morning mist.

I passed Sir Christoper Wren's Royal Hospital Chelsea, a retirement home for the veterans known as the "Chelsea Pensioners." This is where the annual Chelsea Flower Show is held, on the grassy lawn in the foreground.

I diverted over the Chelsea Bridge to the south bank of the Thames in order to visit the refurbished and newly reopened Battersea Power Station, now a complex of housing, shopping and restaurants. I have quite a few pictures from there, so I'll share them in a separate post tomorrow.

Then I continued along the river's north bank, past Pimlico Gardens (above) and the small paved triangle of land where I packed in with a zillion other people to watch the Queen's Jubilee Flotilla way back in 2012. That seems so long ago!

I stopped for lunch at a little cafe overlooking the river, and had scrambled eggs on toast with a view of the Vauxhall Bridge and the headquarters for MI6, the British foreign intelligence service. (James Bond's office would be there -- or Miss Moneypenny's, anyway.)

I ate my very un-Bondian lunch and continued along Millbank past the Tate Britain and into Victoria Gardens, near the Palace of Westminster.

The bells at Westminster Abbey were pealing, and I took a little video so you could hear them. You'll see the Victoria Tower of Westminster Palace and Rodin's sculpture of the Burghers of Calais, followed by a little stroll along a path (sorry about the close-ups of the shrubbery) to look across the street toward the Abbey.

I had planned to catch the tube at Westminster, which proved to be a bit of a kerfuffle because the Remembrance Sunday ceremonies had just taken place along Whitehall and there were crowds and barricades all over the place. But I eventually made it to the train and came home, and by this time, having gotten out and about, I felt much better. A long walk is a hangover cure!