But we are not wandering to see London Plane trees in particular. Instead, let’s see if Frank’s is open and / or anything ‘interesting’ along the way.
We’ve not gone that far, but in crossing the Highway, we have left Wapping and are now in Shadwell, but still very much in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which itself takes its name from the Tower of London, about a mile away westwards, right at the edge of the City of London, which (from Roman times) used to be walled in:
The area was Blitzed heavily in the Battle of Britain, or I guess more accurately, ‘The Battle of London’, as Hitler sought to smash the huge docks, which stretched from London Bridge, both sides of the river as far away as Tilbury. This, along with the slum clearances and later regeneration of the river area from the 1980’s onwards, gives the whole area a hotchpotch of buildings.
Tower Hamlets is though London’s poorest borough, with much of the housing being ‘social’, despite its proximity to the City and Canary Wharf:
Though roundly derided at the time, I think London’s cycle ways have been a success. This view looks west along Cable Street. Yiu can just see the top of the WalkiTalkie building, over a mile away westwards on Fenchurch Street in the City:
This view is eastwards, which is where we’ll be going:
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