Reconnaissance

 Next month, apparently on 19 September, the new branch of the Northern Line opens to Battersea Power Station station.  Now, it so happens that I'm preaching that day in a church not far from the new Nine Elms station (which is next door to the enormous Sainsbury's at Nine Elms).  So obviously, the thing to do will be to get a bus to Battersea Power Station station and get a tube up to Nine Elms (and, if necessary, a bus back one stop to the church), and then after the service we'll go up to Nine Elms again (perhaps having a coffee in Sainsbury's while we are there) and then on the Tube again one stop - a very long stop, apparently, the longest in Zone 1 after the Drain - to Kennington, and then change and come back to Clapham North.  Well, we shall see.

But although we knew where Nine Elms station is going to be, I had no real idea where the Battersea Power Station station will be.  However, the Swan Whisperer said he'd often gone past the site on his runs, so today we decided to go and explore.

We had been going to get a 137 up to Battersea Park and take it from there, but just missed one, and there wasn't another one signalled, so we thought we would cross the road and get a P5 to the end of its route, which turned out to be just opposite the new station. 

I was rather amused by the legend "Thessaly Road Bridge" on what was patently a railway bridge,

but we agreed it must be the bridge across Thessaly Road!  Anyway, I had half expected to walk straight to the 137 stop, which is a bit further away, but we decided to explore a bit.  The Swan Whisperer says that every time he comes, the roads he can use are slightly different, as the whole place is a vast building site, with huge blocks of flats springing up here, there and everywhere, including in the former power station.  I know the American Embassy is somewhere round there, but not sure where.

Anyway, the place was very obviously turning into a "district" with shops and bars and restaurants all over the place, and a lovely terrace by the river.

  We might have eaten out, but it was a bit early, and neither of us had jackets (we did have macs, but no other coats or jerseys) and we thought we might get cold sitting out - and I, for one, am not prepared to sit indoors in a crowded restaurant yet.  

So we walked under Grosvenor Bridge, and then there was a lift up to street level - we made rather fools of ourselves as we kept pressing the wrong button and staying put rather than going up, but we got there in the end.  And then it said the bus would be in 7 minutes, but actually, it came at once.  We stopped at the nicer vegan café when we got off the bus, and thought of eating there, but the same objections applied as by the river, so came home and have had beer and now the SW is cooking sausages and mash.  More photos on Facebook.