Along the river, 6 April 2026

 A fine Easter Monday, for once, so we decided to walk along the river.  We've been along the South Bank umpteen times before, but we had never walked westwards - and there are some new bits to explore, thanks to the Thames Tideway Tunnel, which has created several new areas of reclaimed land along the Thames where they had works.  

We started by walking into Brixton, where we caught a no 2 bus to Vauxhall, and then a short walk brought us to the first of these, which is is Effra Quay, where the River Effra used to flow into the Thames but now flows directly into the Tunnel.  

It  has superb views over London to the east:

and definitely surreal ideas about seating areas:

Yes, those are what they look like!

I think these pipes are ventilators, but I could be wrong:

We moved on a bit, stopping to admire this very splendid lion on the edge of the quay proper (not, I think, yet in use)

past the Spies'R'Us building (otherwise known as MI6 HQ), to the Isle of Effra, which we thought was less exciting.  But they are building a garden below it (not accessible to the public), and there was an access hatch to the Effra itself!

Then we moved on towards Battersea Power Station, via the posh new developments:

Past lots of river transport

Including sailing dinghies

and barges, moored up.

Above is a good view of the former Power Station (known in certain circles as the Time Police HQ!)

This, below, was the second new bit of reclaimed land, known as the Heathwall Pumping Station, which we thought was a bit underwhelming.  There are plenty of other quays and islands, but on the other side of the river from where we were.

I don't know what the "Tideway Village" was, but there were a few privately-owned barges moored up in it.

and then, where we think was once where the coal barges came to service the power station, there was this rather splendid statue:

with these barges down below, between us and the horse

After which, the photogenic part of our walk came to an end, as we could go no further along the Thames.  So we cut down to the main road, and walked to the start of the P5 route, which took us home again!