Yesterday's walk took me to the river Thames, a great favourite of mine. It is quite along walk from home to the river so I drove and managed to park the car in a retail park behind the Holiday Inn on the Greenwich peninsula. I walked through the Ecology Park to get to the Thames path. Historically this area was known as the Greenwich marshes but became heavily industrialised in the 1880s onwards with a large shipbuilding yard and a gas and chemical works. With the decline of the industries in the 70s new schemes were eventually put in place to regenerate the area and so began the creation of the Ecology Park as a freshwater habitat.
This morning all I could hear was the honking of the geese.
Many were flying from the park on to the river. I only managed to catch this one on camera.
Canada geese are very common but I did spot this bird which I think is an Egyptian goose
There were lots of coots in and out of the reeds.
The Ecology Park is next to the river so I was soon on the pathway walking towards Greenwich.
I noticed this sculpture on one of the piers.
This was a new sculpture for me and unfortunately I couldn't find out any information about it.
In the distance I could see the cable car stretching across the river.
Just below the Emirates cable car is this sculpture by Anthony Gormley known as 'The Cloud'. From a distance you can make out the figure of a man within the structure.
Once you walk round the bend of the river you will see this sign in the middle of the path. Fortunately there was an explanation nearby. The road sign artwork by Thomson and Craighead, marks the 24,859 mile distance around the earth and back. Its placement is on the Greenwich meridian line which is located at 0 degrees.
Across the river are the buildings on Canary Wharf.
It was low tide as I walked along the river and looking at the clean patches of sand I can now believe that The Thames is one of the cleanest metropolitan rivers in Europe with over 300 different species of fish living in its waters.
