Accidentally Steve: Every County in England

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Every County in England - Part 9: London

I was not looking forward to London. Don’t get me wrong, it is an enticing place to visit, however as part of a lengthy road trip it’s crowded streets and extortionate prices were not appealing. It’d be easy enough to bypass the city and dip into the county of Greater London from somewhere around the periphery but for a small but terribly annoying anomaly. Buried deep within the great metropolis lies England’s smallest County; The City of London. Surprisingly a square mile of bustling streets around St Paul’s Cathedral stands separate as its own county, to complete my challenge I had no choice but to dive into the urban core.

Approaching the city from the east was new for me and it wasn’t long before I was completely lost in the twisting and incomprehensible streets. London was never designed with cars in mind; it just grew and absorbed towns and villages in every direction like a sponge. The resulting cityscape now has many diverse centres but lacks a definitive core. I pulled over in Canary Wharf to plan a route deeper into the city.

A century ago Canary Wharf was one of the busiest ports in the world, as ships grew in size so the port moved to deeper waters and the area was converted into a forest of skyscrapers in the late 80s, now forming one of two major financial districts in the city. Urban regeneration like this is very common in the city. Land is at a huge premium and the city is hemmed in on all sides by the greenbelt. A wide swathe of protected rural land encircles the city in an attempt to stop the type of sprawl that blights many cities worldwide. The effect is a condensed city with areas like these docklands being snapped up by hungry developers to be transformed from crumbling dereliction into upscale offices and apartments.

Heading further into the city this phenomenon became very apparent. The second financial centre came into view to reveal a surreal skyline of crooked & twisted shapes. The skyscrapers wedges into oddly shaped parcels of land and crowding around ancient steeples and spires, St Paul’s Cathedral taking centre stage.

The great cathedral has a lot more influence on the skyline than is first apparent. The iconic dome is so revered in national psyche that sight-lines radiate from it that are protected from development. From various vantage points around the city a clear view of the dome must be maintained. Developers have got around this by constructing wildly distorted towers to dodge obstructing the sight-lines. To the south of the river London’s tallest building ‘The Shard’ juts upwards like a giant fragment of glass, its lean designed to keep one of these sight-lines clear.

I parked up near the cathedral and set off towards the river. I had a few things I wanted to buy in a travel shop near Trafalgar Square, a short ride on the tube away, but thought a walk along the Thames would be more interesting.

From where I stood I could see the famous Tower Bridge to one side & London Bridge to the other. Despite drawing crowds of tourists London Bridge is desperately dull. It is a simple affair of grey concrete. This modern crossing replaced an equally dull bridge which was bought and installed by a town in Arizona. Allegedly the mayor thought he was buying the impressive Tower Bridge. Whether that is true or not is debatable but if you happen to be in Arizona you now have the chance to cross a bridge that once stood here in rainy London.

I crossed the river on the Blackfriars Bridge, adjoined by the world’s largest solar bridge. Rows of solar panels looked up hopefully at the weak sun, covering the entire span of the railway bridge.

From here I had only a short walk towards Westminster. The South Bank is a major arts centre with galleries and street performers lining the river front. The lively atmosphere provided a welcome contrast to the brusqueness of the financial districts. Just around a bend in the river the Houses of Parliament came into view, well they sort of came into view.

The symbol of London, Big Ben, was wrapped in scaffolding whilst workers busied themselves with repaired. To be accurate Big Ben is actually the large bell that chimes from within the tower but colloquially people around the world associate the name with the whole bell tower. Westminster Bridge was rammed full of tourists trying to get the best selfie in front of the landmark. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them having travelled from all points of the globe to return with a souvenir shot of a building site.

Nearby Trafalgar Square was no better. Here yet another tourist mecca had been rendered off limits. Usually the square is a lively and vibrant place to enjoy the cities atmosphere, the mighty column topped by Nelson surrounded by gargantuan lions and fountains. I found the square today ringed by metal railings and filled with utilitarian marquees. It appeared that there had been a race earlier in the day and the square was being used as a marshalling ground. I couldn’t help but wonder why one of the empty greens in a nearby park hadn’t been used. I drew my attention to the ‘fourth plinth’. It was hard not to draw attention to it. The corners of the square each contain a plinth topped by a regal statue, except for this fourth empty plinth. Since 1998 artists have been commissioned to produce a sculpture for the plinth. It is currently the turn of David Shrigley with his piece ‘Really Good’. A large hand with a seven metre tall thumb pointing skyward in an exaggerated thumbs up gesture. It is not clear what the thumbs up is directed at, but I guess that is the point of art, perhaps we’re supposed to judge ourselves what is ‘really good’. I judged that the shut square most definitely was not really good.

Luckily the travel shop was very close now. I get slightly excitable when confronted by a shop full of travel books and maps. It does seem slightly ironic that I was sat in the middle of a major tourist destination with the intention of spending the rest of the day reading books about everywhere that wasn’t London. That was unashamedly what I did, coffee in one hand and a room full of maps to browse, bliss.