Eight And A Half London Bridges

On a briskly cold January morning, fellow Blue Badge Tourist Guide Steven Szymanski inducted an enthusiastic group into his passion for bridges on a walk that took in Tower Bridge to Waterloo, via St Magnus Martyr, the Steelyard and Bankside.

A strange new way of looking at London unfolded: the ten-minute journey of old when trains backed from Cannon Street to Charing Cross giving a working girl just enough time to make the rent; Joseph Cubitt’s “half bridge”, sandwiched between road and rail bridges at Blackfriars; how else would you test the correction of the Millennium Bridges “synchronized lateral excitation” other than by sending a Page 3 girl across it holding a plate of jelly? Wonderful stuff! We’re all Bridgemen now.

View of Tower Bridge

View of London’s iconic Tower Bridge. Photo: ©ViewOnLondon/ PawelLibera.

Christine Hoodith

Careers in teaching, tourism and the theatre, together with a lively sense of fun, have helped equip me for the delights and challenges of guiding London. I enjoy walking, literature and food and love to combine these enthusiasms in my tours for visitors. I’m especially interested in introducing London…

A Scottish couple down in London for the day, the Chair of Tower Hamlets Labour Party, a Sri Lankan woman attending a course in London, the UNITE officer for Tilbury dock workers and a German speaking Blue Badge trainee – all came along together with many others, including many Blue Badge Tourist Guides, to the tailor-made walking tours commemorating the 125th anniversary of the Dockers’ Strike in 1889.

28 April 2015

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Walks & Tours

There is no better time to visit the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park than spring or summer. The Park opened fully in April 2014 and has since welcomed millions of visitors. It covers 560 acres and people visiting can enjoy the beautiful parklands, idyllic riverside lawns, giant climbing walks and intricate fountains.