Battersea Power Station.

Tuesday 15 January 2013 – Battersea

It was a cold and reasonably clear day with no rain or snow forecasted so I took the opportunity to do a long walk down to see Battersea Power Station – the iconic London building made even more famous by Pink Floyd when it was placed on the cover of their album Animals back in 1977. It was on my London to-do list and I am trying to make the most of the clear days while I can.

I walked down through Knightsbridge and visited the Royal Geographical Society exhibition room as they had a wonderful series of photos by Basil Pao who has travelled with Micheal Palin on his journeys since 1988. I am very jealous of the opportunities he had to experience some amazing things.

I walked down through the back streets and passed the beautiful old apartments in Chelsea.

Down to the Chelsea Embankment on the Thames which overlooks the long defunct Battersea Power Station.

There are a lot of trees along the embankment so it was impossible to get the exact shot I wanted.

I crossed over Chelsea bridge to the south side of the Thames, for another angle.

Sadly the area surrounding the station is being turned into apartments so I could not wander along the Thames Path in front of the power station and had to walk around via the road. The power station itself is also being renovated with the intention of starting it up again, though not as a coal burning site. The entire site is walled off and I only managed to get one photo through a small hole in a gate were a padlocked chain passed through. A real shame !

The whole section of the Thames south bank from Chelsea to Vauxhall bridge is one massive construction site with apartment blocks being built on both sides of the road.

I caught the train from Vauxhall back to Shepherds Bush after what was close to a three hour walk. At Shepherds Bush I stopped for lunch at Gourmet Burger Kitchen, I did not realise until later in the day that A) it was a chain and B) it was owned by a New Zealander. Though it should have been obvious as I had a Kiwi Burger – it had beetroot and egg, YUM ! there was also a lovely wall size photo of Karekare Beach on Auckland’s west coast, one of my favourite places in the whole world. I got a wee bit home sick !!

The following day a helicopter crashed into a crane on the top of a tower block and crashed into the street where I had been walking. It was the first helicopter crash to ever happen in the city and unfortunately the pilot and a passerby were killed. It was the morning rush hour and could have been a lot worse.