Richmond on Thames to Westminster Bridge - Day 11

A bit off a rough start today...Don suffering from a dreadful cold and I from a bit of over celebrating at the concert last night...we were a sad lot.  None the less...we march on.

Today we were to leave the country side as we trekked into London.  Our milestones today would not be villages but bridges and lots of them.  Our goal was Westminster Bridge, across the river from the Parliament buildings.

Some grottos below on the way out of Richmond.

First bridge on the way out of Richmond.

Now we really start to notice that the river has turned tidal.  You can see below that he tide was still moving out when we started our walk.  Within a few hours we noticed the current switch directions as the tide started to come back in.  For the last days the river has been roughly the same width.  Today we will see expand considerably as the tidal waters move in.

Heather walking under a rail bridge as we get closer to the city.

A small pub along the way with gorgeous window baskets.

After a brief tea break at "Mad's" apartment one hour along the trail, our group grows as we are joined by the rest of our concert goers of last evening.  Our "picnic organizers" live directly on the Thames and we were happy to take a quick break. We looked rather fresh in comparison and promised them that a brisk 17 mile walk would be the cure for them, so off we all went.

Next milestone.

The signs are starting to look familiar.

Cathy and Shelagh raise a glass at our lunch pub in Putney.

A picture of the Albert bridge below.  It was know as the "Trembling Lady" because it shook when used by soldiers from the nearby Chelsea barracks.  A sign warning troops to break step when marching over the Bridge is still displayed below.

Each bridge brought us closer to our destination, as the landscape turned to cityscape.

Some familiar sites start to come in view as we see the London Eye in the distance.

At the Battersea Bridge we switched from the South side to the North side of the Thames to avoid some detours.

As we arrived close to our destination we stopped at a pub to recharge across the river from the iconic MI6 building.

One of the few remaining telephone booths we've seen.

The famed Lambeth Palace which has been the historic residence of Archbishops of Canterbury since the 13th century.

Finally, our last bridge for the day, Westminster Bridge and the familiar view of the British Parliament Buildings.  The flag is flying at half-mast in respect of the people who died in the Bastille Day attack in Nice.

Big Ben.

Finally, our hotel!  It looks a lot different than the Pubs and Inns we have stayed until now along the trip, but here we are in the heart of the city at Westminster Bridge.  Checking in we experienced the (in)efficiency of modern computer systems as they took forever to check us in.  The small inns seemed to handle this much smoother!

Tonight we took a bus to the Exmouth market part of the city to a Spanish restaurant.  The weather was fantastic, mild summer weather we lots of bustling outdoor cafe's in the area.  On the way home we took an Uber cab to our hotel, weary again from the walk and ready to crawl into bed to rest up for our final day tomorrow.