Thames Path 2016: Westminster Bridge to Thames Barrier

Day 12 and our last day of the Thames Path walk starting from the heart of London at Westminster Bridge. We set off along the Thames, first passing the London Eye and then past some of London's most iconic buildings. We had 4 guest walkers with us today to help us reach the finish line, Shelagh's aunt Sarah, who lives in London and friends Adrian and Catherine and Leslie, who joined us during earlier stages. Since we were walking through city the entire day, our packs were a little lighter today.

After passing the London Eye and the Ministry of Defense building, we passed the beautiful Somerset House from the other side of the river.

We also came across a massive flag pole along the south side bank made of a tree from British Columbia that was donated to the city of London by the Canadian government.

A colorful frozen yogurt bus complete with tables and seating in the top.

The bottom of the national theater building turned into grafitti'd skateboard park. The top of the building was aptly referred to by Prince Charles as a "carbuncle" on the skyline of London.

The famed home of Shakespeare, the Globe Theater.

First iconic building on the skyline of London, "The Shard." No, the plane is not flying into it.

Tall ship parked near the Globe Theater.

The Shard peaking up from behind a section of London Bridge.

Covered roof joining warehouse buildings along the river.

Sculpture in the lobby of the building above.

Next iconic building on the skyline of London, "The Gherkin."

Next, the Tower of London, home of the famed Crown Jewels and the site of many beheadings.

And of course, Tower Bridge.

The skyline from Tower Bridge Bridge, showing buildings with some of the most unique architecture in London, "The Walkie Talkie" on the left, "The Cheese Grater" in the middle and "The Gherkin" on the right.

A few pubs along the way as we leave the center of the city.

As we were leaving the center of London we could see the skyline of Canary Wharf with its towering bank buildings ahead of us. You can see Canada Place, developed by the Canadian Reichmann family, with its peaked tower in the middle ahead.

A closer view of Canary Wharf as we entered the neighborhood.

After passing through Canary Wharf, our next destination was Greenwich, of course famous for GMT, Greenwich Mean Time. We even passed a brewery there called, "Mean Time Brewery." To reach Greenwich, we passed through a foot tunnel that took us under the Thames and into the heart of Greenwich. The first site you see coming out of the tunnel is the "Cutty Sark" moored in the harbour.

We stopped in Greenwich for refreshments at a pub and grabbed some lunch at the local cider fest that was taking place that day. We then forged on, passing the old Naval Academy (below) as we exited Greenwich.

A picture of local wall art.

I couldn't resist a photo of a typical East End neighborhood...I almost expected to see the Vic pub and Albert square form the famed soap, "East Enders"