A dispatch on travel, ports and ferries across the United Kingdom
// CHAPTER I · THE CAPITAL
London — a city best read by its rivers
Thirty-two boroughs, 8.9 million residents, and a Thames that bends four times inside the inner ring.
London, in one long walk
Walk from Parliament to Tower Bridge along the South Bank and you will pass, in order: the London Eye, Waterloo Bridge, the Southbank Centre, the National Theatre, the Tate Modern, the Millennium Bridge, the replica Globe, Borough Market and HMS Belfast. Three hours if you do not stop. Seven if you do.
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ENTRY L-01
Westminster & the Houses of Parliament
OPEN SATURDAYSNEAREST: WESTMINSTERFREE
The Palace of Westminster is the seat of British government and, on most Saturdays when Parliament is not sitting, open to anyone who books a free tour. The Elizabeth Tower, restored in 2022 after five years behind scaffolding, holds the Great Bell the world calls Big Ben. The clock faces are once again lit after dark.
Across the river from the tower lies County Hall, the former London County Council building, now home to the London Eye and three aquariums. The stretch of the Thames between them is the single most photographed view of the capital.
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ENTRY L-02
Tower Bridge & the Tower of London
OPEN DAILYNEAREST: TOWER HILLTICKETED INSIDE
The Tower of London was founded by William the Conqueror in 1078 and has served as a fortress, a royal palace, a menagerie, a mint, and a prison. It still holds the Crown Jewels. The moat is now dry and frequently planted with wildflowers; the ravens remain, as the superstition demands.
Tower Bridge, a hundred metres to the east, is a Victorian suspension bridge with a hydraulic bascule that opens about 800 times a year for tall ships. The high-level walkway between the towers has a glass-floor section added in 2014, 42 metres above the Thames.
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ENTRY L-03
Day-trips from King’s Cross
TRAIN 50–90 MINRETURN SAME DAY
Cambridge is 50 minutes by train from King’s Cross; punting on the Cam past the backs of the oldest colleges takes an hour. York is two hours on the East Coast Main Line, and the medieval Shambles, the city walls and York Minster fit comfortably into a single afternoon. Both cities are on the UK excursions list of almost every guidebook for a reason: the train puts you in the centre, and the centre is walkable.
