Hammersmith

Hottest March day for half a century, so I decided to go for a walk along the river in West London, starting in Hammersmith. This is quite unrepresentative of Hammersmith as a whole, which is horribly disfigured by a flyover and shopping centre. Instead this just gets straight to the river, apart from popping into the grounds of St Paul's Church with its splendid cherry blossom. A sight for sore eyes, although given my hayfever it probably contributed to sore eyes too. Did a lot of sneezing and eye-rubbing on this walk....

But down to the river starting at Hammersmith Bridge. Needed a bit of careful cropping here as the bridge has been closed and barricaded off for ages because of the need for emergency repairs.

All along the Thames down here are really beautiful and striking old buildings. Unlike most of the rest of London, they aren't a harmonious bunch laid out in neat developments, but each is its own style This starts with the Lower Mall where many of the buildings are used for rowing. This one is HQ for British Rowing.

This, as it says, is the Blue Anchor pub, first licensed n 1722. There is real antiquity down here - not much room for new developments. Just one of many many pubs it would have been so nice to pop into for a pint....

These are Furnival Gardens, slightly less picturesque than one might expect for their river location.

Kelmscott House, a splendid if simple Georgian House, once the home of William Morris...

...and the lesser known Sir Francis Ronalds...

The Dove, a pub which dates back to the 17th century and was originally a coffee house. Rule Britannia was composed here.

The Latymer Preparatory School. What a great spot for a school! Hugh Grant is among its alumni.

Linden House, home of London Corinthian Sailing Club.

The Old Ship pub, also going back to 1720s

Hammersmith Terrace

Here are some bygone professions....

One of the doors has this beside it - a built in boot scraper from the days when this was a muddy lane prone to flooding, not a metalled road.