The Number 26 Route

Monday 17 August 2009 A new recruit again this week, so it was Julie, Linda, Tim and Jo who met at Waterloo, conveniently outside the station, and headed off to Hackney Wick (which seems to be either Saxon or Latin (vicus) for a place or refuge or village, so a less interesting word than one might have hoped). We had a nippy journey, over Waterloo Bridge, round the Aldwych and into the Strand, passing the St Clement Danes and the Royal Courts of Justice before reaching Fleet Street and St Paul’s. We noted many Corporation Blue Plaques, indicating buildings which had vanished in the 18th century, presumably when the developers, headed by Christopher Wren, moved in. We admired the Duke of Wellington (on horse) outside the Bank of England, and then George Peabody (on chair) as we approached the Gherkin. We waved at Kate but she obviously was not looking out of her window. We were impressed by the railway building works, which we have seen before and take to be the East London Line upgrade and extension; and then on past Shoreditch (when I grow rich) Church which proves to be by George Dance, not Hawksmoor as we speculated. As we entered Hackney, we found ourselves in a street solid with handbag shops, before seeing Hackney City Farm and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children. Then it was over the Regent’s Canal and past St Joseph’s Hospice to reach East Way and the final stop: only 11.15, so less than 45 minutes from Waterloo.