• Home
  • Weekend Walks
  • Private Tours
  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Writing
  • Things Are Afoot
Bowl Of Chalk - London Walking Tours

Things Are Afoot

Chalker Photos

29/11/2011

0 Comments

 

Chalker Photos from last weekend

Sue, who came on both the weekend walks very kindly sent me a few snaps, which I thought I'd post here. These first two are in St Dunstan-in-the-East, a Wren church that was largely obliterated during the Blitz of 1941, except for the steeple and a few walls. Rather than rebuilding or demolishing completely, it was decided to transform it in to a rather nice walled garden.
Picture
Picture
Marveling at the George Inn, as mentioned in a previous post.
Picture
Thanks to the efforts of Sam Wanamaker, we now have Shakespeare's Globe theatre in all its thatched glory. 
Picture
A brilliant tourist photo outside St Paul's. Not our Chalkers unfortunately.
Picture
Columbia Road flower market on Sunday.
Picture
And finally, Sue spots that there's an apostrophe missing in the east end.
Picture
0 Comments

26th & 27th Nov 2011

28/11/2011

1 Comment

 

Weekend Round up - 26th & 27th Nov

So, the first full-ish weekend of Bowl Of Chalks has taken place. Thanks very much to all who came. A bit of tweakage will take place for the next ones, as they ended up being mildly longer than I had anticipated. Still, the weather was clement and it's very much a work in progress. A few awards:
  • Youngest Chalker - Toby (not even 1 yet, but was as good as gold throughout the whole walk on Saturday)
  • Most dog-like Chalker - Enid (see photo)
Picture
  • Most Australian Chalkers - Robb, Ria & Sonja 
  • Most parent-like Chalkers - My parents
  • Smallest people spotted by Sundays' Chalkers (see photo below)
Picture
By street artist Pablo Delgado
  • The only Chalker to spot a fox reading a book in a window - Miss A. Greiner (see photo below)
Picture
columbia road flower market
  • Most incredibly pregnant Chalker - Kat Butterfield (due to give birth next week. Best of luck)
  • Tallest Chalker - Richard Delaney
  • Chalker with the best moustache - Robb Musgrave
  • Best push-chair pushers - Anna & John Aldred and grandpa Perry

Anyway, thanks again to all who came. 
1 Comment

Pub Watch

17/11/2011

0 Comments

 

then and Now

Every self respecting literature student knows that Geoffrey 'Geoff' Chaucer's pilgrims began 'The Canterbury Tales' in 1386 from Copyprints Ltd Business Centre in Southwark. Well, sort of ... it was in fact The Tabard, an Inn, which, along with most of Southwark was burnt down in what became known as the Little Fire of London in the 1670's. Due to a sign makers' error, it was accidentally re-named The Talbot, after which the whole yard is still currently known and The Tabard/Talbot is now a site occupied by Copyprints Ltd Business Centre.
Picture
The Old Tabard Inn
However, do not despair, because just next door, another pub burnt down in the same fire and was also rebuilt in 1676. It's called the George Inn, and thanks to the National Trust (who own it), most of it is still there. It's the only galleried coaching Inn left in London and if you come on the 'London in a nutshell' walk, we'll go and see it. Incidentally, for fans of Charles Dickens, it gets a mention in 'Little Dorrit'. I'm sure Dickens would have loved the new outside heaters.
Picture
The George Inn
0 Comments

Bridge Alert

16/11/2011

0 Comments

 

Very Confusing Bridges

I've been walking and talking people around London for a while now, but it very quickly became apparent that the two bridges pictured below, which are next to each other, are very often confused. More to the point, people actually seem disappointed that London Bridge is London Bridge, like it's somehow a bit of a let down. The current London Bridge was built in 1973 and was completely paid for (at a cost of £4m) by a pot of money that has been floating around since the first bridge was built there in 1209. Not bad. Anyway, I took these photos on Monday night after a walk when a brilliant wintery fog was descending. If you'd like to know why London Bridge has that very distinctive red light at night or see a bit of the original one, come on a Bowl Of Chalk. Innit. 
Picture
London Bridge
Picture
Tower Bridge
0 Comments

Advertising Frenzy

16/11/2011

0 Comments

 

BOC Marketing team on fire

So, yesterday the Bowl Of Chalk marketing team were on fire. Phase 1 of the hot new advertising campaign was rolled out and executed with an unnerving precision. A whole lot of people let me display little A4 posters in their shops and cafes; Broadway Books, Pages of Hackney, i made it for you, Fix, Tina We Salute You, Look Mum No hands, Hackney City Farm, Rio Cinema, Off Broadway, Railroad and De Beauvoir Deli to name just a few. 

I can safely say that if all the other adverts and wot not that were already there, were taken away, then mine would really stand out. 
Picture
Pages of Hackney
Picture
Look Mum No Hands
Picture
De Beauvoir Deli
0 Comments

Cathedral watch

15/11/2011

0 Comments

 

St paul's cathedral

I'm quite a big fan of St. Paul's cathedral. It's obviously been in the news a fair bit recently, with all the occupy London stuff that's been going on and the fact that it's only the second time in the cathedral's illustrious history that it has closed its doors to the public. The first was for four days during the blitz. Anyway, I won't harp on about St Paul's factoids, but was down there yesterday and just wanted to share a couple of photos.
Picture
Lots of domes all under one massive dome. The other thing is that millions of people have gazed upon St. Paul's for the last 300 years, but only recently from the top of the New Change shopping centre. Paulio was looking pretty fruity from up there last night.
Picture
0 Comments

Bridge Alert

13/11/2011

1 Comment

 

Bits of London bridge in victoria park

It was a lovely autumnal day in London today, and as I was wondering around Victoria Park in east London, I thought I'd take a couple of photos of bits of London bridge. That's right. London Bridge.

In the early 1800's the shops and houses that lined the bridge were taken down and replaced with alcoves or shelters. I think there were 14 in all. A few years later John Rennie completed the next London Bridge (1831) and 4 of the alcoves were saved. One is in Guy's hospital with a sculpture of John Keats sitting in it, another is in a council estate somewhere in south London, and the remaining two were deposited in Victoria park in 1860. They look like this:

Picture
Picture
1 Comment

Hello and Welcome

11/11/2011

0 Comments

 
As you have perhaps already read, I will be starting with two weekend 'pay what you want' walks. They look pretty much like this:
Picture
London In A Nutshell (Saturday)
And this:
Picture
My Neck Of The Woods (Sunday)
It'd be great if you'd like to join us. Just contact me using the Contact Form on the 'Contact' page. I look forward to seeing you.
0 Comments

    Bowl Of Chalk

    Bowl Of Chalk based shenanigans. 

    Archives

    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011

    Categories

    All
    1666
    Actor's Church
    Adelaide House
    Admiral Arthur Phillip
    Air Pollution
    Air Raid Precautions
    Air Raids
    Alfred Hitchcock
    All Hallows By The Tower
    All Hallows-by-the-Tower
    Apothecaries' Hall
    Architecture
    Arnold Circus
    Bankside
    Barbican
    Ben Wilson
    Berry Bros & Rudd
    Big Ben
    Blackout
    Blitz
    Borough Market
    Brick Lane
    Brick Lane Mosque
    Bridewell Theatre
    Britain's Smallest Police Station
    Bruce Castle Museum
    Brunel Museum
    Buckingham Palace
    Bunhill Fields Cemetery
    Burlington Arcade
    C215 - Christian Guemy
    Cabmen's Shelters
    Camouflaged Buildings
    Canary Wharf
    Cardinal Wolsey
    Chad Varah
    Charles Barry
    Charles Dickens
    Charles Ii
    Charlie Chaplin
    Charterhouse
    Cheapside
    Christchurch Spitalfields
    Christchurch - Spitalfields
    Christiaan Nagel
    Christopher Wren
    City Of London
    City Road
    Clerkenwell
    Clet Abraham
    Clockmakers' Museum
    Columbia Road
    Covent Garden
    Cripplegate
    Criterion Restaurant
    Curiosities
    Curtain Road
    Cutty Sark
    Dan Cruickshank
    Daniel Defoe
    Dead Man's Hole
    Dennis Sever's House
    Dr Johnson's House
    Duke Of Buckingham
    Duke Of Wellington
    East London
    Edwin Landseer
    Eine
    Eros
    First World War
    Fleet Street
    Florence Nightingale
    Floris Perfumers
    Floris - Perfumers
    Fortnum And Mason
    Fossils
    Fournier Street
    Fourth Plinth
    Gainsborough Studios
    Geffrye Museum
    Geoffrey Chaucer
    George Dance The Younger
    George Frederic Watts
    George Frideric Handel
    George Inn
    George Washington
    Golden Hinde
    GreatFire350
    Great Fire Of London
    Greenpeace
    Greenwich
    Greenwich Foot Tunnel
    Grinling Gibbons
    Guy's Hospital
    Ham House
    Hampton Court Palace
    Hatchards
    Henry Croft
    Historical Fiction
    HMS Belfast
    Hodge
    Horace Jones
    Horatio Nelson
    Horniman Museum
    Horse Guards
    Household Cavalry Museum
    Houses Of Parliament
    Hoxton
    Hoxton Hall
    Hoxton Square
    Hoxton Street Monster Supplies
    H.R Higgins - Coffee Man
    Huguenots
    I Love London Town
    Inigo Jones
    Invader
    Italian Gardens
    Jack The Ripper
    James Parkinson
    Jewel Tower
    Jimi Hendrix
    Jimmy C
    John Milton
    John Wesley
    Kaspar - The Savoy Hotel Cat
    Kensington Palace
    King Charles I
    King Edward Ii
    King Edward Iii
    King George Iii
    King George Iv
    King Henry Viii
    King James I
    Knights Templar
    Leadenhall Market
    Lloyds Of London
    Lock & Co Hatters
    Lock & Co - Hatters
    London Books
    London Bridge
    London Bridges
    London Cabs
    London Museums
    London's Dead
    London Underground
    Margaret Thatcher
    Marie Lloyd
    Mayfair
    Metropolitan Police
    Millennium Bridge
    More London
    Mudlarks
    Museum Of The Order Of St John
    National Gallery
    National Trust
    Norton Folgate
    Old London Bridge
    Old Street
    Old Truman Brewery
    Oliver Cromwell
    Pablo Delgado
    Parks
    Parliament Square
    Paternoster Square
    Paul Don Smith
    Paxton & Whitfield
    Pearly Kings & Queens
    Piccadilly Circus
    Pitfield Street
    Platform 9 3/4
    Portland Stone
    Postman's Park
    Prince Albert
    Private Walks
    Punch & Judy
    Queen Anne
    Queen Elizabeth I
    Queen Victoria
    River Thames
    Roa
    Robert Peel
    Roman London
    Ronzo
    Rose Theatre Bankside
    Rotherhithe
    Royal Academy Of Arts
    Royal Albert Hall
    Royal Courts Of Justice
    Royal Opera House
    Royal Warrants
    Russel Hoban
    Samuel Johnson
    Samuel Pepys
    Saxon London
    Sculptures
    Shad Thames
    Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
    Shops
    Shoreditch
    Shoreditch Park
    Silicon Roundabout
    Southwark Cathedral
    Spitalfields
    Spitalfields Life
    Stafford Hotel
    Statues
    St Bride's Church
    St Clement Danes
    St Dunstanintheeastca4d4776b9
    St Dunstan In The West
    St Etheldreda
    St Giles Cripplegate
    Stik
    St James's Palace
    St James's Park
    St Johns Gate57173442d0
    St John's - Smith Square
    St Katharine Docks
    St Katherine Docks
    St Mary Aldermanbury
    St Pauls Cathedral
    St Peter Cheap
    Street Art
    St Stephen Walbrook
    Sweet Toof
    Tate Modern
    Telephone Box
    Temple Bar
    Temple Church
    Thames Barrier
    Theatre Royal Drury Lane
    The Birdcage
    The Dickens Inn
    The Eagle
    The Foundling Museum
    The King's Wardrobe
    The Mayflower
    The Monument
    The Old Curiosity Shop
    The Old Operating Theatre
    The Ragged School Museum
    The Shard
    The Spitalfields Trust
    The Ten Bells
    The Theatre
    The Tipperary
    Thomas Archer
    Thomas Barnardo
    Thomas Coram
    Thomas Crapper
    Thomas Farriner
    Thomas Sutton
    Tower Bridge
    Tower Of London
    Trafalgar Square
    Twinings
    Urban Geology
    Va27d30ae324
    Vhils
    Victorian London
    Victorian Music Hall
    Victoria Park
    Weekend Walks
    Wesley's Chapel
    Westland London
    Westminster
    Westminster Abbey
    Whitechapel Bell Foundry
    William Hogarth
    William Shakespeare
    William The Conqueror
    William Wordsworth
    Winchester Palace
    Windsor Castle
    Winston Churchill
    WWII
    Xylo
    Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
    Yeoman Warders

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • Weekend Walks
  • Private Tours
  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Writing
  • Things Are Afoot
✕