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

Things Are Afoot

Private Walks In June - 2013

16/7/2013

0 Comments

 
I know we're already half way through July, but I thought I'd just post a little thing about some of the 'private walks' I did in June. Just in case you're wondering, I do my regular 'pay what you want' walks around London most weekends, but during the week I also do private tours for groups, families, couples, birthdays, work outings and that kind of thing. They're pretty much tailor made to each individual group, so I might meet them at their hotel, or at a station or somewhere-else and we explore London, based on what they want to see or their interests and stuff like that.

It would seem that in June, we spent a bit of time hanging around with the Queen's Guard at St James's Palace and Horse Guards. They're quite easy to hang around with as they tend to stand really, really still. The last photo is of Lisa and her family outside Buckingham Palace. Although you can't see any guards, there was actually hundreds of them passing by on horse back, as we stumbled in to the midst of the dress rehearsal for 'Trooping The Colour', the week before The Queen's official birthday.  Since the restoration of King Charles II in 1660, these guys and now girls have been responsible for guarding the Royal palaces.
Picture
The Queen's Guard
We did do other things aside from taking photos with guards. I did a couple of walks around east London, which inevitably involves a bit of street art. Shyam was over on business from Canada and staying near Liverpool Street so wanted to explore around that area. You can see him next to Richard Rogers Lloyd's building which was finished in 1986 and was said to look like someone had dropped an oil rig in to the City of London. Despite the modern appearance of the building, the company themselves have a colourful 325 year history which can be traced back to a 17th century coffee house ... called Edward Lloyd's. Nazatul and her family are pictured in Trafalgar Square with Nelson's Column behind them.
Picture
The photos below show Penny Bond and her crew from Canada in St James's park and John and Susan on London Bridge. Kim and Ciera are standing by some 17th century waterman's steps, which now stand quite far from the Thames, but once was a gateway from the river to a mansion called York House, which belonged to George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, who had the steps built ... hence the nearby Villiers Street. Mehul and Neha from the States are relaxing in one of Westminster Abbey's cloisters.
Picture
So, as you can see ... we managed to explore quite a bit of London.
0 Comments

Weekend Roundup - 8th/9th Sept '12

10/9/2012

0 Comments

 
It was a lovely weekend for walking around London. Having said that, on Saturday morning, I didn't have a walk, so popped to the Household Cavalry Museum instead down at Horse Guards Parade on Whitehall. It just reopened on Saturday after a couple of months hiatus due to having the Olympic Beach Volley Ball on their doorstep.

It's a pretty small museum which tells you about the History of the Horse Guards from when they were first formed by Charles II. I  thought the best bit about it, is that the museum is actually inside the old 18th Century stables. They've spilt the stables in half to accommodate the museum, and the guys, girls and horses that you see standing outside still use the other half. The partition wall is clear plastic so you can watch them going about their business. As I happened to be there on the hour when they changed I could watch them saddle up and get ready, and the ones that had been sat outside for an hour return. It felt like I wasn't supposed to be watching. 

Anyway, I took this photo as I left of a guard (sans horse) having his photo taken by tourists.
Picture
Horse Guards - Whitehall
In the afternoon I met Paul, Trish and Linda (who is the first person ever to just magically turn up without booking) near St Paul's. It was the Thames Festival this weekend, so it was pretty chocka around Bankside. There's also a 17th Century 'galleried' Inn down just off Borough High Street, which we usually take a look at on our way back towards London Bridge. 
Picture
The George Inn - Southwark
Paul actually grew up in London in the 1950's, so it was really nice to hear his perspective on how the area had changed since he was a boy, and how he remembered it.

Sunday, was the east end walk and included a couple of people who had been on one of my Saturday walks previously. Joantoni actually came on one of my first ever walks back in December last year, whilst Emanuela had come just a couple of weeks ago. Here they are outside Columbia Road Flower market.
Picture
Columbia Road flower market
Some Awards

Most unexpected walker - Linda

Tallest - Ben

Best Moustache - No winners

Most Spanish group - Sunday (Joantoni & Zara)

Most Italian - Emanuela
0 Comments

    Bowl Of Chalk

    Bowl Of Chalk based shenanigans. 

    Archives

    November 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018
    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
    Anne Boleyn
    Anne Of Cleves
    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
    Day Trips
    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
    Gillian Wearing
    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
    Hever Castle
    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
    Millicent Fawcett
    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
    Suffrage Movement
    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 Waldorf Astor
    William Wordsworth
    Winchester Palace
    Windsor Castle
    Winston Churchill
    Women's Rights
    WWII
    Xylo
    Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
    Yeoman Warders

    RSS Feed

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