London Loves

Day:         56

Distance: 26.22km

Time:       2:20:06 secs

Calories:  1,996

Living and working in London means that you can sometimes take this wonderful city for granted. I can't remember the last time we did anything vaguely touristy, except for when friends are visiting. However, a 140 mins run provides the perfect opportunity to mix running with a spot of sight seeing.

I set out early on Sunday morning and start by running alongside Peckham Rye. Unlike the poet William Blake I don't see "a tree filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars", perhaps the angels are all long gone like the Italian POWs who were detained here during WWII? I head up through Rye Lane past the Halal butchers and fruit and vegetable stalls groaning under the weight of brightly coloured fruit and veg from around the world testament to the ethnic diversity of the area. 

At the end of Rye Lane the award winning Peckham Library comes into view and I have to weave around some stalls from the Farmers Market that is held there every Sunday. To the side of the library I follow the route of the old Grand Surrey Canal which leads me up to Trafalgar Avenue and then onto the Old Kent Road (a snip at just £60 in Monopoly!). It's true that the Old Kent Road doesn't provide much in the way of tourist interest, but running up it does provide a nice view of the Shard which is still under construction in London Bridge.

At the end of the Old Kent Road I head up through Borough and behind the Tate Modern. I go round the back of the power station turned gallery and run across the Millennium Bridge where I stop for a moment to take this photo of the bridge and St Paul's Cathedral on my phone.

The Millennium Bridge on Sunday 13th February.
The photo was taken at around 8am - hence
there's no crowds in this picture.

Once over the bridge I head West along the north bank of Old Father Thames. I run past Blackfriars Bridge onto Victoria Embankment which takes me past Waterloo Bridge and the Hungerford Bridge on towards the Palace of Westminster where I once again stop to take a photo.

Heading up towards the Palace of Westminster
(a.k.a. The Houses of Parliament). You can see
in this photo that the weather wasn't that great.

Normally, running around Westminster means weaving in and out of the tourist hordes, but the early hour and the grey, wet weather means that I can just run round and enjoy the sights. From there, I carry on alongside the Thames past Lambeth Bridge and Vauxhall Bridge passing by Battersea power station on the opposite bank and on until Chelsea Bridge. Upon reaching this railway bridge I turn round and retrace my steps back to Vauxhall Bridge and cross back over to the South Bank. Running along the South Bank takes me past even more quintessential London sights, such as the London Eye, Royal Festival Hall, the National Theatre and the Oxo Tower (where we enjoyed the best ever New Year's Eve a few years back).

A view of the London Eye, taken from the north
bank of the Thames.

The riverside run comes to an end at Blackfriars Bridge and I head for home happy to have taken in some sights. The return home follows the same route down the Old Kent Road, along the disused canal and down towards Peckham Rye. By the time I hit the top of the Rye I've covered 25km and the effects are plain to see as I feel shattered, light headed and slow. The last kilometre feels slower than the previous 25 combined and it is with pleasure that I get back to the flat almost exactly 2 hours after setting out. In a remarkable quirk of the ipod's shuffle function the last song that is played from the running playlist is "London Calling" by the Clash.

This run brings the curtain down on the 8th week of my marathon training. Which means that I'm now two thirds of the way through the Guardian's 12 week training plan. In that time I have undertaken 33 runs (and one circuits session in a gym), covered 335 kilometres (c.208 miles), run for a total of 32.5 hours and burnt off more than 26,000 calories.

In an interesting coincidence, I'm also about two thirds of the way towards my target of £1,000 in sponsorship. Thanks again to everyone who has already sponsored me, if you haven't already sponsored me but would like to help me towards my goal please visit my JustGiving page.