Length: 4.0 km
Net Walking Time: 1 hour
Meet: outside Sloane Square Tube Station (District and Circle Line, Zone 1), by the Newspaper
Kiosk, at 18.45 hours.
Finish: Battersea Power Station Tube Station (Northern Line)
The main point of this walk today is the Grand
Opening to the public of the mega-famous Grade II* listed Battersea Power Station for
the very first time! Only 10 years after having been purchased by its current owners...
Is it just another glorified shopping mall with overpriced flats above or
something more substantial? Find out for yourself. There is an opening
programme of sorts, see here.
Whatever you do, don’t forget to queue for Lift 109,
which takes you 109m up onto the top of one of the four chimneys… (booking
recommended)
The walk route: King’s
Road, Chelsea Back Streets, Albert Bridge, Battersea Embankment,
Battersea Power Station.
Even the outbound route is slightly
revised compared to the webpage, based on input by a local, an ‘occasional’
SWC Walker, avoiding busy roads and Battersea Park (probably closed for the day
anyway).
Refreshments: no
shortage of options in and around the Power Station and in the railway arches.
For walk directions, map, some phots and gpx/kml files click here.
T=short.1.a
1 comment:
n=8 walkers in w=dry weather.
We shuffled through the delightful back streets of Chelsea with plenty of pricey real estate to ogle at, crossed the Albert Bridge, found the door to the park open, so waltzed along the path along the Thames to the Power Station, fighting through an ever-denser throng of people going the other way. Festivities/The Programme at BPS had started in the morning and loads of people were still milling about.
We had time to investigate the innards before re-convening outside to watch one of the scheduled performances. Then, having seen the queues inside at the food places, decided to look in the arches for sustenance, but the same picture: long queues. All of SW london seemed to be in the area.
So, an executive decison was made to tube it to Waterloo and eat/drink there.
Then something unexpected happened: Mr Google Maps got us lost when looking for a certain eatery! But we got there in the end, I'm glad to report...
As for BPS? Architecturally (not being an expert) I'd say it is a success, having retained plenty of features of the original industrial building to have an edge w/o being too tacky about it. Shopping-wise? Certainly a better environment than Westfield, but same as there: mainly the usual chains, albeit for a bigger average wage packet than in Stratford or White City. All in: well done, London...
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