We Were Out For The Day,

on to a number 54 bus,

and we were soon in Lewisham, in South East London,

walking through,

the local market,

to the bus stop for the 225,

which took us to Rotherhithe,

at the entrance to the Rotherhithe road tunnel stands the Norwegian Church with its ship weather vane,

we were going to visit the Brunel Museum, but on our way kept finding many old buildings and public houses,

the whole area of Rotherhithe is steeped in history,

as this plaque demonstrates, 

the Hope (Sufferance) wharf, I tried to find out the reason behind the name, but found out little, 

one of the other solitary buildings that has survived, 

looking up,

the school of St. Mary, the plaque says it all,

and opposite the church of St.Mary,

we continued our walk past other old warehouses,

it was all a little confusing going through these small twisting and winding alleyways and small roads, but we knew we were close when we saw this,

a priming pump from the Surrey docks,

then here it was,

the Brunel Museum,

the museum covers works completed by both Marc Isambard Brunel  and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel,

this was nice, a school trip being shown around by one of the guides dressed up in the fashion of the times, 

we had not yet eaten and it was nearly midday, so we stopped off at the Mayflower,

inside was a treasure trove of bar memorabilia,

with many quotations from famous authors,

and of course a model of the boat,

a well stock bar was here as well,

we sat outside and this was out view looking down river, if you look closely you can see a mudlark,

no not the bird, a person who held a standard licence to work the foreshore for 2 years and has a history of reporting finds to the Museum of London and then applies for the mudlark licence,

our late breakfast/early lunch arrived, a ham salad bap for Diana,

a old spot pork sausage for myself,

there is always a risk of flooding along the embankment,

hence these huge thick steel waterproof doors at the entrance to the terrace over the river,

what a nice place to have a meal,

we made our way back into the museum,

which had a number of information poster and other memorabilia about the period,

and souvenirs of the time,

 I am not sure what you would call this,

pictures were painted with the figures and scenes getting smaller on each frame,

giving a 3D,

look to the scene as you looked along the tunnel,

of pictures,

this an early picture of one of the complete but still not decorated tunnels,

there was also a non-stop documentary about father and son,

we were then taken to the start of the tunnel, we were in a huge circular hole,

to start a metal casement was assembled, the material in the middle was dug out and as the casement sank under it's own weight to make the vertical shaft,

bricks were place on top of it, to the thickness of a few feet, above is a cross section of it as we walked into the pit,

looking down, once the correct depth was reached the tunnelers broke into the clay and earth sideways and started to dig both tunnels,

the tunnels are still used today for the London Underground, you hear and feel the trains as they go past,

the shaft is of such a size that a grand piano was brought down for recitals in the afternoon and evenings, 

our tour over we made our way to the surface and spotted this beauty, a Triumph Bonneville T100,

we caught the 225 bus to Woolwich,

and walked to what was once the gate of the entrance to the Woolwich arsenal, where after retiring from the police force my Grandfather worked for a number of years,

it seems strange to think,

all of those years ago,

no member of the public could go here,

but now the huge brick blast walls have been removed and bars,

and restaurants now take residence in the old munitions buildings,

I and I am sure Garby as I called my Grandfather would have recognized these buildings,

but opposite these are all newly built,

a gateway from the past,

as this building is,

we took a stroll along the roads that criss-cross the site,

this building in the Duke of Wellington Avenue has been made into a gymnasium,

appropriate for the venue street furniture consists of cannons, like the one, an Egyptian cannon made in 1530 or thereabouts,

we continued towards the Royal Artillery Museum,

passing this 152 mm Russian made self propelled gun-howitzer, firing a RAP round (rocket assisted projectile) round it has a fire power range of 30,000 meters,

and here we were, at the entrance to the museum, then disaster  struck! we had not looked at our watches, the museum closes at 5.00 in the afternoon so we thought we had plenty of time, but the last tickets to be issued to look around is issued at 4.00 in the afternoon, it was now exactly 4.04, rules could not be disobeyed, we were asked to leave,

so off we went, at least we know where the museum is for the next time we visit,

we passed through the market in the square,

and the water feature that was a real favorite with the kids,

arriving back at Steve and Kai's we decided on a take away Indian meal,

so we went to the Kathmandu Masala in Croydon Road Beckenham, nearly opposite my shop,

and what a feast we had! after watching some football that Steve is really into we watched another from Killing, then for us we were all off to bed.