London Battersea Guided Walk

This year's bespoke walk was the Power of the Thames, led by expert guides Charlie Forman and Emmanuel Lebaut from the London Walks Company. A motley crew of some 30 ES members were treated to a fascinating adventure, walking from Battersea Power Station Station to the Victorian Gardens next to the Palace of Westminster. We stood in the middle of one of the world’s largest brick buildings which once delivered power to a fifth of London and marvelled at the transformation within, and the new riverside without with its post-Bazalgette sewage-controlling infrastructure under construction, then enjoyed the ebb and flow of the history of the Thames, going back more than three thousand years to the river’s very first crossing point. Vauxhall’s high-rise city with a space-age American embassy tucked in behind it appeared and then down past MI6 and MI5 to another seat of power, the Palace of Westminster. The 23rd London walk in 21 years ended in style for some who were able to stay for a very convivial lunch at an Italian restaurant on Victoria Street, just avoiding the crowds gathered outside Parliament for a pro-EU demonstration.