A few months ago Ed and I walked along the Thames Path from Kew to Ham and back. Last night was our Hash AGM and pre-Christmas Dinner (very pleasant evening) and a couple of the guys invited me to join them on the Civil Engineers' Club Walk today, which happened to be along the Thames Path - but much further East than our previous walk.

So I duly turned up at London Bridge Station at 10am as directed, and joined a very amiable group of about 30 mostly retired engineers and friends. The day was mild and sunny, perfect for a walk.

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We walked past the Traitors' Gate - the old Water Gate to the Tower of London.

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A glance back to Tower Bridge - always photogenic!

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An attractive dolphin and water nymph fountain/statue nearby. Once we got properly underway, I was too busy enjoying the views across the river and the fascinating architecture (not to mention chatting!) to take too many pictures, but couldn't resist a couple of the more historic sites.

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We passed "The Town of Ramsgate" a 16th century (Tudor) pub beside Wapping Stairs. It is where Judge Jeffries, of the Bloody Assizes was having a quiet drink in 1688, when he was taken by a gang of Monmouth supporters and soundly beaten. He was rescued and revived, but was never the same again and died a few months later.

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Here is "The Prospect of Whitby" (named after a ship, as one obviously can't view Whitby from the windows here, Whitby being on the East coast of Yorkshire) which, built in 1520, is the oldest surviving riverside pub. We went in - some for a swift half, and others to see the river view and glimpse the gibbet formerly used for renegade sailors. Not the original rope, we thought. Apparently in the 19th century sea captains stayed here who sailed to Australia with convict ships.

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I couldn't resist this. We weren't sure if they were bird boxes, bat boxes, just a work of art, or, in view of their yellow colour, covert speed cameras! We saw another humorous artwork too - a "Christmas tree" made of traffic lights painted green, but I didn't get a picture of that.

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This was one of those historic places where I suddenly felt the history seeping through to the present in a way that not all historic sites do. It's the remains of the actual slipway where Isembard Kingdom Brunel's huge vessel "The Great Eastern" was launched. I don't know quite why these old railway sleepers made such an impression, but they did!

We walked to Canary Wharf and had lunch in the Wetherspoon's pub, had a further meander round the Isle of Dogs and then back to Canary Wharf to catch the train home in the gathering dusk. A lovely day out.