St George’s Day – London 2011 – Part 2

Millenium Bridge

Oops!  I almost forgot about this blog about our little trek around London last month, visiting various watering-holes on the south side of the Thames!  Well, here I am again with the long-awaited part two…

Where did I get to??  Oh yes…I remember…the Founders Arms!  We left there and headed for our next destination, passing such landmarks on the way as the Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre..

Tate Modern

Globe Theatre

By this time I had developed a bit of a headache, and Robert’s hand had gradually swollen more and more due to a bite received the evening before.  I had suggested that he take his wedding ring off before his finger got too swollen, and it was just as well he did, because by the end of the evening his hand and arm looked like an inflated rubber glove!!

We arrived at The Anchor, where most people were crowded onto the terrace/beer garden area, so we found a table inside…

The Anchor

When we left, the skies were beginning to darken, and it was feeling quite oppressive…which would explain my headache!

On the way to our next port of call it began to rain, and as we turned down one little street there in front of us was the Clink Museum…I wanted to go in, but everyone just sailed straight past…it was a pub-crawl after all!  A recent episode of Mud Men featured this interesting-looking museum.

The Clink Museum

The rain turned into a downpour, but didn’t last long, so we wended our merry way to a beautiful 17th century hostelry called The George…

The George

There were plenty of tables outside, but after the rain were a bit too wet to sit at, so we struggled to find a table  inside as the place was packed!  Eventually a table became vacant, but chairs were in short supply.   This is where Graham finally caught up with us.

Random madwoman finds a shield!

Anne-Marie, John, Ian and Jo

We actually stopped here longer and had more than one drink.  (By the way, I didn’t actually drink that much…several J20s with lots of ice, and one half pint, then I had the odd sip of Robert’s).

Next we headed for the Bunch of Grapes…

Random woman, Pete, Ian, and Graham

I found this pub far too noisy (must be my age!), the music was so loud I couldn’t hear what anyone was saying…or should that be ‘shouting’?  It didn’t do my headache any good either!  Besides, by this time I was ravenous and in need of food, and Robert had mentioned stopping somewhere several times, but it was always on to the next pub!

When we left, it was dark out, and The Shard looked quite spectacular…

The Shard

The next pub had a rather odd name…The Barrowboy and Banker…

The Barrowboy and Banker

I couldn’t work out what this had to do with the pub name though…

The Charge of the Royal Scots Greys above the bar

Anne-Marie and Pete departed from here, and the rest of us headed for…

The Mudlark

…The Mudlark…also seen on Mud Men as their base after grubbing about on the shores of the Thames.  Johnny Vaughan and Steve Brooker (AKA Mud God) used the upstairs bar…we stayed in the downstairs bar.

A full-sized replica of The Golden Hinde was moored near our last port of call, The Old Thameside Inn…

The Golden Hinde

The Old Thameside Inn

No, that isn't Johnny Vaughan...!

Graham, Jo, Ian, Pete, and Random Woman

The Thames at night

We stayed here until kicking-out time, then made our way back to the station…taking in one or two more sites…

Fishmongers Hall, London Bridge

The Monument

Next day, I could look back and remember a great day out…headache and sore feet forgotten.  🙂