Friday 20 May 2011

Weekday walk #11

I've been washing some of the treasure I picked up from the Thames foreshore at low tide yesterday.
Treasure from the Thames
Treasure from the Thames
Treasure from the Thames
Treasure from the Thames
Gill and I were walking from London Bridge to Limehouse, along the north bank of the river, but had barely walked 100m before we were enticed onto the muddy shore by a very low tide, some friendly archaeologists from the Museum of London, and the sight of hundreds and hundreds of old clay pipes and other interesting bits of historical debris.  We pottered along the beach, exclaiming at all the things we could see.  Anyone is allowed to use their eyes only to look for treasure on the foreshore, as long as they don't dig or scrape the surface in any way.  You must not dig or use a metal detector unless you have a valid license from the Port of London Authority.

Gill finding lots of clay pipes

Bits of pipe and blue pottery

The shore at the Tower of London
And then we decided to explore further, and we walked under the large pier that you can see behind Gill in the picture above.  This is what it looked like when we walked in.
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Where we were (very nearly) trapped
We weren't under there for long - maybe 20 minutes - but we were totally absorbed in what we were doing, and crucially we kept walking further in, while we were looking at the rubbish around our feet rather than at the river in the distance.  I suddenly heard Gill shout and I looked up at her, confused.  She thought we'd got lost because she couldn't see which way we'd come in - then in a split second we both understood that the river was rushing in and that our way out had almost disappeared under the incoming tide.  The water was hitting the wall at the back of the pier; on the right hand side in the photo above.
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We have never moved so fast in our lives!  Gill got a wet foot, and we both scraped our arms against the wall and got covered in slime, but we made it out.  I think another 60 seconds and we would have been trying to wade out, or shouting for help.
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We were both shaken and felt rather stupid - we had no idea the tide could come in that fast.  But we know now, and will be much more careful in future!  We came up to street level and sat outside the Tower of London for a restorative cup of coffee and a chocolate brownie.
We quickly left the crowds around the Tower of London behind and came to St Katherine's Dock and Wapping, which is one of my most favourite parts of East London.  You are close to the river all the way, along Wapping High Street and surrounded by beautiful historic wharves, pubs and warehouses.
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I like this part of London

Phoenix Wharf at Wapping

Old pub

Wapping Pierhead

Steps to the river
We stopped for lunch in a little park, overlooking the headquarters of the river police.  Just as we got out our sandwiches about twenty policemen, all wearing full body armour and carrying guns, ran down the gangplank to their jetty and got into two black speedboats.  I think it was a training exercise, but it was still extremely unnerving - I don't like seeing armed police - and I was glad we hadn't needed them to rescue us from under the pier at London Bridge an hour earlier.  They would not have been impressed!
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Running down the gangway with guns - eek

Armed river police
By now we were thoroughly spooked by the way our day was unfolding, and we finished our lunch and set off for the final short walk to Limehouse station.
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There were glorious views of the widening river to cheer us up, and bright kayaks tied up in a green lock near Limehouse basin.
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Choppy river

Green, red & blue
When I got back home I was horrified at the state of my poor hands and only slightly less horrified at how lucky we'd been to come away with one wet foot and some dirty, broken fingernails.
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Poor trashed nails

But I still think it was worth it for this amazing treasure.
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I went to great lengths to retrieve this pipe...

11 comments:

  1. Oh N!!!!! How scary & an easy mistake to make. Just glad you're both ok. On the upside you had some great finds by the look of it xx

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  2. I would have loved to have looked for and found those treasures!!! I wouldn't have wanted to have got trapped by the water though. Scary!!! I wonder who that clay pipe belonged to. It might even have been a woman! Did women used to smoke clay pipes too?

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  3. Blimey, I'm not surprised you were shaken up. Scary stuff!

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  4. Good grief. I'm so glad you're safe - that sounds really quite scary - you had my heart pounding!

    I adore old pipes. I have a small collection of them Oh dearie me how very boring that sounds but I was fascinated as a child. The decoration on that one is beautiful! The oldest pipes from the 1600s have tiny acorn-like bowls from when the tobacco was super expensive when it was first imported, apparently. Then they became long and tapered and elegant in the 1700s. There ends today's slightly nerdy waffle.

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  5. How terrifying! I might have needed more than a brownie.

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  6. As i said over at "Moss Stitch", very glad you're both here to tell the tale...and yes, chocolate is antidote for shock/panic wobblies..and that is a fantastic find.

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  7. I second coffee lady! I think I might have gone to a pub not a cafe x

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  8. I am so geeky that I have spent ages trying to identify the blue & white fragments. Thank goodness that you got out safely so that you could download the photos!

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  9. Scary but... the possibility of being rescued by lots of men in uniform - hmmmm. Well we've been to Henley but unable to take up any of your recommendations due to hubbys leg being in a pot and couldnt cope with the stress of pushing him in a wheelchair in central London :-(. To make up for it we hope to visit London in September to take up some of your recommendations - am itching to go to the british museum xxx

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  10. What amazing finds! But the incoming tide sounds pretty scary. Luckily no need to worry about tides at Kew :) See you soon!

    K x

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  11. Nice. Glad to know there are other people out there who love doing a bit of beachcombing and mudlarking! I am making jewellery out of the stem fragments
    see more here: www.amelia-parker.com

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