Illuminated River Short Walk

9.3 km (up to)

Net Walking Time: 2 to 2 ½ hours

Negligible

Illuminated River is an artwork by light artist Leo Villareal which illuminates a number of Central London Thames Bridges with the help of cutting edge LED technology and custom software, producing sequenced patterns across the bridge structures.
Currently, 9 bridges are included in the artwork with either new or revised lighting schemes, those are: London Bridge, Cannon Street Railway Bridge, Southwark Bridge, Millenium Bridge, Blackfriars Bridge, Waterloo Bridge, Golden Jubilee Footbridges, Westminster Bridge and Lambeth Bridge. They are joined along the walk route by 5 others: Tower Bridge, Vauxhall Bridge, Grosvenor Railway Bridge, Chealsea Bridge and Albert Bridge. These bridges have mostly been lit to good effect for a long time anyway without being part of the artwork, but are nevertheless projected to be included in it at some point with a different lighting pattern.

For more information on the artwork, its creators, maps and drone photos and videos, click here to get to the project’s website.

Short Walks - The route from Tower Hill to Battersea Power Station enables only views of Tower Bridge and Albert Bridge, but leads under or across the other 12 bridges. Plentiful Underground and Mainline Stations as well as bus stops on or just off the route enable shorter walks.

Diversions are shown on the route map in three places:
Custom House Walkway – this is flood-prone due to not having a seawall facing the Thames;
Walbrook Wharf Transfer Station – during loading of the barges, the path can be closed for up to 15 minutes at a time;
Albert Embankment Tideway Diversion – in place until completion of the Tideway works at this site and the subsequent opening of the riverside path.

Various restaurants, bars and cafés are passed en route and there is plenty of choice at Battersea Power Station, either inside the former Power Station or along the new streets around it and in the adjacent railway arches.

Iconic pubs passed en route are:
The Banker, Cousin Lane/Cannon Street Station, 1.4 km into the walk: https://www.banker-london.co.uk/;
The Samuel Pepys, Stew Lane/Queenhithe, 1.8 km into the walk: https://www.samuelpepys.pub/;
The Rose, Albert Embankment/Vauxhall, 5.6 km into the walk: https://www.therosepub.co.uk/.

After the walk, please leave a comment, it really helps. Thanks!

You can also upload photos to the SWC Group on Flickr (upload your photos) and videos to Youtube. This walk's tags are:

National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Traveline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234

Feb-24 Thomas G