South-East England London trip itinerary. Is this doable?

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mickledore

mickledore

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OK I admit it. I'm a country bumpkin who knows nothing of the ways of the big city - any city.
London terrifies me. Busy, noisy, everyone in a rush and no one will help a stranger. That's the impression from the frozen north.
I've seen a train ticket that gets me return travel to London for a day with unlimited bus, tube and DLR travel thrown in for a tad over £40. Seems like a bargain. Won't be using the buses on pain of death but aim to travel round by tube.
I've checked TFL site and there are no travel restrictions on my planned route - yet!
I've drawn up a rough itinerary with my train arriving in Euston at 09:45. All very much tripper country. I'll probably be on my own although one guy from the X-T1 thread might be able to join in with some limited local knowledge. So is this a reasonable plan for a day out?

Euston>Northern Line to London Bridge (how do I make sure I don't go to Kennington?)
Jubilee Line to Canary Wharf and do some togging there.
DLR to Cutty Sark. Never seen that so will buy advance ticket to (hopefully) avoid the queues. Greenwich/Dome/Barrier.
DLR to Tower Gateway for St Katherine's Dock.
Maybe Monument, I'm not sure if it's worth the detour.
Circle or District line to Blackfriars for St Paul's and the Milennium Bridge.

Train leave Euston at 19:35 and I'll need something to eat sometime in the day.

Will that fill a day and give me enough time for togging at a leisurely pace?
Any other sugestions?
 
Get the Southbound Northern line to Morden/Kennington via Bank. These all stop at London Bridge so no worries there. It does sound like a very packed day. Travelling around on the tube network takes some time. I'm not sure you'd be able to do all that but then I've never tried.

I'm from Sheffield and now live down in London and not everybody is unhelpful to strangers! There are a lot of us Northerners down here (and 90% of the people you see will be tourists anyway!) :) It can seem daunting at first, I remember when I first moved down here. You'll quickly get used to it though. Just remember, on the escalators....STAND ON THE RIGHT, WALK ON THE LEFT! The amount of non Londoners who don't know this and cause traffic jams... ;)
 
htid said:
.STAND ON THE RIGHT, WALK ON THE LEFT!
Click to expand...
I thought that was being abandoned? There's lots of stories up here about the angst it is causing.

That's a packed day is it? Maybe I'll cut out the Cutty Sark bit and save that for another trip with SWMBO.
 
I've not heard anything about it being abandoned but it's not like it very easily could be. Everybody sticks to it, if they just tried to 'cancel' it, there would be a lot of angry commuters (well, more angry than normal).

Yeah the Cutty Sark thing sounds a bit much, if anything I'd cut that out. Again I can't say for sure as I've never tried to do all that in a day, I just know everything takes longer than you expect it to take.
 
I've seen some super shots inside Canary Wharf station so I want to have a look there. Maybe I'll keep that as the limit, and work my way back from there to Euston.
 
Distractions will be your enemy!
If you go to St Katherine's Dock make sure to go to the other side of the river to Shad Thames, then you'll more than likely end on Tower bridge admiring the views of The Tower of London, Shard & City Hall etc. and the walk along the south bank from Tower Bridge to London Bridge is a nice one and full of opportunities! you could easily spend a couple of hours there.

Monument is a great climb for just a few quid and gives you amazing views of the city, and if you're near Monument then Leadenhall Market, Gherkin and the Lloyds building are fairly close :)

Cutty Sark and general area is always heaving with people, there's so much to see and do in Greenwich you can spend a whole day there, I'm doing this next week with my boys!

Blackfriars and wobbly bridges are interesting but better at night when lit up, sadly when I went a couple of weeks ago at night there weren't lit which was frustrating.

Thames barrier would be a big detour for you as the nearest stations are a bit of a walk away.

Not sure I actually helped at all there :)
Hope you have a great day - a word of warning....you'll want to go back again!
 
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Agree with Chris, this is a lot packed into the day. May consider cutting out Cutty Sark, especially if you can do it another day then you could combine it with the Observatory and the College. One options is to think about using the ferries say from Carney Wharf to Tower Pier (but this may not be covered by the travel card). My understanding is that they (TfL) are rolling out new advise for the tube, but that this is first being trialled on a certain time in certain stations first.

Yes, London can be a bit rude and pushy at times. But people will tend to help if asked. And if you are coming in on a week day then the rush hour will be dying down by the time you get into Euston. But above all enjoy the time down here (and appreciate that the beer is far cheaper back up North :)
 
As another Northerner who spends loads of time working in the capital, read this:-

https://www.thrillist.com/entertain...-out-of-towners-about-london-thrillist-london

  • Dont worrry about finding places to eat, you will be spoiled for choice, although the better places are well hidden.
  • Be aware that some food establishments and pubs will quote prices only in £s. They dont bother with the smaller stuff.
  • Make sure you have comfortable shoes on.
  • Dont carry too much around or alternatively put the spare stuff in 'left luggage' at Euston. (you pay per item so a bigger bag is generally cheaper than three small ones, within reason. I think its around £8-9 per day but it is worth it).
  • Oh, and you are unlikely to be cold, so don't go wrapped for arctic conditions, the tube gets quite warm, even at this time of year.
  • Keep your itinery small, London is a big place with lots to photograph
  • Consider walking too, you will see loads more. London Bridge to St Katherines is not far and you will be shooting all the way. Just follow Tooley Street, before crossing the Thames at Tower Bridge.
  • Watch out for over zealous security at St Katherines and other places though.
  • You might not see many Londoners. Visitors from every other part of the globe though.
  • Speak slowly to get understood, if you are from 'Oop Noorth' (Londoners understand Oop Noorth as being anywhere beyond Hampstead).
 
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Cutty Sark, Greenwich, Dome and the Barrier is a lot just in one day without the rest added on. The only easy way to the barrier is either walk (a long way) or bus then walk in.

If you do St. Katherine's, you may be better off, going up onto Tower Bridge and crossing there, to then take in Butler's Wharf, Shad Thames, Potter's field, More London which includes City Hall and the Scoop, Hay's Galleria.

Then into London Bridge for the Shad and into Borough Market, then follow Bankside to the Globe theatre, Tate Modern, Millennium Bridge and cross to St. Paul's

If you cross to St. Paul's via the Millennium Bridge to the right of St. Paul's is a shopping centre called One New Change, you can get the lift to the top floor and have views over St. Paul's and parts of London.
 
Thanks guys for all your help. Cutty Sark area has been ditched. Will do that separately with SWMBO.

Found a local who will lead us round. A separate meet thread has been started so everything should be OK.
 
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mickledore said:
Euston>Northern Line to London Bridge (how do I make sure I don't go to Kennington?)
Jubilee Line to Canary Wharf and do some togging there.
DLR to Cutty Sark. Never seen that so will buy advance ticket to (hopefully) avoid the queues. Greenwich/Dome/Barrier.
DLR to Tower Gateway for St Katherine's Dock.
Maybe Monument, I'm not sure if it's worth the detour.
Circle or District line to Blackfriars for St Paul's and the Milennium Bridge.
Click to expand...
Having lived here all my life, I'll suggest a couple of variations :)

Walk along the south side of the river from London Bridge to Tower Bridge via More London.
Cross Tower Bridge on foot to St Katherine's dock, it's a lovely stretch of river and you could tog for hours around there!
Then use Tower Hill DLR to get to Canary Wharf.
https://goo.gl/maps/7V4Lrf7UfyG2

Get the Thames Clipper back from Canary Wharf to Bankside pier at the Tate Modern/The Globe -
Then cross the footbridge to walk up to St Pauls.
http://www.thamesclippers.com/assets/img/Route-Map-with-key.jpg
You'll have to pay to use the Clipper, but it's a great (quick!) trip along the river and you can buy a beer or coffee on board :)
 
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