Canary Wharf – My London+

Winter Lights 2023, Canary Wharf

Floating Earth by Luke Jarram – Middle Dock

On a freezing cold evening I went with my youngstest son and his girlfriend to Canary Wharf to enjoy the delights of the Winter Lights. There are 22 in all, spread over the whole of Canary Wharf, including inside Crossrail Place and the Roof Garden. This made for a nice stop to warm up! Five are permanent features I have seen before, so we mised those out, except for Adams Plaza Bridge which is always worth a photo.

The event began on Wednesday 18th January and continues to Saturday 28th January and runs between 5pm and 10pm. It is also free. You can download an APP of the map, or receive a hard copy from the many stewards around Canary Wharf. We did have to queue outside to get into Amina, but the line moved forward reasonably quickly. There were also queues inside Crossrail Place, but again all moved fast, and at least there it’s warm.

It takes a while to walk to and view all the exhibits, but it is worth it, and at Westferry Circus you are right on the River Thames. Anyway, enjoy the photos and videos.

Fluorescent Firs – Jubilee Park

Jubilee Park

Jubilee Park

Emergene by This is Loop – Montgomery Square

On the way to Water Street

Anima by ELISAVA – Water Street

You Exist, here, now by The Fandangoe Kid – Crossrail Place (Level 3)

in(visible) by Daniel Popsecu – Crossrail Place (Level 1 – Quayside)

in(visible) by Daniel Popsecu – Crossrail Place (Level 1 – Quayside)

Crystal Greenhouse by Shared Space and Light – Jubilee Park

Elantica ‘The Boulder’ by Tom&Lien Dekyvere – Crossrail Place (Level 1, Quayside)

Roof Garden, Crossrail Place

Fragmented Appearances by Gertjan Adema – Roof Garden, Crossrail Place

Captivated by Colour by Camille Walala – Adams Plaza Bridge (Level 0)

Continunum by Illumaphonium – Carbot Square

Out of the Dark by Tom Lambert (Crossrail Place, Level 1, Quayside)

Intonaluci ‘The Light Snails’ by Calidos (Crossrail Place Roof Garden, Level 1)

Westferry Circus overlooking the River Thames

River Thames

Permafrost – Sleeping Giants by Fisheye – Canary Riverside

The Stars Come Out at Night by Stellar Projects – Wren Landing

Canary Wharf

PING by Gjis van Bon – Westferry Circus

Canning Town to Isle of Dogs

Looking towards Canary Wharf (No that’s not grass but chickweed!)

This was a wonderful walk, made all the better by a lovely warm sunny day. I woke to rain pouring down. The weather forecast was for the rain to clear, and by the time my friend and I arrived in Canning Town the skies were blue.

We began the walk by visiting Bow Creek Ecological Park (part of the Lee Valley) where I have visited earlier in the year, but unlike the last time I was here, we headed for Trinity Buoy Wharf by way of a different route. At the wharf, we stopped for refreshment at the cafe, sitting outside to enjoy the sunshine.

Leamouth Peninsular from Bow Creek Ecological Park

Trinity Buoy Wharf Lighthouse and Faraday Museum

River Thames looking towards the Emirates Cable Car

From the wharf we walked to East India Dock, another place I had visited earlier in the year, but after this, the walk became new to me.

There are lots of new apartments around the Thames and inner docks, and building is still going on.

We came to The Gun, a gastro pub, and decided we would lunch there. Unfortunately, there is no chef on Mondays or Tuesdays due to staff shortages. Such a pity as we would have liked to stay. It is an interesting pub and has a lovely garden overlooking the Thames. There is history to this pub as it is said that Horatio Nelson entertained Lady Emma Hamilton in one of the upper rooms, and I noticed one of the downstairs lounges was named Horatio.

View of the O2 building across the River Thames

We carried on walking, having to come off the Thames Path sometimes. Because of all the apartment building works, it is often difficult to navigate walks as you find parts are off limits. We were mindful of finding somewhere to eat and were told in The Gun that we would find something in Wood Wharf, but Wood Wharf looked a little like a building site! However, we stuck to the opposite bank in South Dock which leads to Canary Wharf. In the end, we bought sandwiches at a Tesco Express and ate them alongside South Dock and then crossed over the bridge into Canary Wharf to use the facilities!

Three balls and mirror (my name for this!)

Slightly losing ourselves, I used Google Maps to guide us on the next leg of our walk and on the other side of the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) station we headed into Millwall Dock. This has to be one of the largest docks.

Millwall Dock looking back to Canary Wharf

From Millwall Dock we headed towards Millwall Park and across to Island Gardens DLR and our journey’s end at the Isle of Dogs. Why is it called the Isle of Dogs? The most likely explanation (according to Google) is that Henry VIII kennelled his hunting hounds here!

At Island Gardens we found a lovely cafe called Number 92 for a well earned cuppa.

This was such a lovely walk. London keeps on surprising me, and that’s why I love it so much. London and the River Thames and all its other waterways have so much to offer.

Note: Canning Town can be reached on the Jubilee Line Underground from central London at various points. The walk features in the book London Waterside Walks by David Hampshire.

Christmas at Canary Wharf

I didn’t expect to be blogging again this year, because I didn’t expect to be going anywhere, but on the 23rd December I helped my son take presents and food over to his girlfriend’s flat to get ready for Christmas. It was mum to the rescue as they had no food for a Christmas dinner. People had gone crazy buying and some supermarket shelves were empty. I gave him some of my vegetables and we wandered around a depleted Waitrose looking for a chicken, but there wasn’t a chicken to be had. All that was left was pheasant or partridge. He decided on the pheasant. Earlier I had managed to secure the purchase of two individual Christmas puddings for them (all large ones had already sold).

My son took me to a part of Canary Wharf that I didn’t know, and it was really pretty. The flat overlooks a basin where various boats are moored. I had to keep stopping to take photos, hoping my battery wouldn’t give up on me as it crept to single figures!

After we dropped off the goodies we did a tour of the lights before coming home. There is always some new public art at Canary Wharf to look at and my son took me to see the famous traffic lights (see below) that I’d heard about but had never seen before.

This was a rather lovely unexpected trip. We were very conscious of Covid rules, but I never felt unsafe. There were no crowds and public transport has always been one of the safest places during this pandemic.