A ride home from Kent

My sister is awesome. She takes pictures of me whilst I'm on my motorbike, which I often can't take myself for obvious reasons.

Here's a few shots (nothing particularly interesting) of a ride home from Kent, where we went to pick up a typewriter she won off eBay - which is what the big lump in the topbox at the back is.


Kent - the Garden of England!:

A102 in Greenwich. Canary Wharf/Isle of Dogs is in the distance whilst the O2/Millenium Dome is on the right.:

A102, coming up to the original Blackwall Tunnel - built by the London County Council between 1892 and 1897. This arch is one of the original gatehouses for the entrance of the tunnel. It's northern counterpart in Poplar was demolished in 1958 to make way for the newer tunnel. In a way, it's amazing how modern traffic still passes under this (I mention this, as Temple Bar was dismantled for traffic reasons). A second tunnel was built in the 1950's-60's for the increased traffic. The reason the original tunnel is so bendy was so that horses do not get shocked when they see sunlight after coming out at the other end. The second tunnel is a lot smoother as there was no need to cater for horses.:
And here we are, inside the tunnel (A102).:

We're now out of the Blackwall Tunnel, and on Aspen Way (A1261). This road cuts across the northern part of the peninsula that is the Isle of Dogs, and passing it just before the Limehouse Link. This road is one of the quicker ways to get into central from the East/South-East London (the other options being the A2 at certain hours, A11 and A13). On the left is Billingsgate market, which is where one can buy fish in wholesale I believe, and the towers that dominate the skyline of the Canary Wharf area. The tall tower on the left is 1 Churchill Place, which is the Barclays Headquarters and was designed by HOK International. The taller building on the right is 8 Canada Square, which is the headquarters of HSBC and was designed by Foster and Partners:

After the Limehouse Link and past the Tower of London, this next tunnel is the Upper Thames Street Tunnel. Once a dark and dingy tunnel, it has since been enhanced with stupidly bright lights between the lanes, making this a pretty cool tunnel. Unfortunately, this picture does the tunnel no justice:

That's it for today!