Paddington Basin

Today I had such an interesting day, I attended a walking tour of the Paddington area. It started at Paddington Station, which will become a vital station as Cross Rail is completed (which links the east to west across London). We then walked in the area surrounding the station, which has undergone so much development, similar to what has happened in the area around St Pancras Station that I saw last month. It used to be a Red Light area and quite sleazy but now is beautifully developed into office and residential buildings.

The area around St Mary's hospital still needs much investment, but Paddington Basin, which is close to the junction of Regent's Canal and Grand Junction Canal, has been well developed as can be seen by this image. The basin is known for its ingenious pedestrian bridges, such as The Rolling Bridge and The Fan Bridge, which opened in autumn 2014 and moves with the motion of a Japanese hand fan, as per this image. I have included the Rolling Bridge as an extra. We were lucky to be there at the right time to see the engineering mechanics of these bridges as the staff test these bridges at 12 noon on certain days, and today was one of them.

Despite being in the heart of busy London the bird life was incredible - we saw a cormorant drying his wings (see extra), and a nest of baby coots. After walking around that area, we went up to Little Venice and had a canal boat ride from Maida Vale to Camden Lock, admiring the beautiful mansions overlooking the lock which are owned by the wealthy and famous.

It was such an interesting day, and thankfully the forecast rain held off all day other than a light shower when we were inside the boat.