Rotherhithe


Photo 1: the Rotherhithe Youth Hostel.

 

Link: Rotherhithe Youth Hostel

Friday morning we drove across London to Rotherthite. This (and our trip to the airport on Tuesday) showed us first hand that London is an enormous city that would never survive on private vehicle traffic like we have in America (except maybe for places like New York). Lacy valiantly attempted to navigate, a difficult job in any strange city, but made even more difficult because of the lack of signs along the way. But with her directions (and some lucky guesses by the driver) we made it successfully through town and drove south across the famous Tower Bridge over the Thames River into Southwark. We found our way to the Rotherthite roundabout, but owing to a bad guess, we found ourselves going down into the Rotherthite tunnel back under the Thames and into Stepney on the north side of the river.

The Rotherthite Tunnel was dug over 100 years ago, in the days of horse-drawn carriages and wagons, and it has apparently never been widened for modern motor traffic. They still maintain remarkably wide sidewalks on both sides of the very narrow vehicle lanes. (Tradition, I suppose, since we didn't see any pedestrians in the tunnel.) The lanes are so narrow that at the bend in the middle of the tunnel, traffic has to stop to let large vehicles around the curve because they cut into the oncoming lane! After finding a way to turn around in Stepney (where are the roundabouts when you need them?), we went back through the tunnel and found our way to the Rotherthite Youth Hostel where we stayed for four nights. The Rotherthite Youth Hostel is a very recent, modern building in the south banks part of town where the old industrial district and docks are being converted into residential and shopping areas.

 

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