View from St. Paul’s Cathedral ~ March 28, 2014

St. Paul asends 365 feet above London offering stellar views of London. The picture was taken from just under the tip-top ball and cross with a climb of 628 steps. Erl who had completed a year’s training to be a London Guide took me to two other fine churches while adding interesting comments like this is the spot where Sir William Wallace (Braveheart) died and this church’s yard rises six feet above the door’s entrance having been layored with bodies from the plague.

My second grand view of the day was from the 43th floor of One Canada in Canary Warf the “new” skyscraper financial area in London. This was the office of Chris, a special friend met during my first Coast to Coast walk. Chris was taking his father on the C2C walk as his father had begun it decades earlier and had to stop the almost completed 192 mile walk because of family illness. These dear men befriended and led me half-way across their nation. Lunch with Chris easily closed the gap of ten years. His father in his 80’s still walks and is embrassing the technology of a new SmartPhone while Chris has married and is the proud father of two darling girls. As the saying goes it’s the people who make traveling special.

Joanna and I celebrated my last night in London with dinner at a neighborhood French restaurant. Though London comes to a close we delight in our plans for the Camino as she will join me for a week walking in France and another week in Spain. Who would have thought two women walking Scotland’s West Highland’s Way would develop keen friendships, share their homes and other long distance walks.