In pictures: Walking London’s South Bank at dusk
After a quick trip to London yesterday (more on that to come next week), I took advantage of a free few hours and some beautiful clear skies to take a walk along the south bank of the Thames. Despite living in London for 10 years I only took a handful of photos of the city, so when now I visit I try to make up for it. One of my favourite walks in the capital, the route along the river from London Bridge to Waterloo takes you within sight of some of London’s most famous landmarks – like Tower Bridge, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Tate Modern, South Bank, the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament. The light faded as I walked, turning the sky from pale to navy blue, and the city’s lights came to life, illuminating streets and buildings. Commuters rushed by as I dawdled on the path, taking photos until my hands went numb in the cold.
London is such a lovely place !
It is a fantastic city – there’s always something new to see!
Beautiful shots. Those shades of blue are truly magical.
Thanks, it’s a great time of day to be taking photographs, I must get out and do it more often.
How I would have loved to take that walk with you! Such wonderful sights! I can imagine myself sitting on one of those benches, just drinking it all in. Thank you so much for sharing the pictures. It’s almost as good as being there myself!
Thanks so much – it’s funny I must have done that walk so many times when I lived in London and not thought about it, but I notice and appreciate the city so much more now as a visitor.
That’s interesting. I guess it must be when you live there you’re so busy with the day-to-day things that you don’t really notice anything that isn’t directly related to what you need to do. As a visitor, that stress and drive isn’t part of your day, well, at least not so much. I have my list of places I want to see in person should I ever become a millionaire and now London is one of those places. If I went, I’d find that bench in your picture and sit on it. I’d think of you too and bless you for bringing it to my attention. (smiles)
Lovely photos. My daughter used to love in Borough so we were often on the Southbank. She is in Streatham Hill now, which is happily close to all the amazing Asian canteens in Tooting Bec but we don’t get into the city so often now.
Borough’s a great part of London, I’d loved to have lived there. I know Streatham well though as I lived in Streatham Common for a few years, loved all the Asian food around there too!
Looks beautiful!
Thanks, it’s a great walk to do at any time of day too!
How lovely to enjoy a virtual visit my old home town through your wonderful photos. Thank you.
Glad to bring back some good memories for a fellow ex-London resident!
Nice pictures!
Thanks Gerard!
Lovely shots Lucy – the colours are so vibrant at dusk. Nice evening for a stroll too 🙂
Thanks Suzanne, yes it was worth heading out in the cold in the end, glad I made the effort!
Lovely pics. A reminder of how much I love and miss London.
Thanks, it’s so nice to go back since I’ve moved away, I’m sure I appreciate it much more as a tourist than I ever did as a resident!
Great photos, Lucy! I absolutely love London and your pictures capture some of the city’s great attractions in the most beautiful way.
Thanks so much, I was really pleased with how they came out, London does look great in the dark!
You’ve captured such a gorgeous time of day in such a lovely, vibrant way!
Thanks, I’d been meaning to try and get some night shots of London for ages and it was worth a lost pair of gloves and some minor frostbite!
The South Bank is one of my favourite places in London but I’m the same, I never take any photos! So thanks for sharing:)
I probably have about 10 photos of London from the entire time I lived there, and about the same of Oxford and Cheltenham where I’ve lived since, funny isn’t it how we forget to photograph our own doorsteps!
freaking awesome!
the color of dusk, oh, i always love it!
Such a great time of day isn’t it, I just love watching the skies change and get a deeper and darker blue.
Great photos, Lucy! That’s a beautiful place to be at (and after) sunset!
Thanks Cassie, the one bonus of our short days at the moment is that it’s easy to get evening shots even on a day trip!
beautiful pictures!
Thanks so much!
These are just breathtaking. Most cities look better by night, IMO 🙂
I agree, I love the lights and you don’t notice the scruffy edges in the dark!
Looks amazing! I especially love the first shot on the bridge.
Thanks, I’d like to go back with my tripod next time and do some slow shutter speed shots on the bridge, have seen some great photos like that.
Stunning photos of the London skyline. I did that exact same walk last Friday when in London, but my iPhone camera just doesn’t cut it when it comes to night time photos. Thanks for posting and keep the amazing photos coming!
Thanks – I use my iPhone camera a lot too but it doesn’t cope too well with the dark does it, lots of noise and blur. Definitely a time when lugging round my DSLR was worth it!
Gorgeous photos of London at my favourite time of day, blue hour. Nice quality given how low the light was. Lovely.
Thanks Rachael, I’m pleased with how they turned out without a tripod, though did lean on a lot of convenient walls and railings to stop the hand shivering shakes!
Love the South Bank, Lucy- it’s so full of atmosphere and goings on! Great shot of the bridge 🙂
Thanks Jo, I do love going down there when I get the chance, it’s easy to forget you’re in London when you just rush between places, then you get down there and are surrounded by these amazing landmarks.
I really love that shot of Millennium Bridge with St.Paul’s Cathedral at the background. I definitely missed it when I went to London more 6 years ago.
Thanks, sounds like you must be due a return trip to London sometime soon then!
Love the shades of blue… beautiful pics of one of my favorite cities!
Thanks, it’s definitely one of my favourite times of day to take photos, I love how the scene changes so quickly as the sun goes down.
The South Bank is my favourite part of London, especially at night with all the pretty lights. Gorgeous!
Me too! You really feel like you are in the heart of the city, surrounded by all those amazing famous buildings and sights.
I adore London anytime of day, but at night really is spectacular. I’ve explore the South Bank a little, but really need to dig in deeper apparently.
I love that there’s always something going on along South Bank – as well as the museums and galleries I saw book stalls and various street entertainers, but there’s a good weekend food market too.
Lovely photos, Lucy! You’ve captured such beautiful blues in all the photos. I’m itching to get to London – still can’t believe I have never been, but I have friends moving there in May so maybe this is the year. Your photos make me want to go now!
London’s a great place to have friends moving – should mean you get to know one of the neighbourhoods (which are so different) and always helpful to have someone to stay with, especially in a pricey city like London!
FAb photos Lucy. We will be in London in May with a few hours to spare before we catch the Eurostar to Paris the next day. We recently discussed doing a Thames walk, so we may just follow in your footsteps. Like you, I haven’t taken many photos in London on previous visits but I will make sure I do this time. Your photos have inspired me.
That’s great – it’s an easy walk and you can do it in a few hours, or take your time and stop off at a few of the places along the route. Hope you get some good weather for the photos!
It has been over 12 years since I visited London, you’ve made me reminisce in some amazing memories of London. I hope to be back there and I’m loving the picture. What a picturesque city it is!
It’s so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle and forget how beautiful it is, so it was lovely to get some time to see it slowly!
Lucy…I truly miss this place…sometimes wonder why I made this decision to come back. Thanks for the beautiful photographs.
Sometimes I do really miss living in London too, but I’m sure I appreciate it so much more as a visitor!
I agree bcoz many time during revisits there are newer things to see and experience that one usually ignores when being there.
Some lovely shots Lucy! Rekindled my fond memories of London!
Thanks so much – and glad to bring back some good memories!
Hi Lucy,
I’ve just started following your blog as I moved to London about 6 months ago and am very excited to have found your blog for inspiration! You’ve taken some incredible photos here. I’m yet to do the full walk along to see all the sights above but it looks worth it now.
Loved this! Thank you!
That’s great! Hope you are enjoying being in London and get to do the South Bank walk soon. There’s so much to see and do in London you should be spoilt for choice!
Love these pics. Walking along the south bank of the Thames is one of my favorite things to do in London — over and over again. Especially beautiful at dusk — well-captured in your photos.
Thanks, I haven’t done this walk for years, though used to do it a lot when I lived in London, but glad I made the effort (despite the freezing weather!).
Beautiful! London is beautiful any time of year. But I’m curious, how cold was it?
Thanks Monica, yes it was definitely chilly! We haven’t had a real cold snap here in the UK yet this winter but it’s probably around 6 degree Celsius around sunset.
These are lovely photos – I like the blue hues. And they remind me of my own walk in London, more or less the same route. I can’t wait to be back!
Thanks Pola, I love that time of night too, when the colours keep changing to different shades of blue!
OMG your pictures make me miss my trip to London sooo much!
Also, change of topic: I just nominated you on my blog for the Versatile Blogger Award. One part of it is to let the bloggers know who you nominated and then have them make their own list of their chosen nominees. Thanks for having your wonderful blog and allowing people like me to read a little bit about you and your thoughts!
You can see my list of nominations at http://managinglifeandself.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/versatile-blogger-award/.
Thanks so much for the nomination!
Reblogged this on blog.
The South Bank is so beautiful. That used to be my run home from work. Now I run along the beaches of northern Sydney, so I can’t really complain. They’re both special in their own ways!
Pretty as South Bank is, I think I’d still swap it for your new route, especially at the moment with all the wind and rain here!
Great photos – although it looks quite nippy! I’ve only visited once and was lucky to have beautiful weather.
It was so cold! I managed to lose one glove somewhere along the route too which didn’t help. Summer is probably a better time to do it, though you there would be a lot more people around.
Walking – a great way to take in a city like London, right? You snapped some good shots :-).
Thanks – yes it’s definitely the best way to see the city, you come across all sorts of things you’d never see otherwise!