The Oldie

A stroll alongside Old Father Thames

‘There are two things scarce matched in the universe – the sun in heaven and the Thames on earth.’ So declaimed Walter Raleigh, according to lettering on the stone embankment close to Southwark Cathedral.

Had Raleigh really sailed around the world when he made those remarks? Or was London’s murky, grey-brown water blue and leaping with salmon in Raleigh’s day?

I squinted to imagine a different time as I

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