Today we ask...
Have you crossed every crossing of the Thames in London?
That's every public crossing, be it a bridge, a tunnel or a ferry. I'm not including private tunnels like the passageway through the Thames Barrier, but well done to you if you've walked that. I'm also not including lengthy Thames Clipper journeys because yes, technically you can cross from Woolwich to Blackfriars by hopping on a boat, but let's leave that can of worms unopened.
Here's a tickable list so you can tot up your personal total.
1) Tunnel: DLR (between King George V and Woolwich Arsenal)
2) Tunnel: Crossrail (between Custom House and Woolwich)
3) Foot tunnel:Woolwich Foot Tunnel
4) Ferry:Woolwich Ferry
I've done all these Woolwich crossings including the one that only opened last year. The oldest is the Woolwich Ferry, then the Foot Tunnel with the DLR turning up over a century later. There are no crossings in London downstream of Woolwich - a serious eight mile chasm - although a bridge, tunnel, rail tunnel and ferry cross beyond the Greater London boundary.
5) Dangleway:London cable car
6) Tunnel: Jubilee line (between Canning Town and North Greenwich)
7) Road tunnel:Blackwall Tunnel(eastern)
8) Road tunnel:Blackwall Tunnel(western)
9) Tunnel: Jubilee line (between North Greenwich and Canary Wharf)
Farewise the Dangleway is the most expensive of all the Thames crossings. The Blackwall Tunnel is two separate bores (built 70 years apart) so that's in the list twice. The Silvertown Tunnel should be emerging here in a couple of years time.
10) Foot tunnel:Greenwich Foot Tunnel
11) Tunnel: DLR (between Island Gardens and Cutty Sark)
The ferry to the Hilton Hotel is subject to a Cross River fare of £3.80. The planned footbridge/cyclebridge alternative has been sacrificed on the bonfire of austerity. The Jubilee line crosses the Thames a total of four times and that was the third of them.
The Thames Tunnel is the oldest tunnel under a river anywhere in the world. The Rotherhithe Tunnel is technically walkable and cyclable but this is not recommended. I did walk it once but for the purpose of today's challenge driving will do fine.
16) Bridge:Tower Bridge
17) Tunnel: Northern Line (between Bank and London Bridge)
18) Bridge:London Bridge
Here are the classics, including London's oldest crossing point and the bridge a lot of tourists mistakenly think is London Bridge. I've crossed Tower Bridge at road level and at height, but you only need to have done one of those for it to count.
I hope you're still counting to see how many of these you've crossed. Even if you don't live in London you're bound to have crossed a number of these central ones.
Any ride on the Waterloo & City line ticks off number 24. Blackfriars is the only station that spans the Thames so you might have walked this bridge as well as training it.
26) Tunnel: Northern Line (between Embankment and Waterloo)
27) Footbridge:Golden Jubilee Bridge
28) Railway Bridge:Hungerford Bridge(out of Charing Cross)
29) Footbridge:Golden Jubilee Bridge
30) Tunnel: Bakerloo line (between Embankment and Waterloo)
I'm counting the Golden Jubilee Bridges as two separate bridges because they pass either side of the railway. I'm still on 30 out of 30 at this point - how are you doing?
31) Tunnel: Jubilee line (between Westminster and Waterloo)
32) Bridge:Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge is even touristier than Tower Bridge if that's possible. Mind the cup-shufflers and nut-peddlers.
The District line crossing, also known as Fulham Railway Bridge, includes a footbridge allowing you to walk alongside the trains. There's been a bridge at Putney longer than there's been one at Westminster.
Hammersmith Bridge has been closed to traffic for the last four years because of structural issues. Nearby alternative bridges aren't especially nearby. Barnes Railway Bridge includes a useful footbridge.
Richmond Lock Footbridge is part of Capital Ring section 7. Twickenham Bridge is essentially a Richmond bypass and was opened in 1933. It's also the only crossing I worry I've never crossed, mainly because all the local buses cross Richmond Bridge instead.
Hammerton's is a delightful dinky ferry operating between Ham and Marble Hill Park, which at £1 a crossing puts the Dangleway to shame. If you've never used it you really should (but at this time of year, wait for the weekend).
The last two crossings link London on the northern bank to Surrey on the southern bank. Hampton Ferry has been running since 1514 (except in winter so try coming back in April).
And that's the lot... 58 Thames crossings in total including 19 road bridges, 13 rail tunnels, 10 rail bridges, 5 footbridges, 4 ferries, 4 road tunnels, 2 foot tunnels and a dangleway.
I've definitely crossed 57 of them, the exception being number 50, Twickenham Bridge, an exception I can assure you I will have resolved by the end of today. Anyone else crossed them all?
