The constant rain of the day only stopped about 15 minutes before the start of the walk, maybe that is why only 3 turned up for it? We proceeded at a fair pace as 1 of us had a ticket for a concert and wasn't going to linger for drinks or other stops en route. The moon was kind of out, fighting to be seen through the last of the cloud remnants drifting across, views were good and crystal clear, with all dust having been thoroughly washed out of the air.

To Stave Hill then, and as much as one can be critical of the boom in high rises going up everywhere in London, on a clear evening with all the lights on, it is a magnificent sight from any highpoint such as Stave Hill.

At Greenland Dock, 2 then stopped at The Moby Dick (Fuller's) for a meal before walking on to Surrey Docks (aka Quays) while the concert goer marched on immediately. dry after a wet day

Plenty of rain had been falling in SE1 and SE 16 all afternoon, but on approach to the meeting time, it seemed to have subsided. I arrived early at the meet to then witness an almighty thunderstorm moving across from North of the river, dropping enormous amounts of rain right on cue at 18.30, the meeting time. Unable to move out of the station for fear of being washed away, the two of us waited. 2 others arrived and we decided to 'walk' the route in reverse once the heaviest rain had stopped and stop at the first pub, a full 3 minutes away and call it a day.

Then the rain stopped, and stopped completely. And we started to walk, in the prescribed direction. And the sky turned blue. And no more rain fell.

We got to Stave Hill at 19.30, ie in the last twitchings of dusk, and all the high buildings of London looked magnificent. On then along the route, but when we hit the Thames, we shunned the left turn to The Mayflower, as it's always full, and turned right to check out The Salt Quay. A large GK pub, it was busy and getting busier. Only a table outside was available and there was no heater, and the food took some time to arrive (but was pretty good when it did arrive).

A 5th walker in the meantime had done a mini-pub crawl and was awaiting us at The Mayflower, but was buzzed to decamp to The Salt Quay.

4 then walked to Rotherhithe Station, 1 took the bus from around the corner.

5 blue skies with distant rolling thunder

As it happens, 9 people promptly met at Bermondsey tube on Friday afternoon (I guess Friday is the new Saturday for some anyway) for this seasonal special. We were fortunate to have the walk author with us, so doing the route in reverse was not a problem. Shortly after passing the Mayflower pub, we made a short diversion to the Finnish Church where we had a 15 minute stop to explore the goods available. I think most bought something...mulled wine, licorice, open face salmon sandwich, biscuits.....After pulling ourselves away, we continued the route enjoying a nice sunset view from Stave Hill. We managed to make it to Southwark Park before it closed and had a nice stroll in it in the dark..One peeled off at Surrey Quays and 3 took the main route through the park to the Angel pub on the Thames -- leaving 5 to make the diversion to Fourpure, the first stop on the Bermondsey Beer Mile, to quench their thirst. Arriving about 17:15, we spent some time sampling their craft ales while waiting for others to meet us...we were eventually joined by another 6 people, making for a total of 15 for some portion of this outing. Eventually, we managed to pull people away from our comfortable spot and headed to Partizan the next craft brewery for a brief visit before heading on to the Outback where we ended up settling in for the night with 2 generously going out to get us pizza while we rest of us sampled some interesting craft ales while watching a football game from a cozy couch...A fun afternoon and evening in initially bright sunshine followed by clear night skies .

14 met up on time, with 1 latecomer catching up quickly and 1 other joining at Surrey Quays Overground, so we were 16 on a warm and windy with occasional spittle evening. A handful of locals amongst the group kind of knew most/all of the route, but for the others it was all terra incognita. Info panels were studied, vistas enjoyed. All in, it took us 2 hours to get around.

4 peeled off at Canada Water for a meal or the tube back home, 1 other turned back home once we got through Rotherhithe Village, and the rest walked past The Mayflower to have a meal at The Angel, only to realise that they had stopped taking food orders.

On then to Bermondsey tube, where most headed to The Gregorian for a drink, and 4 others to Maltby Street for a meal at Bar Tozino.