Sunday 5 September - Docklands

I return to Canary Wharf, now a ghost town with only a few people wandering. The office buildings seem even more vast without people to distract my attention. The emptiness seems slightly spooky, it's surprising it's so empty when there are so many apartment buildings. Walking along river path there aren't many more people, a few runners and cyclists. Today is the day of the Skyride - when many roads are closed to allow cyclists to ride free - judging by the numbers of people in day-glo yellow Skyride tabards it's been well attended.

The twist and turns of the river continue to test my sense of direction. The landmarks of the city keep peeping out between the buildings. The Gherkin appears to move around, and behind me Canary Wharf appears and disappears. There is apartment building after apartment building - all maximising it river frontage, lots of glass, lots of balconies and not many people. I guess a lot of people are here only during the working week but it's strange to be quite so empty. Most of the other walkers seem to be tourists.

There is CCTV everywhere and the buildings are securely gated. It all seems very modern and perfect but one road away traffic on the A13 buzzes constantly. Closer to Wapping and the river path zigzags between the road and the river. Here it's the old wharf buildings that have been converted and they go down to the river, so we walkers have to drop back to the road. These old buildings seem more glamorous (and expensive - a 2 bedroom flat here could cost you more than a million).

What strikes me most is how vast the docks must have been when they were a working space. I knew London was a major port, but didn't really have any sense of the scale. Empty of people and of trade it's still impressive - but when it was full of people coming and going and goods here and there it must have been extraordinary. Apparently in 1956 1,000 ships a week were docking in London but by the 1970s the docks were changing. Jobs had fallen from 30,000 in the 1950s to 2,000 in the 1970s and these inner docks were closing, replaced by containers (going into Tilbury). The regeneration makes big difference and it's easy to laugh at the luxury loft dwellers but although quiet now, at least there is life (and I assume work) going on.

The Skyride cyclists are all along the river. Judging by the numbers of bikes tied up outside, The Prospect of Whitby seems to be the preferred spot for lunch. There are quite a few pubs and restaurants along the way; there are parks and walkways, there are plenty of estate agents but almost no shops. Is this the land of the internet shopper? Or people who eat out all the time?

As I get to St Katharine's Dock the number of tourists increase. Here things are looking a little tatty. It was built earlier and so has taken the beating of the weather for longer but while the flats seem occupied many of the ground floor spaces (I assume once restaurants) are empty and forlorn. The Tower of London is filled with tourists (with a sprinkling of Skyriders on their way home) all taking photographs in front of Tower Bridge. Something is dangling from the top walkway. They are doing work on the bridge and it may be a bale of hay. There is a byelaw (from centuries ago) which says that if works is being done on any London bridge a bale of hay has to be dangled to work passing boats of work. When the Millennium Bridge was being de-wobbled they had the hay. It looks a bit odd hanging from the top of Tower Bridge (assuming that is what it is).

In the background there is the sound of whistles and being bells. The Skyride is running - it is extraordinary to see a main road filled with cyclists. Cyclists of all ages and levels of competence. Kids are evidently enjoying the freedom of the road, although also being warned by parents that there are fast cyclists and they need to take care. There is the air of a carnival as people speed down the hill past Old Billingsgate.