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Around about the half-way point of the Great Gorilla Run, the route enters what can only be described as tourist heaven.
Running off Southwark Bridge and hitting Bankside, a Great Gorilla cannot help but exclaim “holy schmoly - it’s all happening here!”.
Even the most anaesthetised of Londoners must marvel as, like the great river Thames beside it, the Great Gorilla Run route flows along the South Bank, past the history of Shakespeare’s Globe and the industrial behemoth that is the Tate Modern.
And heading north across the river at 90 degrees to the vast brick work of the Tate Modern (imagine being a brickie on that job?) is the Great Gorilla Run Route Highlight No.3: The Millenium AKA ‘Wobbly’ Bridge.
The Millenium Bridge is the newest edition to the plethora of road, rail and pedestrain crossings spanning the mighty Thames.
Conceived in cloud of Y2K hype and grand design hubris, along with other wonders such as the Millenium Dome (no sniggering please), the Millenium Bridge opened in spectacular fashion in June 2000 by turning itself in a fairground ride and causing anyone who tried to cross it to hit the deck sharpish.
Immediately coined the ‘Wobbly Bridge’, the bridge was promptly shut on health and safety grounds and spent the rest of the Year 2000 unceremoniously plastered with KEEP OFF signs. Lateral vibration was to blame, apparently.
In their desire to create something revolutionary for the impending 21st century (the Bridge’s design name was the Blade of Light) the bridge’s designers, Norman Foster’s partnership no less, had forgotten that the most important thing about a bridge is that it remains stable when something tries to cross it - ha!
But anyway enough of the cynicism, two years after it’s closure, they sorted it and there were no more wobbles, just good vibrations.
Hooray I say, because it really is a thing of beauty and the pedestrian connection of the Tate Modern on the Southside with St Paul’s Cathedral on the Northside, has certainly made London a better place, whether you’re wide-eyed tourist or a seen-it-all-before Londoner.
Under normal circumstances, a Great Gorilla can only wave at the Millenium Bridge as they cruise along the South Bank - the Great Gorilla Run route crosses north over Blackfriar’s Bridge, another half a KM or so west up the river.
However, due to maintenance work on Blackfriar’s in September 2009, the Millenium Bridge was a special guest in the Great Gorilla Run 2009 and it all turned out lovely, as the pictures to the left show.
Word on the street is that Blackfriar’s may still be out of action in September 2010, so if you’ve ever felt the desire to don a gorilla suit and saunter across the Thames on the Millenium Bridge, then you might just be in luck…
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