At the top of The Shard

Being at the top of The Shard building was a part of my 29^th birthday surprise prepared by my fiancee. We went that day to London for a one-day trip to visit a few less-visited spots and round off our day on The Shard building in the evening. My fiancee’s plan stated, that we would stay on the top until sunset and next back to Cambridge from Liverpool Street station.

The Shard has been finished in 2009. Actually, this is the highest building in Europe with 309.6m in height. The Shard is one of the most prominent skyscrapers in London. Learn more here.

Pic. 1 The Shard seen from St. Thomas Street. Being close makes it hard to cover the whole building from the bottom to the top.

We came to The Shard just before 5 p.m. That day in London was quite nervous, because of my broken phone, which made a difficult o navigate our route properly. We had an admission at 5 p.m. We couldn’t enter the building when late.

The highest floor on The Shard, accessible for visitors is 72^th. It allows you to reach slightly more than 270 m.a.g.l height. Still remains nearly 40 m to the very top of the building. Using the lift you can get to the 70^th floor and go upstairs for the next 2 floors. There is a bar and other facilities on the very top.

Pic. 2 The 70^th floor of The Shard.

Pic. 3 The interior of the top of The Shard. View from 72^nd on the 70^th floor, where the virtual tour guide facilities are located.

Pic. 4 Upper parts of the Shard are open. There are a few upper floors I think, but visitors are not allowed to go there.

Visiting The Shard was the best part of that trip. I very much like panoramic views from highly located places like mountain tops or skyscrapers. It was one of the best experiences to see remote places from the top of The Shard. I saw e.g. Stokenchurch BT Tower, Southend at Sea, and Stansted Airport. To identify some other places, I used the Heywhatsthat website, where I generated the panorama according to my position.

Pic. 5 Possible far-up view from the Shard (close-up) (heywhatsthat.com).

Pic. 6 The far-up view from The Shard with places captured on 11th September 2016, during my stay (heywhatsthat.com).

The Shard is a very high building, however, it rises above the London basin, which is around 150m-250m deep against the surrounding area from the north and south. The northwest horizon is determined by Chiltern Hills, which stretches from more or less from the Reading area through south Oxfordshire (Stokenchurch) to Bucks & Herts with the highest wale-looking Coombe Hill, which rises above Wendover. One prominent object, which can be seen (under fair weather conditions) beyond the Chiltern Hills is the Didcot powerplant chimney as high as 250m.a.g.l. in an 80 km distance (Pic. 7).

Pic. 7 Didcot powerplant chimney (on the left) at 80km distance and Stokenchurch BT Tower (on the right) at 60km distance, seen from the top of The Shard. Click to enlarge.

Pic. 8 The Stokenchurch BT Tower as seen from The Shard (distance 60 km). See an original image here.

Pic. 9 View towards the highest part of Chiltern Hills, which encloses the northwest horizon. The highest Coombe Hill (262m.a.s.l.) beyond (distance 54 km). See an original image here.

From the north, you can see also the hills, that enclose the horizon far beyond, however, they are not officially called. Chiltern Hills terminates on the Dunstable Downs. Towards the north, you can see a multitude of hills partially free of forest. The most remarkable place, covered by the Shard by myself is Stansted Airport.

Pic. 10 View on Therfield Heath with Telecomms transmitter towering above Royston (distance 57 km). The picture was cropped, See an original image here.

Pic. 11 The Stansted Airport as seen from The Shard (distance 49 km). Picture cropped. See an original image here.

I am not well with the Suffolk area, although I could see some hills far away, that I can classify as the Suffolk region.
In my opinion, the most interesting part of the horizon is east, where everyone can spot the Thames Estuary with the North Sea beyond. This area is to be seen Just right of the Canary Wharf skyscrapers. On the left, the Southend Bank is to be seen. This is the same place, that I visited 2 weeks earlier. There is the longest pier in the World, which was hard to cover by myself from the top of the Shard.

Pic. 12 The Southend-on-Sea bank, where the longest pier in the World is located (distance 57 km). Picture cropped. See an original image here.

Pic. 13 Thames Estuary is seen from The Shard (distance 50-60 km). Picture cropped. See an original image here.

Pic. 14 The Grain Power Station – the tallest construction in Kent (244m)(57 km distance). Click to enlarge.

Pic. 15 Dover Transmitter mast barely visible (distance 97 km), 130mm.

Pic. 16 Wrotham Transmitter mast (distance 37 km). See an original image here.

The Southeast part of the horizon is occupied by North Downs hills. There are twin highlands with South Downs, protected by national parks. The highlands, which consist of South Downs National Park are to be seen on the southern horizon.

Pic. 17 The Crystal Palace Transmitter towering above south London (distance 10 km). See an original image here.

Pic. 18 The Croydon city center panorama with towering Saffron Square (colorful tower)(distance 15 km). See an original image here.

Pic. 19 Remote South Downs region seen from The Shard (distance 60-80 km). See an original image here.

Pic. 20 The western part of the South Downs seen from the Shard (distance 80 km).

Pic. 21 View on Richmond Park and remote Farleigh Wallop Hill near Basingstoke (distance 78 km). See an original image here.

Most of those pictures have been captured with Nikkor 300mm lenses. I can admit, that the conditions were very favorable that day. It freed me to enjoy the furthest views, that are possible to make from the top of the highest skyscraper in Europe.
Now take a look for closer objects, that are situated in London. See the photos below, and try to recognize those places on your own. I mean many interesting spots in Greater London, that you will able to see when you get on top of the Shard. I described a few, however, some wide-angle photos may show much more objects than you would be able to see.

Pic. 22 The Wembley stadium is seen from The Shard. See an original image here.

Pic. 23 The BT Tower is seen from The Shard. See an original image here.

Pic. 24 The Canary Wharf is seen from The Shard. See an original image here.

Pic. 25 The Strata residential building seen from The Shard. See an original image here.

Pic. 26 St. George Tower with St. George Wharf seen from The Shard. See an original image here.

Pic. 27 The Olympics Stadium with ArcelorMittal Orbit on the right, click to enlarge.

Pic. 28 Greenwich University.

Pic. 29 The Shard’s shadow casting on the Thames and Canary Wharf beyond. See an original image here.

Pic. 30 The St. Paul Cathedral is seen from The Shard.

Pic. 31 The north bank skyline seen from The Shard. See an original image here.

Pic. 32 The Walkie Talkie (20 Fenchurch Street), The Gherkin (30st St. Mary’s Axe), and 122 Leadenhall Street skyscraper seen from The Shard. See an original image here.

Pic. 33 The Monument as seen from The Shard.

Pic. 34 The Stratford panorama with Olympic Stadium. See an original image here.

Pic. 35 The Greater London panorama with Tower Bridge, City Hall, and Canary Wharf beyond. See an original image here.

Pic. 36 The Tower Bridge and City Hall seen from The Shard, click to enlarge.

Pic. 37 The London Castle is seen from The Shard.

Pic. 38 The Alexandra Palace saw from The Shard. See an original image here.

Pic. 39 View on Shooters Hill with an old water tower. See an original image here.

I tried to avoid making pictures directly below the sun, because of the glass reflecting the light. It was hard to make clear pictures in these conditions, though I couldn’t stop due to the amazing view.

Pic. 40 London Eye saw from The Shard. Unfortunately, the solar rays interrupted making a good picture.

It was funny to see other visitors on the opposite side of the Thames River – on the Sky Garden located at the top of the Walkie Talkie (20 Fenchurch Street) skyscraper. I have been there also and apply for more info soon.

Pic. 41 The Sky Garden is located at the top of Walkie Talkie (20 Fenchurch Street) on the opposite side of the Thames River.

I can recommend everyone to visit The Shard. You can experience the bird-eye view of central London and see the whole of Greater London literally from one place!

Mariusz Krukar

Links:

The Shard – Live view towards the northwest, refresh every 5 mins.

The Shard – Live view towards east, refresh every 5 mins.

The Shard – official site

The Shard.com main page