The sun is climbing steadily into a pollution-tinged sky as I wrestle with my vertigo on a wall high above the Thames in London. At the time, London was the gateway to an empire and the Thames jostled with ships from every corner of the globe. I began walking the Thames foreshore almost 20 years ago as a way of finding peace, solitude and sanity in one of the largest cities on earth. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi for the GuardianIn certain parts of the foreshore the mud literally prickles with thousands of handmade pins. The anaerobic properties of Thames mud means that its treasures are cocooned in an oxygen-free environment, which preserves them as if they had been lost just yesterday.

Source: The Guardian September 14, 2016 06:32 UTC