Narrowboat Tacet

Silent Movement - Our gap year travelling the inland waterways



Monday 16 April 2012

City Sights from the Thames

The day dawned bright and sunny, we had been awake a while knowing we had to be up early, so we were waiting for the alarm to go off!
The lock keeper was ready at 7.30 as arranged and the gates were open ready for us to go into the lock taking us out on the Thames.
The river was calm, the sky was blue and not much breeze today. Perfect for a trip on the tideway. I took loads of photos, so again enjoy the trip with us.
Not sure what this building is. There was another on the south bank too. Could be something to do with Rotherhithe Tunnel? I'm sure someone will know.
Wharf development, with foreshore even at high tide.
Too early for the trip boats they were all moored up. You can see how still the water is.
Police boats at the Met pier.
Nice to see some old buildings amongst the new. Mostly pubs.
Getting closer to those well known sights. Tower Bridge is dwarved by the Shard.
Tower Bridge, not opening for us today.
Old and New Towers
Entrance to St. Katherines Dock, the first to be rejuvenated in the 1970's.
Tower Bridge again!
And again.
City Hall, home of the London Assembly and Mayor of London.
Tower of London
HMS Belfast
The Shard again!
Elegance of Hay's Galleria. Once Hay's Wharf known as the Larder of London beacuse of the amount of food stuffs brought in through their dock.
Sir Christopher Wren's Momument to the Great Fire of London in 1666
The Golden Hinde is a full-sized reconstruction of the Tudor warship in which Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe in 1577 – 1580.
Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre
Busy people crossing the Millennium Footbridge.
St Paul's Cathedral squeezed in between modern buildings. Wonder what Wren would have thought.
Tate Modern Gallery
Somerset House
Charing Cross Station
Coming up to the Houses of Parliament
London Eye
County Hall, once home to the GLC, where Ian started work, a looong time ago.
Clock Tower of Palace of Westminster, home of Big Ben.
Millbank Tower, home of the Labour Party
Tate Gallery, home of the National Art Collection.
MI6 building, home of the SIS.
Battersea Power Station is for sale, could be your home!
Waterside homes in Chiswick
Harrods Depository was built in 1894 as a storage centre for the larger items that could not be taken into Knightsbridge to the world famous department store.
Opposite Kew Gardens is where the River Brent joins the Thames (Brentford) and takes us back on to the Grand Union Canal.
Well done if you lasted the journey, an epic post today, I took 140 photos in all, you have been spared.
This wasn't the end of the day for us though. We got through to Brentford at about 10.30 and have been up to Bull's Bridge and back too. Save that story for another day.

11 comments:

  1. Karen,

    Fantastic photos today! Gosh when I look at those I realise that last year doing the same trip I missed so much!

    Heh, will just have to do it again then won't I!

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    1. I'm sure we missed some things too. It's a shame you can't do it more slowly, and enjoy the sights more. It was a great day, but although the sun was shining it was cold, my hands were frozen to the camera!

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  2. Hi Ian and Karen, Lovely pictures and weren't you lucky to have such still waters! Looking forward to doing the same trip again one day ourselves, as it wasn't at all calm when we last did it! Love reading the blog as we are still at home for the time being. Doug and James

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    1. Our experience of the Thames has been much calmer and easier that the Trent or the Ouse, but the last few days have been neap tides which must make a difference.
      Hope things continue well for James, I had an ablation procedure before we moved onto Tacet, it is so clever what they can do with your heart nowadays. Look forward to seeing you back on Chance again soon.

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  3. Great photos! And what a great time of day to do the tideway -- when we did it last year it was in the middle of the afternoon, and all the other traffic made it quite choppy.

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    1. Thanks Adam. It was much better yesterday with no trip boats moving, the Thames Clippers were still whizzing by but they don't make so much wash.

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  4. There are some familiar sights today. We've done this section of the Thames by river cruiser more than once and also walked quite a stretch of the banks. Much more special to travel it in your own boat though.

    I had an interview at GLC when I first started teaching. Trafford offered me a job first though and it was two more years before I headed down to a school in Leyton.

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    1. It was special passing the sights in our own home!
      I too had an interview for the ILEA at County Hall way back in 1982. My first job with them was at Dulwich in a new Nursery Class being set up there.

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  5. Hi Guys
    A question, when travelling on the tidal Thames how much anchor chain and rope do you need?
    Paul

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    1. Hi Paul and Elaine,
      Hope you enjoying Caxton, and being back in England.
      Couldn't find any official note of how long anchor chain and rope one should have.
      Perhaps foolishly we trusted that Tacet's previous owners had it right and put our faith in the one supplied.
      However I have just measured it to see just how long it is and the anchor chain is 7 metres, the rope is 22 metres, which must be plenty!!

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