Cruising The Thames
One of the things I like about my job is that our company does some great days out and parties for all the employees each year. Our Christmas parties are always good fun, quite lavish and there are some brilliant prizes on offer throughout the night.
A couple of weeks ago an email went round the office informing us of this year’s summer party. We would be boarding a boat at the Tower of London for a 4 hour cruise up and down the Thames.
Having not done many touristy things in London recently, or ever, it was a good chance to see the many sights of our capital from the river I needed to make sure my camera was well charged!
Yesterday, we arrived at Tower Millennium Pier and hang around for what seemed like ages while we waited for our boat to be ready. Eventually we boarded Erasmus, grabbed a beer and took our place on the top deck to take in the sunshine and sights.
We headed off west, passing by HMS Belfast and under London, Southwark Blackfriars and Waterloo bridges. There are some quite magnificent buildings along the South Bank and the different styles of architecture are quite striking. Touristy highlights included the London Eye and then the Houses of Parliament.
At Vauxhall Bridge and the MI6 headquarters we watched one of the Duck Tours boats launch itself from the slipway. Not sure you’d get me in one of those, it looked like it would submerge itself as it bounced from side to side!
Apart from Battersea Power Station, there’s not much to see after Vauxhall Bridge except for loads of flash apartments. I dread to think how much they cost! Before we hit Wandsworth Bridge we did a U-turn and headed back east. Food was served at this point so we didn’t have to sit (stand) through the same sights again if we didn’t want to.
After lunch we returned to the top deck as we continued the journey passing under Tower Bridge and onwards past Wapping and Rotherhithe towards Greenwich where HMS Ocean, the British Navy’s largest warship, is moored just near the Cutty Sark.
Heading round the Isle of Dogs, we then came to the O2 Arena and the Emirates Air Line, the latter having been built to link the O” with the Excel Arena on the north side of the Thames. In the distance I could just about make out the Orbit in the Olympic Park
The last sight to see was the Thames Barrier which fortunately for us was down so we could pass through it. Once we got to Woolwich (my old university stomping ground) and navigated our way through the two crossing ferries we turned round and headed back to the Tower of London where the trip would finish.
The River Thames Gallery:
