Yet another piece of catching up.

By Water

Last year Heather and I visited the Tower of London. As mentioned in that post the reason we were in London to do so is that we were originally supposed to be doing something else, but were disappointed when it didn’t happen (such is the way of things sometimes). That “something else” was a cruise aboard the Waverley, the world’s last seagoing paddle steamer. A year later we were back in London, to fulfil that original plan.

So it was we had a day off work and were up early (having stayed over nearby the night before) to get down to the pier by the Tower and meet the wonderful ship. Once aboard we discovered a wonderful world of lounges, views and bars all beaten by the magnificent view of the engines.

We set of from the Tower Pier aided by a tug to help us turn in the Pool of London before headed down the river and beneath the raised Tower Bridge. Our route was to be down the river, calling in at Gravesend to pick up and drop of passengers, before turning at the mouth of the Thames and heading back up the Medway as far as Rochester, and then back again in the evening and night.

The journey down the Thames was enlivened by some interesting commentary on what we were passing as so, despite the cold, we spent much of it on deck taking in the views. That was when we could drag ourselves away from watching the hypnotic motion of the paddle wheel drives, the magnificent (now diesel powered) steam engine a constant draw.

The Thames banks turn more industrial down river, and so not quite so interesting, so we did explore the lounges for food and a couple of drinks. Still, turning to the Medway brought us back to deck, as we were greeted by the steam tug Challenge, as well as a much more modern tug with water canon salute.

Passing up the Medway we could just about see Medway Queen at Gillingham Peer, and got an interesting view of Upnor Castle before reaching the newly constructed Limehouse Landing at Rochester.

Unfortunately our stop off in Rochester wasn’t really long enough to get into down and back with time to do anything before departure, so we sat aboard the Waverley and watched the change of passengers. Soon enough we were retracing our course though, journeying back towards the Thames and central London. We spent more time below decks on the return journey, enjoying (and singing along with) the vintage entertainment. We were back on deck as night fell though, passing the illuminated Cutty Sark before reaching Tower Bridge once more, lit up and raising to allow us to pass back through to end a magical journey.

And oh, those engines…

By Rail

Back when we went to Winchester I mentioned that the Watercress Line didn’t feel quite as good as the Bluebell Line, and we got a chance for a direct comparison in October.

We were down there not to see the old steam locos, but the new ones! A festival of new steam, with four engines built long after the “death of steam”. We arrived at East Grinstead just in time to pick up a ride behind old favourite Tornado, a magnificent beast of a machine which smoothly drew us down the entire line from one end to Sheffield Park at the other.

There we had a quick turnover to catch a brief ride with Lady of Legend back one stop to Horstead Keynes. There we wandered round the carriage works and took in the stalls on the platform—though to be honest we’d sort of lost track of which station the main restaurant was at.

No matter, Betton Grange was soon there to take us back up the line to Sheffield Park, where we found a busy lunch area and bar. After refreshments we had the joy of wandering the sheds, with a number of static locos, including Heather’s beloved Stepney (and a gently steaming could of engines out the back). There was also a chance to recreate a photo of Heather from long ago.

Our ride back home (or at least, back to our starting point) was a double header of Tornado and Bluebell’s very own Beachy Head, a fine pair of engines to steam back up through the fading light.

We left them all behind, having had a fine time—and yes, probably better than the Watercress.