Tea on the River

Today, 31 March 2022, was our 43rd wedding anniversary.  For Christmas, my mother and sister gave the Swan Whisperer a voucher for an afternoon tea river cruise, and what better day to use it?  The Swan Whisperer added an upgrade package which meant that we would have a guaranteed window seat, a glass of champagne and a bottle of sparkling water.  

The cruise departed from Tower Pier, so we went by Tube to Tower Hill station, rather alarmed by announcements that the District Line "Was operating with severe delays"; however, we decided that we would go to the platform and see, and if there really was a problem, there are always taxis.  Anyway, when we got there a Circle Line train was due, so that was all right.  I hate changing at Victoria nowadays; back in the day it was just up an escalator and then up a flight of steps; they've stopped you going that way now and you have to walk miles and then up two flights of steps!  There is, I believe, a lift, but we didn't see it - and I seem to remember searching for it ages ago and it was an even longer walk!  Victoria station is now stair-free, if you need that, but very far from step-free!  

Anyway, we got there at last, and then although we did take a lift at Tower Hill, in fact I think it was a mistake as the first thing we had to do was to go down a lot of stairs and into a subway (very wide, well-lit and not smelling of pee!) to get across the road.  The pier was well-signposted, although I think it took a bit longer to walk than the 5 minutes Citymapper suggested it would (but then, I do walk rather slowly these days).  We were greeted by someone who said that if we were on the afternoon tea package, they would start checking you in at about 10 past 3, and it was then about 3, so we wandered round the Tower of London gift shop for a few minutes, and then checked in.  It was very easy, we just gave our names and they found us on the list, no need to show barcodes or anything.  We were shown to our table, and they poured out our champagne and water, and the boat set off at 15:30.  

The tea was as you would expect - sandwiches, little cakes, scones with cream and jam - and very good it was, too! 

They were able to bring me lemon for my tea, which is always a plus, and later they bought us a little cake to celebrate our anniversary - they got the digits the wrong way round, and put 34 instead of 43, but hey, who cares?  It was very nice of them, anyway.

The cruise itself was terrific, if a bit rough - the tide and the wind were fighting each other and downstream got very choppy and made the boat squeak.  The boat went up to almost the Houses of Parliament, then turned round with the tide to go downstream as far as Canary Wharf, and back up to the Tower, taking about 90 minutes, all told.  Such lovely views of London!  Last time we went on the river, it was on Christmas Day a few years ago, and without its buses, London had looked very grey, but this time the sun was out most of the time (it did keep trying to snow and the sky kept looking rather ominous, but mostly we were in sunshine) and it looked quite different.  We both took lots of photos of London, old,

 new,

and in between

(more photos on my Facebook page).

When we disembarked, we decided that as it was going to be too late for the Swan Whisperer to go to dance club, we would walk along the river to London Bridge and get a bus home from there.  This was good, but a very long way up to the bridge roadway, although I made it at last!  Then a 133 bus arrived, so we got on that and changed in Brixton, and I popped into Lidl for a couple of things, and then home, whereupon I flaked out on the sofa for a couple of hours!  It was a lovely trip.