Approaches
NO-ONE should miss out at some time in their sailing career on making the journey up the Thames into the heart of London. As ever with longish journeys up tidal rivers (see also Antwerp), the key is to catch the first of the flood tide and ride the favourable stream all the way up. To be sure of doing this, it will often make sense to stop off on the Medway to ensure that you can time your approach with optimum efficiency.
Having set off from the Medway an hour before LW (2-3 hours before, if you are up river at Chatham or Gillingham), you should be able to make it to Tower Bridge on one tide with no trouble. Apart from the shipping there are no real obstacles.
One of the trickier bits comes at the start. If you are coming out of the Medway, make sure you give a decent berth to Grain Spit. The safest option is probably to follow the shipping channel as far as the No. 11 starboard hand buoy, called Grain Edge, and then head north over Sheerness Sand to the port hand buoy Nore Swatch. Then it’s left up the Swatchway and on into the river proper, past the marshes where Pip had his terrifying encounter with Magwitch in Great Expectations, over the watery setting for the memorable opening scene of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, and thence to Gravesend with its rather pretty Georgian architecture emphasising the town’s long history as the Thames’ first landfall or final departure point. By the way, if you are tempted, in passing, by the shallow creeks around Canvey Island there is a useful sketch map on the Island YC site.
From then on it’s a long haul past the container terminal at Tilbury, warehouses, factories, municipal housing, motorway bridges and the relics of hundreds of years of maritime activity. The lower reaches of the Thames, it must be admitted, are pretty dreary.
It’s only when you get towards the futuristic looking Thames Barrier that things begin to look up. When the Barrier comes in sight you must seek permission on VHF Ch 14 to pass through, at which point you will be advised which span to use. Past the Barrier, you have an imposing view of the corporate empires clustered at Canary Wharf and on the other side of the river the Greenwich Dome as you pass on your port side the moorings of the Greenwich Yacht Club with its splendid new clubhouse on the water.
The big southern loop taken by the river round the Isle of Dogs transports you abruptly from the 21st century back to the 18th with views of Wren’s great Naval College (now Greenwich University) and the famous Observatory up on the hill looking like a tableau in some Georgian painting. Just out of sight is the National Maritime Museum, a must for any sailor with a sense of history.
Marinas
If you want to stop off in the vicinity of Greenwich the best option is probably the South Dock Marina in Rotherhithe. Entry is through a lock on the west side of Limehouse Reach just downstream of Greenland Pier which you should contact on VHF Ch M1 (37). Beware the cross tides which can run hard. Access for most yachts is HW±2 hours, and there is a holding pontoon. Greenland Pier is served by riverbus catamarans which can take you down river to Greenwich or up to the Tower; alternatively there are plenty of buses.
From South Dock, Tower Bridge is only about 2 1/2 miles further on. St Katharine Haven on the north side of the river just downstream of the bridge is accessed through a lock which operates April-October from HW-2 hrs to HW+1 1/2 hrs between 0600 and 2030. There are mooring buoys to which you can attach your boat while waiting — be aware that the stream can run pretty fast hereabouts. Contact the lock-keeper on VHF Ch 80. It is prudent to reserve a place at the haven well beforehand.
St Katharine’s is a rather successful blend of old and new and a pleasant place to lie up for a day or two. Marina fees are a bit higher than elsewhere, but compare favourably with a hotel room on Park Lane. For sight-seeing the Tower and HMS Belfast are close by, while buses and the Tube at Aldgate will take you onward to all the other things that London has to offer. Eat locally at the Dickens Inn or more expensively on the other side of the water at one of the upmarket restaurants on Butlers Wharf.
© 2008 Yachtpilot
|
