Chelsea Harbour by bus and boat

 

Thursday 18 July

The main adventure of this, another lovely lazy day, was an outing by bus to check out Chelsea Harbour Marina, which we might visit with the  boat after our stint in St Katharine.

 

The Dickens Inn on St K dock

Map of Chelsea harbour

But first we stopped off to collect the skipper’s new glasses at Ludgate, then transferring to a no.11 bus going all the way to Chelsea in the hottest, heaviest traffic we have ever seen.

 

London is really just one large building site, and gives reason to believe that all the talk we hear of recession is just   a politicians conspiracy.

The gardens at Chelsea Marina

We spent a pleasant interlude sipping the afternoon away on the terrace of The Wyndham Grand Hotel, overlooking the marina.

The view from Wyndham Terrace

 Then, on the spur of the moment,  took the river bus to Blackfriars bridge, a real treat. (The Oyster cards of our last trip were empty). The Summer heat continues unabated, and every pub in town had collected very large pavement congregations.

 

The river bus arrives

London Eye from the river bus

At the pub.

 

The weather, in the meantime, is cooling down - it was only 29 degrees inside the boat when we returned around 8pm.

 

We were not too hungry, following the excellent Waitrose curry we had had for lunch earlier, so after a pleasnt twilight snack on deck observing a fashion shoot nearby, we retired to watch a couple of episodes of "The West Wing". And so to bed....