Waverley in the dark

Waverley passes through Tower Bridge

My personal timetable didn’t allow me many opportunities to see Waverley during her Thames season this year. I did snap her on my cameraphone one day, but least said about that is probably best!

I did haul my camera up to town one day and watched her pass through Tower Bridge, but she was really a half an hour behind optimal lighting conditions and this isn’t the best Tower Bridge lift picture I’ve ever taken!

Waverley at Tower Pier

This was probably the best picture I took. I set my tripod up on one of the Tower Bridge piers for this. There’s no point in doing tripod work from the suspension sections or the bascules as they are not steady enough!

Waverley under tow approaching Tower Bridge

This is probably the worst picture that I will admit to taking. Believe me, there are a lot which are considerably worse in my reject pile! I just couldn’t achieve a fast enough shutter speed to freeze Waverley’s motion and now I want a Pentax K-7!!!

I hadn’t stood on Tower Bridge and watched Waverley approach before, so it was an interesting thing to do. She departed from Tower Pier and went up near London Bridge, where her tug swung her around. Then she stayed under tow for her departure.

Balmoral visits London and passes through Tower Bridge

Balmoral passes through Tower Bridge

Balmoral, who is operated by the same company who operate Waverley (Waverley Excursions) visited London at the end of June. She uses Tower Pier, and requires a Tower Bridge Lift due to the height of her masts.

She’s actually a steamer, built in 1949, and originally operated out of Southampton. She operates mainly in the Bristol Channel during the summer season, but visits other ports as well, and appears to do a Thames season in late June and early July.

The day I saw her, she left Tower Pier and disappeared past HMS Belfast in order to turn around up near City Pier where there’s a bit more room.

Then she re-emerged from behind HMS Belfast.

Balmoral cruises through the Upper Pool

Next she proceeded past the Tower of London.

Balmoral cruises past the Tower of London

By this time the bascules of Tower Bridge had started to rise, and through she went!

Balmoral passes through Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge viewed from the south Thames Path

Here is a different view of Tower Bridge.

It also has the advantage of showing off the newly painted bits while the bits which are currently under plastic are the other side of the towers and obscured by them!

SV Tenacious visits London

SV Tenacious in the Upper Pool as Tower Bridge closes behind her

SV Tenacious is a wooden sailing ship specially designed to accommodate the disabled.

She visited London today (July 9th, 2009) and I metamorphosed from an office worker to a tourist during my carefully-timed lunch break in order to see her pass through Tower Bridge.

If I’d had an extra half hour, I could have seen her depart as well, but lunch breaks just don’t last that long!

Tower Bridge under restoration

Tower Bridge, freshly painted on the south side, under plastic on the north side

Since my job returned to the City of London 7 months ago, I have been watching various parts of Tower Bridge disappear behind plastic and appear again later in a rejuvenated condition.

A few weeks ago, the suspension section on the north east side acquired a jacket of plastic behind which work is undoubtedly progressing.

The suspension section on the south side has already been restored, and the paintwork there is noticeably brighter than the faded paintwork on the unrestored sections.

I’m interested in how they are going to tackle the high walkways. Painting them could be quite challenging – although possibly not as much so as painting the Forth Bridge!

Ocean Majesty visits London

Ocean Majesty visits London, 3rd July, 2009

Last week Ocean Majesty arrived in London. I have in the past seen her pass through Tower Bridge, but on this occasion, I wasn’t around for the Bridge lifts, and merely saw her moored alongside HMS Belfast.

Ocean Majesty visits London, 3rd July, 2009

I have to say that she isn’t looking all that majestic at the moment, with a long scuff mark on the forward port side of her hull, and what looks like a really bad panel beating job at her stern!

Ocean Majesty visits London, 3rd July, 2009

I was walking along the north side Thames Path while I was photographing Ocean Majesty. In the picture above, the tower at Guy’s Hospital and some of the More London buildings are visible, while in the next picture, More London and City Hall are in the background.

Ocean Majesty visits London, 3rd July, 2009

Now let’s step back four years; and here she is passing through Tower Bridge in 2005, when I was lucky enough to be viewing from the top of City Hall, but when the weather wasn’t quite as good as it was last week.

Ocean Majesty visits London, 3rd July, 2005

More of my 2005 pictures can be viewed by visiting Ocean Majesty and Seabourn Pride, 3rd July 2005 on my website.

Silver Cloud visits London

Silver Cloud, 20th June, 2009

Had I been keeping an eye on the Port of London Authority – Cruise Ship Diary and the Tower Bridge Lift Times, I would have realised that Silver Cloud was going to be in London yesterday, and I would have hauled my DSLR up to town. However, I hadn’t been, so I didn’t, and I had to make do with my cameraphone.

Silver Cloud is a regular visitor to London, and appears at least once during most summers. I do actually have better pictures of her on my hard drive – but they’re not from this year!

I’ve even got a better picture of Silver Cloud online: it’s from three years ago and was taken from Tower Bridge. At the risk of totally eclipsing my cameraphone effort above, I’ve included it below.

Silver Cloud, 22nd September, 2006

Mayan Queen visits London

Mayan Queen

Unlike the day when I photographed Scarlett Oyster, the sun was out for this picture of Mayan Queen, which was snapped on my cameraphone. It doesn’t do a bad job when conditions are good! 🙂

Mayan Queen was not on the Port of London Authority Cruise Ship Diary, and I would guess that she’s a private yacht, albeit a nice big one. The other craft in the picture include HMS Belfast, a Thames passenger boat, and at the left, the vessel to the right of the grouping is Dutch Master

I’ve also cropped in for a close-up.

Mayan Queen

Scarlett Oyster visits London

Scarlett Oyster

Now that I’m working in The City of London again, I am renewing my interest in the shipping on The Thames. I can find out when boats like this one are visiting because their high mast means that they require a Tower Bridge lift, which has to be booked in advance, and for which a schedule is published.

This boat was a sailing yacht, and she was in London for a couple of days.

The picture was captured using my cameraphone. I could have hauled my DSLR up to town, but decided against it as the weather wasn’t that good, as you can probably see!

I’ve cropped in on Scarlett Oyster heself in the picture below. She is tied to a pontoon which is tied to HMS Belfast and you can see the crew crossing across the pontoon, from where there is a ladder up to the stern of HMS Belfast, which in turn has a gangplank to the south bank of The Thames.

Scarlett Oyster

Website update: Tower Bridge lift and other nearby sights

I’ve got a few more pictures off Yahoo Photos this afternoon. I had a complete Tower Bridge lift on there, taken from actually on the bridge, which could be run as a slideshow. Now it’s on my website in its own animated page. 🙂 I added in some pictures of the paddle steamer Waverley, who was visiting London that day, and was in fact the reason why I was in the Tower Bridge area with a camera; plus pictures of a couple of other pleasure craft and a rather pleasant view of the City of London’s skyline.

Click here to view them. I don’t recommend clicking on the animation unless you have a broadband connection, as it’s 41 full-sized images long!