London Boat Trips
Marion Hume | January 15th, 2007
Story by Marion Hume
Photos by Peter Hunt
There’s nothing like messing about on the river in the London summer. The best tip: avoid the tourist traps and any huge boat with a commentary in ten languages.
Instead, if you want to take in London’s most famous sites - Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, The Tate Modern, St Katherine’s Dock - do as those commuters who work in the city or on the edge of the city, Canary Wharf, do and take the Thames Clipper. Nip through the swanky salons of The Savoy, down to the Savoy Pier to catch the 12:45pm. Disembark at St Katherine’s Dock and take a brisk walk through one of the oldest parts of the East End and head for The Wapping Project. Pack your A to Z, head East along the riverbank walk and you’ll get there.
The Wapping Project is located in a cavernous hydraulic power station, built in 1890 and decommissioned in 1977, after which it was left to rot until, in 1992, a visionary former theatre director, Australian-born Jules Wright, decided to take it on for an art space with a restaurant attached. As the venue didn’t have a roof, her dream took some time but these days The Wapping Project, under chef Cameron Emirali, is now THE place for a summer lunch. New Yorker, Donna Karan, Miuccia Prada from Milan and London-based Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan are apparently fans. Enjoy a gorgeous leisurely lunch served outside if the weather is fine and then hop on a Clipper back to the centre of town.
Back in the center of town, should you want to head upstream, your best bet is to take the train from Waterloo to Richmond, then walk down to the riverbank. From there you can take a delightfully old fashioned boat upstream to Teddington Lock. Sit tight as it chugs slowly around and head back to Richmond where there are plenty of great waterside pubs for a delicious lunch. Be sure however to check the times of the boat back to Central London and then catch the 4pm for a long slow drift back to the big smoke, past the grounds of Kew Gardens and at last, about two hours later back to Westminster. Easy.
The Wapping Project, Wapping Wall, E1W EST. + 44 20 7680 2080;
http://www.thewappingproject.com/
* to book in advance email: jules@thewappingproject.com
