Narrow Boat Albert

Tate to Tate

Paternoster Square and St Pauls

Yesterday was my birthday so Maggie and I spent a day out in London as a way of celebration. We booked to see the Pre-Raphaelite Exhibition at Tate Britain. Our slot was in the afternoon so our plan was to take a table for lunch at the Tate Modern museum restaurant, which is on the top floor at Bankside and affords wonderful views of the City of London, and then travel to Tate Britain at Millbank via boat.

Blackfriars Bridge ornamentation

To get to Tate Modern we thought it would be a good idea to catch the tube to St Pauls and then walk across the Millennium Bridge. Our plan went a little awry at this point because the bridge was closed for four days of maintenance. This meant a circuitous walk via Blackfriars Bridge (which was also under repair). Still we made it and had a great lunch followed by coffee watching the ferries ply up and down the river.

Coffee looking down onto St Pauls and the Millennium Bridge; from Tate Modern museum

We caught our own ferry from outside Tate Modern using the Tate boat service. The trip brought back memories of our last trip along the tideway in Albert. This time it was far less exciting, although low tide and recent heavy rains made the stream strong.

Ferries on the Thames at Low Water

London Eye under maintenance

Passing Westminster Pier

A high & dry houseboat

The Pre-Raphaelite Exhibition was just wonderful. The range of exhibits was great with not only famous paintings from around the world but also some sculpture, furniture, decorative artwork and photographs. It was a brilliant way to enjoy a birthday.

We had visited the last Pre-Raphaelite exhibition staged by the Tate back in 1984 and thoroughly enjoyed it then, but this exhibition appeared larger and with better quality exhibits. We were particularly taken with Holman Hunt's The Lady of Shalott which is normally kept in the USA. It is quite stunning. We hadn't seen it before so it hadn't appeared on our "radar". It is considered to be the last major Pre-Raphaelite work.

Unfortunately the exhibition finishes this weekend.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 'The Beloved ('The Bride')' 1865-6

The Beloved ('The Bride') by Dante Gabriel Rossetti,1865-6
Oil on canvas

Peacock and bird carpet c.1800

William Morris Gallery, London Borough of Waltham Forest

Edward Coley Burne-Jones Maria Zambaco 1870

Maria Zambaco by Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1870

Clemens-Sels Museum, Neuss

File:Holman-Hunt, William, and Hughes, Edward Robert - The Lady of Shalott - 1905.jpg

Lady of Shalott by William Holman Hunt & Edward Robert Hughes, 1905

Image from Wikipedia

New Year's Day 2013 at Stoke Bruerne

Long Pound, Stoke Bruerne

After so much rain it was a delight to find that the first day of 2013 was clear, dry and bright. We went over to Stoke Bruerne on New Year's Day and walked up the locks to watch the Morris dancing at the top lock. The Rose and Castle men' side and the Queen's Oak women's side were performing. With the fine weather, the crowds were out in force. We bumped into Colin and Sheila from NB Milan, boating friends for over fifteen years, and had a good chat.

Rose and Castle Morris outside The Boat Inn

Queen's Oak Morris

Fast Stream at Hurley Lock, River Thames

Red boards on the Thames - again!

We visited Hurley on Saturday for a wedding - not by boat. With all the extensive flooding along the Thames Valley I was interested to see how the lock and weir were coping, so just after lunch I took a walk from The Olde Bell down to the river.

Old Bell Hurley

We know Hurley quite well since Maggie and I were stuck here during a boating holiday with my parents in the late 1960s. My family had hired a cabin cruiser from Maid Line in Thames Ditton but the river was in spate and we spent most of the week moored up just below the lock at Hurley unable to proceed any further. I remember that a trip to Marlow by bus was one of the excitements of the holiday!

On Saturday the small side streams leading up to the lock were running fiercely but the river had not yet burst its banks.

Hurley Lock - looking deceptively calm

Hurley Lock landing underwater

The water levels at the lock during our stay in the 1960s were nowhere near those I found on Saturday. The water level below the lock was very high and the lock landing where we moored for several days during our enforced stay was completely underwater.

However, the most impressive flows on Saturday were by the weir stream. The channel was full to bursting and the levels up and downstream of the weir looked similar!

Hurley weir under pressure!

I couldn't resist making a video of the flow. As you will see the speed of the water is dramatic.

London Cable Car across the Thames at Night

Last weekend, on our way to an event in the East End of London, we crossed the Thames with Lucy and Chris on the new Tfl cable car (also known as the Emirates Air Line) that was installed just in time for the Olympics.

Below us the river was swirling. The views in the dark were spectacular, particlarly of The O2 (formerly The Millenium Dome) and the Excel Arena. In the distance was the Thames Barrier and we could see Canary Wharf clearly.

I hope you enjoy the video and the chit-chat going on; Maggie has a vivid sense of imagination.

Click here for technical details of the project.

Here is another video, this time going both ways in dailylight, and 4X speed, from the Emirates Air Line web site.

Christmas Lights Stony Stratford

The Christmas season has well and truly arrived. Yesterday the was the "Switch On" day for the Stony Stratford Christmas lights. This is the 50th anniversary of the event. The big feature of the switch on event is the parade of lanterns - this year with a strong nautical theme.

The Rose & Castle Morris, based at Stoke Bruerne, performed in the afternoon and joined the parade. Their bass drum was used to set the marching rhythm. It looked magnificent.