Dave
CF Legend
I was heading to Peterborough for the weekend for my old Uni housemates birthday and while going through London I thought I'd stop and do a museum trip while I was there. The day before I was going I found out the Emirates Air Line had opened in London.
For those of you who have no heard of this it's a cable car that goes from North Greenwich next to the O2 Arena to Royal Victoria Docks (near City Airport). I've met most the management and a few staff because they are actually part of the attraction company I work for, but this didn't mean I could get a free ride. Damn.
On the Underground map it's here;
After getting to Waterloo I headed straight to North Greenwich and the Emirates Air Line, the weather was good which should give good views over the Thames.
After leaving the tube station head to the O2 and then turn right and you should easily see the south terminal on the other side of the car park, here it is;
The towers supporting the cables are enormous, the tallest is around 300ft tall;
The stream of gondola's is fairly quick, and can be adjusted in speed depending on the weather, on this day it was quite windy. The Greenwich end has a steep climb out of the station;
Both stations are designed liked all new TFL stations with silver cladding and large ticket windows etc, also had information for people queuing up, I was because a large language school went ahead causing people to be held at the barriers;
Touching in you go up the stairs and straight into the loading platform, same layout as most cable cars, gondola comes in, you're ushered into the gondola and doors close before leaving the station.
Who constructed the gondola's, cables, mechanics etc.
(They also built a ill-fated roller coaster in Belgium...)
So straight out of the station into a steep climb towards the first tower.
Immediatley you notice the view, it's fantastic, it was a clear day and you could see for about 20-30 miles all around. These pictures can't do it justice;
Towards Canary Wharf
Thames Barrier and South East London.
Looking forwards towards Royal Victoria Dock
Looking back at the first tower and North Greenwich;
Looking towards City Airport (behind the houses) to which I thought it would be interesting if a plane took off, then one did....
Bit of a dot in that picture...
After the third tower you slowly descend into the Royal Victoria Dock terminal, less steep and more gradual;
You can see right across London, the Olympic Park can be seen easily, so can The City and Southbank, I'd happily recommend it to anyone in the area, but if you're not going anywhere else then just go straight back on a return journey as there is NOTHING in Royal Victoria Dock except a DLR station and a Tesco Express.
Here are the prices;
Reasonable if you then compare them to the London Eye and the Orbiter in the Olympic Park.
So onto Cutty Sark, now in hindsight I should have headed back across the Air Line and then got on a bus to Cutty Sark, not DLR it right around to Canary Wharf and then to Greenwich, bit of a faff. But anyway, 40 minutes later I got to the old ship;
After it's long restoration and fire the ship now is raised above the dock below, it's kept sealed inside this glass chamber to preseve ship for future generations;
After paying £12 admissions (and a guide book) I scanned my ticket and headed onto bridge where I had to squeeze past a man video commentating each of these rudder marks;
Here is a glimpse of the structure keeping her raised above the dock;
The reason the ship has been raised above the dock is that while ships sit in a dry dock the weight of the ships pushes down on the keel which then pushes it out (this wouldn't happen in water as buoyancy counteracts it), this distorted the Cutty Sark's hull and with the ships skeleton corroding at a scary level a separate structure was constructed to raise it up and take the strain off the keel.
Anyway you enter the hold of the ship where the tea was stored when it sailed from London to China;
Cutaway of the ships composite structure and entrance to the ship.
As you walked through the new structure was coloured grey to blend into the dark atmospheric look and the skeleton was painted white, it highlighted how badly corroded the structure actually was, this picture does not do justice to some other beams I saw;
The floor was well decorated and the smell of tea leaves really gave it a lovely touch and made it very atmospheric walking around with creaking sounds, and audio guides dotted around;
Moving higher you walk up a small spiral staircase to the next deck which told the story of the wool trade between London and Australia. It was more brighter, but ceiling level was low, had to duck in places!
There was a great interactive game for kids where you guided the Cutty Sark from Australia back to London via windy and stormy weather, but the kids wouldn't budge and their bubble wrap parents didn't do anything to stop it, so gave it a miss;
After finishing on the lower decks you went up another spiral staircase onto the main deck in the open;
The ship was been well restored and looks great, it's very open, you can explore the cabins, front of the ship, the poop deck etc.
Was a lovely day and very warm, so kept moving as needed a drink badly! You exit the ship off a bridge to a separate building which took you to the most spectacular part of the museum.
From the bridge you can see how it's sealed all around to protect the hull from corrosion;
You enter sets of doors before you enter the dock area and the view takes your breath away, the ship sitting above you!
The standard museum cafe is situated below the rudder area of the ship!
Sure you don't want a rudder landing in your latte!
It was a huge space to explore and was surreal to walk underneath a ship you've been exploring for most of the visit. Especially when you touch the keel above you;
Had a obligatory photograph underneath it, thanks to some passing yanks;
If I put my hand up I could've touched the keel.
Arriving at the front of the dock and looking back you can get a sense of the scale of the ship and how large the engineering challenge was;
There are a large number of figureheads arranged at the end of the dock which is rather surreal, feels slightly abstract from the rest of the museum;
Back towards the exit as it was time to head back to central London (after another journey on the Air Line on stupid DLR journey). Cutty Sark was good museum, worth a visit if you like your historic ships and history. Not too badly priced in my opinion for a London attraction.
Walked the Greenwich Foot Tunnel while it was there....bit damp and some **** mental cyclists but different.
Bit of a ramble, but thought I'd share my trip to these two recently opened attractions
For those of you who have no heard of this it's a cable car that goes from North Greenwich next to the O2 Arena to Royal Victoria Docks (near City Airport). I've met most the management and a few staff because they are actually part of the attraction company I work for, but this didn't mean I could get a free ride. Damn.
On the Underground map it's here;
After getting to Waterloo I headed straight to North Greenwich and the Emirates Air Line, the weather was good which should give good views over the Thames.
After leaving the tube station head to the O2 and then turn right and you should easily see the south terminal on the other side of the car park, here it is;
The towers supporting the cables are enormous, the tallest is around 300ft tall;
The stream of gondola's is fairly quick, and can be adjusted in speed depending on the weather, on this day it was quite windy. The Greenwich end has a steep climb out of the station;
Both stations are designed liked all new TFL stations with silver cladding and large ticket windows etc, also had information for people queuing up, I was because a large language school went ahead causing people to be held at the barriers;
Touching in you go up the stairs and straight into the loading platform, same layout as most cable cars, gondola comes in, you're ushered into the gondola and doors close before leaving the station.
Who constructed the gondola's, cables, mechanics etc.
(They also built a ill-fated roller coaster in Belgium...)
So straight out of the station into a steep climb towards the first tower.
Immediatley you notice the view, it's fantastic, it was a clear day and you could see for about 20-30 miles all around. These pictures can't do it justice;
Towards Canary Wharf
Thames Barrier and South East London.
Looking forwards towards Royal Victoria Dock
Looking back at the first tower and North Greenwich;
Looking towards City Airport (behind the houses) to which I thought it would be interesting if a plane took off, then one did....
Bit of a dot in that picture...
After the third tower you slowly descend into the Royal Victoria Dock terminal, less steep and more gradual;
You can see right across London, the Olympic Park can be seen easily, so can The City and Southbank, I'd happily recommend it to anyone in the area, but if you're not going anywhere else then just go straight back on a return journey as there is NOTHING in Royal Victoria Dock except a DLR station and a Tesco Express.
Here are the prices;
Reasonable if you then compare them to the London Eye and the Orbiter in the Olympic Park.
So onto Cutty Sark, now in hindsight I should have headed back across the Air Line and then got on a bus to Cutty Sark, not DLR it right around to Canary Wharf and then to Greenwich, bit of a faff. But anyway, 40 minutes later I got to the old ship;
After it's long restoration and fire the ship now is raised above the dock below, it's kept sealed inside this glass chamber to preseve ship for future generations;
After paying £12 admissions (and a guide book) I scanned my ticket and headed onto bridge where I had to squeeze past a man video commentating each of these rudder marks;
Here is a glimpse of the structure keeping her raised above the dock;
The reason the ship has been raised above the dock is that while ships sit in a dry dock the weight of the ships pushes down on the keel which then pushes it out (this wouldn't happen in water as buoyancy counteracts it), this distorted the Cutty Sark's hull and with the ships skeleton corroding at a scary level a separate structure was constructed to raise it up and take the strain off the keel.
Anyway you enter the hold of the ship where the tea was stored when it sailed from London to China;
Cutaway of the ships composite structure and entrance to the ship.
As you walked through the new structure was coloured grey to blend into the dark atmospheric look and the skeleton was painted white, it highlighted how badly corroded the structure actually was, this picture does not do justice to some other beams I saw;
The floor was well decorated and the smell of tea leaves really gave it a lovely touch and made it very atmospheric walking around with creaking sounds, and audio guides dotted around;
Moving higher you walk up a small spiral staircase to the next deck which told the story of the wool trade between London and Australia. It was more brighter, but ceiling level was low, had to duck in places!
There was a great interactive game for kids where you guided the Cutty Sark from Australia back to London via windy and stormy weather, but the kids wouldn't budge and their bubble wrap parents didn't do anything to stop it, so gave it a miss;
After finishing on the lower decks you went up another spiral staircase onto the main deck in the open;
The ship was been well restored and looks great, it's very open, you can explore the cabins, front of the ship, the poop deck etc.
Was a lovely day and very warm, so kept moving as needed a drink badly! You exit the ship off a bridge to a separate building which took you to the most spectacular part of the museum.
From the bridge you can see how it's sealed all around to protect the hull from corrosion;
You enter sets of doors before you enter the dock area and the view takes your breath away, the ship sitting above you!
The standard museum cafe is situated below the rudder area of the ship!
Sure you don't want a rudder landing in your latte!
It was a huge space to explore and was surreal to walk underneath a ship you've been exploring for most of the visit. Especially when you touch the keel above you;
Had a obligatory photograph underneath it, thanks to some passing yanks;
If I put my hand up I could've touched the keel.
Arriving at the front of the dock and looking back you can get a sense of the scale of the ship and how large the engineering challenge was;
There are a large number of figureheads arranged at the end of the dock which is rather surreal, feels slightly abstract from the rest of the museum;
Back towards the exit as it was time to head back to central London (after another journey on the Air Line on stupid DLR journey). Cutty Sark was good museum, worth a visit if you like your historic ships and history. Not too badly priced in my opinion for a London attraction.
Walked the Greenwich Foot Tunnel while it was there....bit damp and some **** mental cyclists but different.
Bit of a ramble, but thought I'd share my trip to these two recently opened attractions
