PicoMicroYacht takes the Queen's Highway

The next stage of  PicoMicroYacht's discovery of London's lost route to the Sea was to go through central London. In the days that this route was active this part of the Thames was busy with all manner of craft, and steam power was mixed up with sailing and rowing.

The Pool of London in 1842

 Now there are less ships but the Thames narrows considerably, the banks filled in and the embankments built up in the last century to accommodate modern London.

The river flows rapidly as it funnels and the proximity of the bridges and piers makes the ride up the Thames a nautical helter skelta for the unwary. Surprisingly, you do not need a licence to go boating on this part of the Thames since the tidal Thames is known as a King's Highway and is free for the general public. Historically,  a King's highway is defined as a public passage for use of the sovereign and all his or her subjects.

The gateway to the ride is Tower Bridge and PicoMicroYacht was careful to go through the right hand archway to avoid a fast moving Clipper catamaran ferry.

The wash of the ferries kicked up rough, accentuated by shallows that caused close to overfalls

After a succession of legendary bridges PicoMicroYacht was opposite the London eye and it was hard to keep the camera steady and level

Very soon the Houses of Parliament were on my right as I looked round. The route up the Thames took me close to buildings parliament and under watchful eyes.

The Union Jack flew proudly over the parliament main tower

As PicoMicroYacht moved off upstream a sand barge was creating a large bow wave

I had been worried about running out of light before reaching Putney, not wanting to be on the river in a small boat as it got dark. However, the last ten miles to my destination went quickly and the incoming tide kept me moving on. As the sun set, golden scenes unfolded with the light reflecting off the buildings.

New Buildings in Chelsea bathed in milky golden light that characterises winter in London

Finally the light was fading and PicoMicroyacht passed under Putney Bridge and crossed the river to the rowing boat launching area where a few crews were finishing their outing, marshalled by their coaches.

The 14 miles had been covered in around two and a half hours, the tide helping to make rapid progress.

Postscript:

More about boating through central London is provided by the Port of London Authority (PLA) in this handy video:

As the PLA writes:

Rowing safely on the tideway demands a sound knowledge of the effects of the tidal stream, including the resultant currents and variable depths which may be unfamiliar even to extremely competent rowers who have not previously visited.