Masthouse Terrace Pier, London

Our journey continued down to London Town, conversation regarding Oleanna’s boat paint as we headed southwards. We shouldn’t chose a painter just because his paint shop is in the shadows of cooling towers! This wasn’t the case but Tom was certainly in the lead.

The traffic was bad in places. Our satnav decided to take us on a short detour at one point, handy as it avoided standstill traffic and took us past Wansford Station where we’d moored a couple of years ago on the River Nene. Good Christmas lights were seen, no time to stop to see any of the trains though as we were directed back onto the A1 in time to see the field Tilly had gone AWOL in until well after dark.

It’s been sometime since we drove to my brothers in Hackney and we nearly always get the turn off wrong, but this time I’d remembered to look out for B&Q, then there’s a really tricksy junction to get on the right road. I think this is the first time we’ve done it without a single hitch and thankfully there was a parking space not far from Andrews front door.

Josh was home from University and we had a very pleasant evening catching up, eating a seriously chunky beef bourguignon and drinking maybe just a little bit too much wine. Good to see them all for an evening on our own.

Friday some of the morning was spent sending, or trying to send our email Christmas card. Why does it always have to be so hard? But we got there in the end. What to do with ourselves for the rest of the day?

We didn’t really want to spend any money on going to a museum or a special exhibition. For some reason the Wallace Collection came to mind. Mick checked out a route by bus and we were off heading into London. Three buses later we pulled up outside Selfridges, their Christmas windows were okay, but not quite as slick as I’d expected.

Now it was lunch time, we ended up with an M&S sandwich each sat on a bench outside the Wallace Collection, their cafe menu a touch too expensive for us. Time for some culture. Hertford House in Manchester Square was the home of the Seymour family, it’s named after Sir Richard Wallace who built the extensive collection along with the Marquesses of Herford in the 18th and 19th Centuries.

I was expecting quite a good collection but nothing by any means as large as it turned out to be, 25 galleries housing arms and armour, furniture, porcelain and so many paintings from the 15th to 19th Century. Yes you will find The Swing by Fragonard, much smaller than I’d thought it would be, The Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals to name just two of the very famous paintings in the collection.

There are Watteaus, Velazquezs, Rubens, Rembrandts, Gainsboroughs, Canellettos, Van Dycks all great stuff amongst lots of Francois Bouchers fluffy pink huge canvases which don’t really do anything for me. I walked round spotting paintings I’d learnt about in A Level art, but then pin pointed paintings that stood out to me.

My favourite was simply called A Dutch Lady, by M.J. Mierevelt. She was just at the right height to have a conversation with. Her 1628 ruff exquisitely painted. I wanted to ask her so many questions about life in the 17th Century and why she wasn’t named on the frame as many were.

Then we hopped on buses out to Camden, catching glimpses of the canal as we crossed over bridges. A quick call in to drop off a Christmas present with Christine and Paul before we met with my friend Nick and his Canadian friend Rob at a pub just round the corner. I’ve known Nick since we were babes in arms, for some years we went to school together, then did our Art Foundation course together too, we’ve never lost touch. The frequency meeting for drinks on Christmas Eve has dropped in recent years, parents no longer calling us back to York for Christmas. So it was very nice to be able to exchange presents face to face, have beer, food and conversation this close to Christmas.

Saturday was the main reason for our trip down to London. Regular readers will be excused for not remembering what we got up to 10 years ago on the 20th December. Back in 2014 we joined all the Geraghty family for a vintage bus tour around London to celebrate Marion (Mick’s sister) and John’s 40th Wedding Anniversary. Today was naturally their 50th Golden Wedding Anniversary.

Andrew and Jac joined all the generations of Geraghty family and friends for the day. Meeting up at Richards flat on the Isle of Dogs we had nibbles and a glass of fizz whilst every one gathered. Then a five or so minute walk to Masthouse Terrace Pier on the banks of the Thames. There waiting for us was an Uber Clipper hired for a trip on the Thames. Marion and John had originally booked a smaller boat, but the toilets weren’t working they’d had an upgrade to a much bigger boat.

With about 40 of us onboard there was plenty of room, you could stand out on deck or stay inside with a window seat, where ever you fancied really. Soon we pushed off, two other boats were waiting to come in. Off upstream we headed. Downstream of Tower Bridge boats go fast, it was quite exhilarating stood out on deck at the stern.

The first 2km of our cruise was water we’ve not cruised on Oleanna, in fact I think I’ve only been further downstream on a Clipper for Kath’s 50th birthday when we headed to Greenwich. When Canary Wharf came into view we were now on water we’d cruised on the night time flotilla in 2022. Past Limehouse Lock, now landmarks were familiar.

Sadly the weather wasn’t on our side so many of the taller buildings were only just visible . As we approached Tower Bridge we were all called towards the bow, where John and Marion put on floral garlands to mark the occasion of their anniversary.

Under the right hand span of Tower Bridge. Landmarks were pointed out to the youngest of passengers. Places of work were pointed out to new victims and sisters by Mick.

We were moving quicker than we did on Oleanna, the bridges coming one after the other. It was handy to have Waterway Routes up to confirm the names as we passed underneath.

Occasionally John would go on the tannoy, pointing out places of interest in his and other passengers lives. The National Theatre, Royal Festival Hall, the Tattershall Castle that many a Geraghty had crossed the Humber on. The exclusion zone in front of the Houses of Parliament seemed to be smaller than I remembered it.

We made it under Vauxhall Bridge but sadly not quite as far as Battersea Power Station. It was in view though and everyone got a good view as the clipper winded to return us back to Masthouse Terrace Pier.

Then it was back to the flat where a chap had been laying out a fantastic buffet from The Space Bar. Drinks, conversation, speeches, photographs and plenty, I mean plenty of food was enjoyed. Then there was cake! Not just one but three types of cake! What a grand way to celebrate 50 years of marriage. Congratulations to Marion and John and thank you for sharing it with us all.

Back at the London Leckenby’s we fell into the sofa and didn’t do much for the remainder of the evening.

Presents were exchanged on Sunday morning, then we climbed back into our little car and headed back northwards. A pause near Cambridge to refuel and have a substandard breakfast before we carried on up the A1, M18, M62 and then back across the Wolds to Scarborough.

Tilly was very pleased to see us. David our lodger had been feeding her whilst we were away, but he’d left food for our return, Tilly apparently hadn’t been impressed with not getting her dingding earlier than normal and she’d been quite noisy about it after not being spotted for three days.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 hire car to London, 3 London Leckenbys, 2 cats, 1 huge gallery, 1 oldest friend, 1 whiffy pub, 5 buses, 1 train, 1 clipper, 40 passengers, 50th anniversary, 50 golden balloons, 2 much yummy food, 3 cakes, 1 gluten free take away box of brownies, 1 lazy evening, 1 pleased Tilly to see us, 1 poorly baddy!