The Waverley passed Greenwich and Woolwich barracks, through the Thames barrier towards our first stop off point, a somewhat anonymous jetty at unremarkable Tilbury. One passenger alighted here, to a round of applause from fellow passengers bewildered at why anyone would want to get off here! A further 40 or so passengers got on for the remainder of the journey.

Underway once more Waverley steamed under the QEII bridge and out into the Thames estuary. We moored up at the end of Southend pier at about 12:30. Waverley continued on to the Medway for a two hour cruise, I had opted out of this as by this stage I had been on the boat for 3 ½ hours and wanted to stretch my legs and get a bite to eat.



Approaching Southend pier.

I decided to walk the boards of Southend pier, it had been a long time since I had done so. It’s had a chequered history with at least two major fires over the years, which has damaged its structure. Limited investment still trickles in and somehow the pier manages to stay open.

The sheer length of the pier was designed to accommodate the shallow estuarial tides at Southend, and permitting vessels to moor up without being beached on the sands.

After lunch I had just enough time to take a brief stroll along the sea front before hotfooting it back to the end of the pier, and rendezvous with Waverley at 3pm for it’s return journey to London.



Waverley approaching the piers jetty



Starboard paddlebox working hard as the boat moors up.



As the return journey was a repeat of the outward trip there isn’t much to say. By this stage I was sampling the variety of beverages in the forward saloon.

Waverley arrived back at Tower pier about 6pm, quite a long day, but a very enjoyable one.

I thoroughly recommend a journey on the P.S Waverley, if you get the opportunity. Single or return journeys can be purchased online, and you can find out more about the ship and it’s sister boat, also steam but screw driven instead of paddle wheels at this website- http://www.waverleyexcursions.co.uk/ and more about Waverley here- http://pswaverley.org.uk/