Back to St Kat's
CuriousOyster
Steve & Trish Brown
Fri 1 Jun 2012 14:30
Curious has returned to St Katharines dock marina in London a little over 4
years since we left there on the start of our adventure. Unknowingly we
have arrived back in time to see the Queens Jubilee river pageant on the 3rd
and came down river with a wide variety of boats, passing traditional Thames
barges tacking upriver, oyster smacks, Tall Ships and even a WWII motor
torpedo boat. I had called the marina office only two days before our
arrival to be told that they were completely full because of the pageant and
could not possibly fit us in. When I explained that we wished to complete
our 4 year circumnavigation back in St Kat's they relented and said they
would "find a place for us". In the event we were given pride of place in
the main basin amongst the "avenue of sail" boats including Gypsy Moth IV,
Suhaili, the Americas Cup 12m Sceptre and many others.
Typically the British weather did not play ball and the day of the sail past
was just awful, soaking the large crowds that had gathered from early in the
morning to see the event. With the Queen disembarking from St Kat's wharf
just below the lock gates we had pride of place for this as well but the
rain was coming down in torrents so we took shelter on board Curious and
watched it on the TV!!