Frugal Thames: London’s one constant

The Thames, says writer Christopher Winn, is London’s one constant.

Little that matters here fails to touch this “silver thread of liquid history,” whether in its earliest days as a Roman outpost or as today’s global center for finance, culture and tourism.

For frugal travelers to London, a theme day built around the Thames follows the river’s path from east to west, along the north and south banks, a Christopher Wren-designed building at the beginning, another at the end. Along the way, there are museum stops and a cable-car crossing. A pub lunch at The Mayflower, the point from which the pilgrims departed. And, if the tide is right, a bit of late-afternoon “mudlarking,” a Londoner’s term for combing artifacts from the river’s floor, late tea and a chapel visit.

10 a.m. — I met 4-year-old Louie, a budding ferry captain, at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.

Greenwich, at the eastern starting point of this day,  is a frugal London “three-fer.” Side-by-side are Queen’s House and the Royal Observatory designed by Wren and the National Maritime Museum – all free entry. They stand before you as you alight from the ferry from any one of several upriver piers — a morning experience along the Thames that most agree affords the best views of the city.

Louie is a poster-child British lad: blond hair, rosy cheeks, school uniform. When we met, master Louie was about to try his hand captaining the maritime museum’s highest-tech exhibit – a ship simulator.

Standing on a stool, his mother at one side, grandfather at the other, Louie was about to simulate docking a car ferry at the British port of Dover. His left hand was on the wheel, his right on the engine controls.

Before him were a dashboard of digital gauges and three, wall-size video screens.

“His uncle was in the Royal Navy, you know,” the grandfather told me. “He likes anything mechanical.”

Louie boosted power and the ferry was underway.

“Doing very well, so far,” his mother said.

Approaching the dock, the ferry drifted right.

“Bit more left,” the grandfather said. “Keep your eye on where you’re going.”

The ferry continued to drift right.

“Watch where you’re going,” the grandfather said. “Going to crash. Speed down. Straighten it up.”

A moment latter, Louie plowed into the stern of another ferry.

End of simulation. Louie’s score: “Minor collision, 20.”

The grandfather leaned into me as they left. “It’s in the family,” he said, then winked.

Beyond Louie and the simulator, the National Maritime Museum details “Britain’s encounter with the world at sea:” the romance of the great ocean liners, trade across the Atlantic and the impact of the East India Company on British culture. Another maritime building is nearby. It’s the Old Royal Naval College, also designed by Wren. There is within, free access to The Painted Hall, often described as “the finest dining hall in Europe,” which Wren and his patrons intended as an eating space for pensioned seamen. Pensioners today offer free, guided tours just before mid-day.

The return ferry leaves us at the entrance to the Tower of London along the river’s north bank. At $38.90, the Tower is not a frugal experience. Frugal travelers know to visit the Tower on Sundays. Enter at the West Gate to attend services in Chapel Royal of St. Peter and Fincula. The 11 a.m. service is matins, a sung mass. Entry is free — then you’re on your own to see much — if not all — of the Tower.

11:30 a.m. — To the east are the Docklands, a three-decade redevelopment of East End docks, wharfs, and warehouses, idled as Thames shipping abandoned London after World War II. Canary Wharf is here, a metal and glass center for banking, retail and food. So is Gordon Ramsey’s pub, The Narrows, with its frugal-priced martinis and bar snacks. All quite new, prosperous, hopeful and gay. Frugal for sightseeing, window shopping and a drink — if not buying.

A darker story is back a bit from the water in a strip of warehouses at East India Quay. During the 1700s, England has a slave-trading nation, supplying labor for sugar plantations in the country’s Carribbean colonies. Some one million Africans transported across the Atlantic were carried in English ships, some sailing from East India Quay docks. These warehouses stored sugar from the slave-produced plantations.

Today, the warehouses house the Museum of London Docklands — admission free. A permanent installation, taking up most of one floor, documents England’s slave-trading history, its sugar plantations, and the role in slavery of the East India Quay. Artifacts, maps, drawings and diaries recall the enslavement, transport, work and discipline of slaves and slave families — all in service to an emerging English habit of sweetening tea.

A wall of comment cards is particularly moving.

“Next time I have a cup of tea with sugar,” one woman wrote, “I’ll say ‘may their souls rest in peace.'”

“Think of the legacy of that sweet thing,” wrote another — the very point of the installation.

1 p.m. — Lunch takes us back to the south bank of the Thames and the neighborhood Rotherhithe. Here sits The Mayflower, a 17th century public house — or pub. Originally called the Spread Eagle, it was renamed for the ship chartered by the Pilgrim Fathers who left from this dockage for America in 1620. The fare in this “gastropub,” so named for a movement that upgraded pub food in the 1990s, is good — if not frugal. A pie lunch with a pint of the house ale is $22. But where else along the river might you imagine who sat in your seat nearly 400 years ago.

2 p.m. — Care for a stunning — yet frugal — view of London and the Thames from on high?

Most viewing opportunities aren’t frugal.

• The Viewing Gallery near the top of The Shard — the tallest building in Europe — is twice as high as the next tallest opportunity, promising views as far as 40 miles. Admission, $39.40
• The Coca Cola Eye, the world’s largest cantilevered observation wheel, is a London favorite. At the top, it’s 439 feet. Admission, $30.71, or if prefer the short-wait “fast track,” $45
• A remnant of the 2012 Summer Olympics is the ArcelorMittal Orbit in Olympic Park. Designed by Turner Prize winner Anish Kapoor, it’s the world’s tallest sculpture, promising views up to 20 miles. Admission, $19. (For the strong of heart, you can abseil off the top for $135.)

One frugal opportunity is the cable car across the Thames erected by the city’s public transport office. It’s called Emirates Air, named for its airline sponsor. Developed for commuters connecting transit stations on the north and south banks of the river, the cable car today is largely a tourist attraction. The 10-minue crossing is both exhilerating and informative. That’s because the view is up-river to the east, largely unseen from other vantage points. You see yacht basins, water’s edge housing, the Thames Barrier flood control scheme, and shipping cranes lined up like tall-legged birds. One-way fare, $7.

Another frugal opportunity is the viewing platform atop The Monument in the financial district, built in 1677 (designed by Wren) in commemoration of the Great Fire. Admission is just $6, but you have to climb 311 steps to the top — frugal, but only for the fit.

3 p.m. — The Thames is a tidal river, rising and falling 20 feet twice a day. Low tide exposes river bottom on the south bank, the so-called “foreshore,” some bits of river bottom just a few feet wide, others 40 to 50 feet.

Historically, the poor scraped and dug in the bottom for coins and other valuables. They were called “mudlarks.” Today, mudlarking is more of a hobby interest, and persistent, expert  mudlarkers find “coins, Elizabethan pins, Medieval pottery shards, a fabulous Victorian clay pipe in near perfect order, and a Militia button,” one noted on a site that covers the pursuit.

Alas, mudlarking is regulated, as the river bottom is considered private land — much of it royal. Scrapping with an implement is “digging,” and requires a permit. Scraping with your hand or foot does not. Finds of “archeological significance” must be reported to curators at the Museum of London. Souvenir-quality finds need not.

Want to try? Walk the Thames Path at low tide. Just across from SouthBank Centre, step over the barrier, down a few steps, onto the foreshore. When I scrapped the bottom with my shoe, I uncovered a shard of a china plate and a bit of clay pipe — nothing worth a curator’s time, but frugal souvenirs.

4:30 p.m. — Reflect on the day in The Chapel of the Royal Chelsea Hospital, home to the Chelsea pensioners, with its view from the Chelsea Embankment on the Thames said to be Christopher Wren’s favorite. The Chapel and the nearby Great Hall are open to the public, as are the grounds — all free entry.

7 p.m. — A Bengali supper at Meraz Cafe in Brick Lane, $22.50

Asleep by 10 p.m.

Total spent for the day, including admissions, meals, transport and hotel, but excluding the souvenirs: $97.30.