PS Waverley

A second grand old lady of steam, the PS Waverley leaves Whitstable, stern first, on the high tide for a voyage up the Thames to London passing through Tower Bridge at night.

Launched in 1946 it served with CalMac until 1973 when it was sold for preservation to the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society. We saw Waverley in July last year at Rothesay on Isle of Bute.

After yesterday’s Britannia steam locomotive this grand old lady is also driven by steam. For those of you not wanting to read the whole of the Wikipedia entry the engine is Waverley is a three-crank diagonal triple-expansion marine steam engine built by Rankin & Blackmore, Engineers, Eagle Foundry, Greenock, Scotland. Waverley is the last seagoing paddle steamer in operation.

When we decided last night to go to Whitstable we didn’t know about the Waverley’s visit, we only found out this morning over breakfast.

Seeing Waverley was the icing on the cake of a spontaneously wonderful day, quite unplanned and all the better for it. In the end we walked over 8 1/2 miles between Seasalter and Tankerton and return.

After seeing Waverley off we noticed that the Lobster Shack at the eastern side of the harbour was serving Senior fish and chips for £10 including coffee. And they were excellent and what great value.

We continued our walk to Tankerton, calling in at the Continental Hotel as we usually do for tea. On walking back to the car we rounded off the day with a pint at the Old Neptune on the seawall. On the final mile back to the car at Seasalter we were treated to a marvellous sunset and reflections on the mudflats. If it wasn’t for Waverley, it would have made today’s blip.

Thank you for all your comments on Britannia, struck a chord with many of you. Hope you like today’s as much.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_Waverley

https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3132820330188377637