The Cutty Sark experience

GrahamN

Am coming down to London town at the end of this month for a wedding but once I`ve got that out of the way I`ve got another two day`s to kill and was wondering if the Cutty Sark is worth a visit

Anyone here been and is it worth a visit and do you need to book or can you just turn up ?

Am also thinking , is it possible to take a boat up the river to it as the family want to do a Harrods visit as well
on the same day


Any pointers would be appreciated



thanks

izza

How old are kids?

Aged 6-10 and I'd recommend Golden Hinde as more central, fun for kids and easy to get to South Bank for food, centre of town for shopping, Monument for views, HMS Belfast, London Dungeon, etc.

GrahamN

the kids are 18 and 15 hence the trip to Harrods and Oxford street etc. , they`re not interested in the Cutty Sark , it`s actually myself who would quite like to see it if it wasn`t too much hassle to get to

cheers

arran77

I priced some work on the Cutty Sark, went there for a site visit the day before it burned down :shock:

Not been back since so can't say if it's a good visit

The river taxi is a good way to get about between some of the sights, less unpleasant than being crammed on the tube!

CiB

The clippers that run up & down the river from Greenwich to the Eye & back are a good way to get about.

capt_slog

Not quite London I know, but well worth a visit is the RAF museum at Colindale.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/

Free admission and there's more in there than you can see in a day.

eccles

I went to the cutty sark a few months ago. The entry fee is a bit steep, I think it was £10 or £12 but it was so worth it. The ship itself is incredibly well restored and they've done a fantastic job with the setting and the facility itself. It's not every day you can eat lunch while sat underneath the keel of a sailing ship
Well worth a visit in my opinion. The Greenwich observatory is worth a look as well.
P.S. you don't need to book the cutty sark, you just turn up, pay the entry fee and go in.

rolf_f

Seems a shame that they turned the Cutty Sark from being a preserved ship into a shopping centre.......... Still, everything has to be a shopping centre these days.

secretsam

Go to Bristol and see the SS Great Britain.

At least it's an important old ship, rather than just an old ship.

And Bristol's nicer than London. And cheaper. Better countryside around it, too.

confused@BR

Greenwich is a great destination for a day out. I was there earlier this year, covered market, Maritime Museum (free), Naval Hospital, Greenwich Park, Blackheath, Royal Observatory, tunnel under the Thames (watch out for the cyclists), plus the Cutty Sark! Lots of old buildings and a good vibe.

Plenty of links with central London including catamarans.

Oh, had a nice pint in the Gypsy Moth whilst looking up at the C S.

The last time I had visited Greenwich was when I worked there in 1971 :shock:Not much had changed.

rolf_f

SecretSam wrote:

Go to Bristol and see the SS Great Britain.

At least it's an important old ship, rather than just an old ship.

And Bristol's nicer than London. And cheaper. Better countryside around it, too.

Cutty Sark is an important old ship though you are probably right in every other respect!

Anyway, you could go to Portsmouth and see HMS Victory and HMS Warrior (which has the decency to be actually floating) or go to Hartlepool and see HMS Trincomalee - a contemporary of HMS Victory and far more original than that ship. Or Trincs sister ship in Dundee, HMS Unicorn (both these two also still afloat). There's quite a few choices of historic old ships to see and there is no need for any competitions about which is importantmost!

cornerblock

Rolf F wrote:

Anyway, you could go to Portsmouth and see HMS Victory and HMS Warrior (which has the decency to be actually floating) or go to Hartlepool and see HMS Trincomalee - a contemporary of HMS Victory and far more original than that ship. Or Trincs sister ship in Dundee, HMS Unicorn (both these two also still afloat). There's quite a few choices of historic old ships to see and there is no need for any competitions about which is importantmost!

Yes no need for any one- upmanship here.

With the amount of damage that was caused to the Cutty Sark is there actually any of the original left? Is it even the Cutty Sark anymore? Or is it a bit like Triggers broom?

islwyn

Definitely just get a Thames Clipper (The Taxi Boat) return up & down the river rather than a 'Tour Boat', it'll be quarter of the price & a nicer boat too.

rolf_f

Cornerblock wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Anyway, you could go to Portsmouth and see HMS Victory and HMS Warrior (which has the decency to be actually floating) or go to Hartlepool and see HMS Trincomalee - a contemporary of HMS Victory and far more original than that ship. Or Trincs sister ship in Dundee, HMS Unicorn (both these two also still afloat). There's quite a few choices of historic old ships to see and there is no need for any competitions about which is importantmost!

Yes no need for any one- upmanship here.

With the amount of damage that was caused to the Cutty Sark is there actually any of the original left? Is it even the Cutty Sark anymore? Or is it a bit like Triggers broom?

I don't think it is too bad - much of the timber was off the ship at the time of the fire though how much of that was original then I'm not so sure about. It's a hell of a lot more original than Victory though.

Compare all the cash spent on Cutty Sark when the only other surviving clipper ship, City of Adelaide was nearly broken up a couple of years back for lack of funds. Some of the money used to turn Cutty Sark into a shopping centre could more usefully have been spent on Adelaide. Fortunately, Australia seems more interested in it now than we are and what a few years ago was only worth scrapping is now worth putting on a barge to Holland to spend several months being shrink wrapped before a voyage to Australia. :roll: