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And the flight itself - wow! As the gondola sets off you
climb to a cruising altitude of 305ft, which is just shy of the
height of Big Ben. You travel 1.1km over the river - that’s
0.62 miles in old money. In the rush hour it’s a zippy five
minutes but otherwise they slow it down for the views so it
takes about ten minutes to get from one side to the other.
If you’re making a return journey, known as a 360, the
whole thing should take about twenty minutes: not far short
of the 30 minutes it takes to complete a circuit on the
London Eye. Should you be nervous? Raman doesn’t have
a head for heights but his anxiety soon evaporated as he
started scanning the eastern horizon for his house and he
was fine on the way back. And does it move in the wind?
Neither of us thought so. Our Fred took a ride a few days
later and said that he did notice a little bit of sway, but only
because he was hoping for it!
So what will you see? Well the whole of the East End is laid
out in front of you; the Olympic Stadium to the north, the
ExCel Centre to the east, the Thames Barrier to the south
and to the west The O
2
, Canary Wharf, the Gherkin and
St. Paul’s. On a clear day (remember those?) you can even
make out Wembley Stadium, 15 miles away. One thing is
for sure, after the months of waiting, the doubts, increased
cost and political wrangling, when you sit in the glass
gondola and see views like the one below, you can’t help
but think it was all worth it.
We’d been reliably informed that it was a closed
opening ceremony (the irony) but it was taking place
just before the cable car opened to the public at
midday. We’d arrived in plenty of time when we got
a call from Gyll - it was precisely 9.19am and the
ceremony had already happened! Well, maybe
“ceremony” is overselling it, but Boris had done his
bit and was back to City Hall a full day’s mayoring.
Before long midday rolled around and we were in the
queue ready to be amongst the first people on. With
Emirates as sponsors everything is airline themed;
“boarding passes” instead of tickets, not merely a
journey, but a “flight”. It all looks rather
impressive. There are lots of smiling faces and
everything has that lovely new feel about it. Once
past the entrance you head up to the loading area;
there is a lift as well as stairs. The gondolas arrive
slowly at a turning circle allowing plenty of time to
step inside. Like the London Eye it can stop
completely for wheelchair users. Each gondola seats
ten on benches that face each other so that in addition
to wonderful views, it makes for a really social
experience. High up above the River Thames I was
talking to a retired lady who’d lived in Greenwich her
entire life - she was thrilled to see her home from
this new viewpoint.
See Pages 16-19 for
group trips including
the Thames Cable Car