The River Thames tides - when is the best time to visit?
Keith McGregor
The River Thames in London is tidal from Teddington through the city and down to the mouth where it enters the sea. The tide rises and falls due to the rotation of the earth and gravitational pull of the moon. Very basically the water wants to stay at the closest point to the moon and as the World moves this causes the water to appear to move creating a tidal flow. To us it is the sea that is moving not the World where in reality it is a bit of both!
The tide affects the River Thames right up to the first lock at Teddington. This means the whole of Central London and all the boats, ships and piers move up and down as the tide comes in and out twice in every 24hrs.
In affect the tide makes the water flow up the river twice a day reversing the flow! This flow of water creates a rise and fall of around 7m, however this number changes due to many factors. With 7 meters of water flowing in and out some strong currents are created which have an affect on the river and London.
Boats are affected as when travelling with the flow of the tide they can travel much faster than if there was no tidal flow. Similarly when travelling against the tide they are slowed significantly. This affects how long it takes to get to and from places. For example a London party boat travelling from Central London to Greenwich to embark passengers at 8pm would need to leave an extra 30 minutes when travelling into the tide. This could have a knock on affect to the daytime boat hire client as they may have wanted to book for more time!
If you are trying to load a London charter boat, are elderly, or have a disability then finding out when it is high tide would be of huge benefit to your safety. At high tide the Thames is towards the top of the banks and the piers where people access the boats have almost level walkways. This is good for easily walking or carrying/wheeling heavy goods on to the Thames river boats. When it is low tide the access walkways to the piers become very steeply angled due to the fact the water level can be as much as 7 meters lower than it was at high tide.
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