We left St Katharine's dock on a brilliant spring Saturday afternoon. Our friends John and Wendy on Beyond and Val and Daria on St Christopher were there help us through the lock and out into the grey old Thames. In addition about three Hundred gawping Tourists who had been delayed by the lock opening used us as a foreground to their photos of Tower Bridge. All went well and soon we were looping around the Isle of Dogs now more commonly called Canary Wharf. Greenwich and the O2 stadium soon passed as the sun disappeared behind grey clouds. We were dressed for summer in crocs and tee shirts but soon the reality of early spring in Northern Europe hit and we pulled on our Mustos, hats and gloves and hid behind the dodger. We had left St Kats 2 hours before high at 3 p.m. and had been stemming the week tide for a while and averaging only 5 knots however as we passed the Thames flood barrier the tide was beginning to work in our favour and we picked up speed to close to 10 knots overground. Our plan was to overnight tie to the floating barge in Queen Borough and thought that we could make it easily before dark at 8.30 however we only just made good our plans and it was black as we rafted up against two stink boats that occupied "our" spot.