Tall ships at Woolwich and beyond

Just a quick reminder that there are apparently tall ships up at Woolwich at the moment and over the weekend.  The Royal Greenwich website says that "from Wednesday 28 August to Sunday 1 September 2013 eight tall ships will be based along the riverside in Woolwich. They will be sailing up to central London each day and evening, departing from Woolwich pier."  More information is available on the Sail Greenwich website, and a route map is available on the site here.   It doesn't look as though they are going to form any sort of convoy or parade together, which is a shame, but the website is a bit of a mess and I may just have misread it or missed the critical bit - do let me know if you know of plans for all the ships to sail together along the Thames.

I saw one of the ships today as I was walking along the Thames Path.   Called Loth Lorien, (a reference to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, according to Google), she sailed down to Tower Bridge, turned around and came back.  On her return journey she unfurled more sail than on her trip upriver and looked quite spectacular in the sunshine.  She was flying Netherlands and Amsterdam flags.  

A further rumble around Google revealed that she was built by Asselem and Karstens in Norway in 1907, is 48m long with a steel hull and is barquentine-rigged.  More details about her can be found on the Marine Traffic and Charter World websites. 

She looked absolutely lovely in the sunshine.