Escorts in Royal Docks and ExCeL, E16: the trip out from town, agreed in writing
Is there anything worth looking at out here once the exhibition halls have emptied? More than most visitors expect. The Royal Docks are three long sheets of water, the Royal Victoria, the Royal Albert and King George V, with a great deal of open sky above them, and from their bridges and quays the view runs west to the towers of Canary Wharf, south over the river to the Greenwich Peninsula and east towards the Thames Barrier, with aircraft rising off a runway laid between two of the docks. Royal Docks and ExCeL escorts come out from town to an evening that can make real use of that open ground, and the vantage points below are where to find it.
On the ground
Royal Docks and ExCeL in practice
Landmarks on the arrival slip
By postcode, never by nameE16 1AL, E16 1FR, E16 1AA.
Nearest stations
Walking timeCustom House, 2 minutes. Prince Regent, 4 minutes. Royal Victoria, 6 minutes.
Getting there
E16Outside Zones 1 and 2, so the office confirms the travel and any minimum in writing on WhatsApp before booking. The window is longer than the usual hour, and the chat carries her exact time.
On the board
Out from town to Royal Docks and ExCeL
Who comes out
On the board for Royal Docks and ExCeL
Every name on the board lives in town, so whoever is booked for Royal Docks and ExCeL travels out to you; the six prints above are a first shortlist for tonight. Any of the twenty eight on the who is free page can be asked for by name instead.
Note 02
Above the water on the high footbridge
The footbridge across Royal Victoria Dock was built high enough for tall ships to pass beneath it, and that height is the whole point. From the top the dock lies flat below you: the long frontage of the exhibition halls on the north quay, the old mill and the newer housing on the Silvertown side to the south, and the cable car's towers stepping away towards the river at the western end.
Face west at dusk and the towers of Canary Wharf stand where the water ends, lit floor by floor as the sky darkens behind them. Face east and the dock stretches away past the halls towards the flatter land beyond. No other spot in E16 explains so quickly where you are, and it makes a good first ten minutes for an evening that begins on the dock.
Note 03
Across the river in a cable car cabin
The cable car, opened in 2012, runs from the western end of Royal Victoria Dock over the Thames to the Greenwich Peninsula. Its cabins climb well above the water, and the crossing gives the widest view on this stretch of the river: the white roof of the Dome and its twelve yellow masts ahead, Canary Wharf upstream, the Thames bending round the peninsula, and on a clear evening the Barrier downstream.
Its hours change through the year, so check them on the day rather than planning round a last crossing. The angular glass building beside the northern terminal is the Crystal, which became London's City Hall when the Mayor and the Assembly moved out from their old home beside Tower Bridge.
Note 04
Cranes along the north quay
At water level, the quay along the north side of Royal Victoria Dock passes a line of old dockside cranes kept where they once worked, their jibs raised over the water. They are what remains of the cargo years, and against a sunset they read like a row of black drawings.
Across the dock stands Millennium Mills, a vast pale flour mill that has stood empty for decades and has become the landmark of the Silvertown side. The quay is broad, level and lit, and it runs the length of the halls, which makes it the easy walk for a guest who has spent the day indoors and wants air and a long view before dinner.
Note 05
The Barrier from Thames Barrier Park
South of the docks, on the Silvertown riverside, Thames Barrier Park looks straight across the river at the Barrier. The park is laid out round a sunken garden of clipped hedges running down towards the water, and at the river's edge the view opens onto the row of steel-hooded piers that hold the flood gates, strung across the Thames to the south bank.
It is reached on the DLR branch towards Woolwich, at Pontoon Dock, rather than on the branch past the halls, so it suits an afternoon or the start of an evening better than a detour at the end of one. It is a daylight view above all.
Note 06
Aircraft over the Royal Albert
Further east, the runway of London City Airport is laid along the quay between the Royal Albert Dock and King George V Dock, so aircraft take off and land between two sheets of water. From the north side of the Royal Albert the runway lies just across the dock, near enough to watch a jet lift away over the water.
The airport does not fly through the night, and once the last departures have gone the Royal Albert becomes one of the stillest long views in London: a straight dock, a darkened runway and the lights of the far bank beyond.
Note 07
After dark, and the trip out
At night the docks turn into mirrors. The halls, the lit windows along the quays and the towers to the west all double in the still water, while across the river the Dome keeps its masts lit. Most of the vantage points above work after dark; the park is the exception.
The whole board lives in town, so escorts in Royal Docks and ExCeL make a trip out that takes longer than the usual hour, and the travel, with any minimum, is confirmed to you in writing on WhatsApp before anything is booked; the lengths themselves are on the rates. West along the water lies Canary Wharf, and across the river Greenwich has views of its own, looking back at all of this.
From The Roundup
Two notes worth reading for Royal Docks and ExCeL
Asked most often
Royal Docks and ExCeL, asked and answered
Which way should we face on the footbridge at sunset?
Can a cable car crossing be part of the evening?
What is the huge empty mill across the dock?
Is Thames Barrier Park on the way to anything?
Can we watch the aircraft from the Royal Albert Dock?
One zone either way
Next along from Royal Docks and ExCeL
City Airport and ExCeL
E16Same ladder, but outside Zones 1 and 2: the office confirms the travel and any minimum in writing on WhatsApp before booking.
escorts in London City Airport
E16Same ladder, but outside Zones 1 and 2: the office confirms the travel and any minimum in writing on WhatsApp before booking.
Canary Wharf hotels
E14Same ladder, inside Zones 1 and 2, where travel is included and the usual hour applies.
Stratford
E20, E15Same ladder, inside Zones 1 and 2, where travel is included and the usual hour applies.
escorts in Greenwich
SE10Same ladder, inside Zones 1 and 2, where travel is included and the usual hour applies.
Last strip
Say a name and an hour
Write in with the day, the length and the hotel or address in Royal Docks and ExCeL, and the office replies with a name, a window, and the travel and any minimum in writing before anything is booked.