I had an ambitious day planned. Since time was a consideration, we took two Black Cabs to the start of our journey to Westminster Pier. I was told that most of the wheelchair users who travel by cab use manual chairs that can be tilted onto their back wheels and front-loaded into the cab. As a result, the ramps aren't used very often. Our driver gave his finger a good pinching trying to fold the ramp and close the door at the same time. It's wonderful, though, being able to get around to places not within walking distance, although it's not inexpensive.
City Cruises (www.citycruises.com, Cherry Garden Pier, Cherry Garden Street, Rotherhithe, London SE16 4TU, +44 (0)20 7740 0400) operates sightseeing ships along the Thames River. They also offer a combination Thames River cruise and Docklands Light Railway (DLR) package, with a hop-on/hop-off feature at any of their stations. City Cruises bills itself as an accessible river tour company and the DLR is the only completely accessible railway in the area. Before booking, we had inquired about accessibility as it related to the height of the tide and were reassured that it would be no problem. We had no trouble boarding at either low or high tide. At Westminster Pier, we were directed to a ramped pathway to the ship, to avoid the steps, and the chair rolled from the pier onto the boat easily. Thinking we were home-free, we hurried to enter the interior so we wouldn't hold-up fellow passengers, only to be met by a lip at the doorway entrance approximately several inches high. We had to lift 420 pounds of chair and passenger over this obstacle, which was an unpleasant surprise! Again, most chair users appear to travel in manuals, popping "wheelies" to manage. Nevertheless, I wrote a very nice letter to the company, when we returned home, explaining to them the difficulty we encountered. I suggested that they could advise their passengers about renting a manual chair or, perhaps, they could buy, or inexpensively put together, a ramp for each ship.
Despite this little problem, the tour was well worth it! Our captain was a funny, knowledgeable guy who kept us informed and entertained, all the while insisting that this was not a narrated tour. We left the ship at the Greenwich Pier, walked around, including the Market, and worked our way to the Cutty Sark DLR station.
A
well-marked lift is provided to the platform and access on and off the
cars is exactly as billed - completely accessible. It's been a very, very
long time since Greg was on a train, so it was fun. We exited at Tower
Gateway, near the Tower of London.
The Tower of London, in my opinion, is the most complex, wonderfully intriguing building in all of London. We arrived too late to go through it. My old guide lists the inaccessible parts, but I'd like to visit whatever is possible anyway. The Tower Bridge Tower is completely accessible. The only odd part is having to travel around the block to avoid the stairs from the street to the engine room. The Tower personnel are very good about instructions regarding accessibility. However, there are no signs around the block and the last leg appears to be through an alleyway and the sidewalk was occasionally blocked by trash cans or empty containers. You have to go back the way you came to reach the street level walkway. Note on this: Use the walkway on the side nearest the Tower of London as the other side ends in a high curb with no curb cut.
Back on the boat, we realized we'd run out of time to go on the famous ferris wheel-like London Eye at Waterloo Pier, so we passed it by this trip and continued back to our pier of origin, Westminster. The restrooms on the boat are not accessible, but there is one across the street, in the tube station, accessed via a lift.
It was our intention to walk to Picadilly Circus for dinner, but Greg's chair had reached a low battery level, as did the rest of us. We hailed a Black Cab, who could take a chair, and one right behind, to take the five of us back to the hotel. Dinner and to bed.
July 6, 2003
Phil, who works for Trevor, arrived to take us to Stonehenge and Bath,
some 110 miles outside London. Stonehenge, I'm sorry to say, can no longer
be touched by visitors. People were chipping or scraping off pieces of
the stones as souvenirs. 
Instead,
there is an accessible walkway around the entire site and you can borrow
an audio device to listen to commentary along the way.
At each numbered station, the commentary includes aspects of the site that are more apparent at that particular point of view than at the others. The gift store has one flat entrance and one with a step. There are restrooms, one accessible, in the parking area.
Bath is noteworthy for its Romanesque beauty. There was a steep fee for entrance into a building under which the Roman bath remains are said to lie, but we couldn't find out if they were accessible, so we didn't risk it. We knew we were facing a long ride back to London, with heavy traffic probable, so we were anxious to get started back as we had souvenir shopping, dinner, and packing to do before an early bed. We were being picked up by Dave at 7:30 the next morning and had to have everyone up, showered, dressed, fed, and downstairs with bags and carry-ons by then. So, after sightseeing, picture taking, lunch at the "Rat and Parrot", where they have a NKS restroom on the main floor, we started toward our meeting point with Phil.
The NKS system is short for the National Key Scheme system, which is a system of accessible loos (toilets), operated by RADAR, The Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation, (www.radar.org.uk, 12 City Forum, 250 City Road, London EC1V 8AF, Tel: 020 7250 3222). NKS was launched in 1981 and over 5600 loos now use this system. A standard lock is used for all accessible loos and a key, with a list of the locations of these toilets, can be obtained from RADAR for about five pounds. Just another thing you have to love about Great Britain.
July 7, 2003
Leaving to go back home, everything worked like clockwork. At the airport, Greg's chair was taken and he was transported on a manual chair to the jetway entrance, transferred onto an aisle chair, and then to his seat. The accessible bathroom was the same type as the one on the trip out.
We would love to go back! The only thing I would do differently would be to plan a longer trip - a minimum of 9-10 days. Jet lag, from California, was a big factor in our first couple of days. In addition, we kept pushing because we wanted to see as much as possible. Hiring a tour company is the way to go, though! We saved a great deal of energy by not doing the driving ourselves and we got a chance to learn much more about how people who live in England see things, not to mention all the things you just can't find in books.