Year 6 London Trip to see Sarah Outen

On Tuesday November 3rd all year 6 went to London to welcome home Sarah Outen after her epic London2London via the world challenge.6 children went with Mrs Chadwick on a coach together with Inspire+ , Casper and his mum went by train( Mrs Carley wanted all year 6 to be able to go rather than just the 6 places we were allocated and so she bought train tickets and met us there-thank you very much- a lovely gesture and appreciated by all of us).
After a slow journey we arrived at Tower Bridge  at 11.40 and took our positions at ready for Sarah to kayak under the bridge at 12noon. As soon as we arrived we could see her in the distance accompanied by a flotilla of rowers from Rutland .

Hi vis jackets to keep us all safe and visible amongst the London tourists! Flags ready to wave.

You will notice only 6 Year 6 children-Joseph was lucky to be 1 of the 6 VIP children who went with Vincent (CEO of Inspire+ and Chris Graves ) to meet Sarah together with the TV and press.

Sarah is now level with HMS Belfast and making her way towards us on time for rowing under at 12 noon.

Jacob made a banner- Rutland radio press took a photo of him -if you use Twitter you can find this and other photos on the Inspire+ Twitter account.

Jacob's dad worked close by and he walked down and met us on the bridge as part of our welcome party.

Waiting on St Katerine's Dock for Sarah to dock and meet the welcome party.

Almost there...

Sarah is in the blue kayak-Nelson.

Sarah was inundated with press and interviews so we ate our lunch on the dock side.

Almost time to meet her ourselves.

All the Inspire+ children waiting patiently.

If you look back at Tower Bridge and the highest walkway-later on in our photos we walked across this on the glass floor! Sooooo high up!

Lots of tourists asked us what was happening.

Sarah smiling and really appreciating our welcome.

She spoke to us about adventures and achieving our dreams.

Vincent and the VIPs make their way back to us.

Children presenting Sarah with the oar that all schools signed with a message last year as part of our Legacy Tour.Amy and Jess wrote our message.

Sarah amongst us all.

Just us and Sarah- a fabulous photo.

Thank you Sarah- we were proud to meet you and be there at the end of you incredible journey.

Following the blue line to the Tower Bridge Experience.

We had a LOT of steps to climb up so we knew we were going to be high up.We had super panoramic views across London-just a bit misty.The part the children enjoyed the most was the glass floor that spanned across the Tower 42 m above the ground!

Some were quite happy to sit 42 m above the River Thames!

or even lie above it!

others not so sure (at first!)

getting braver

 A blurred  photo as Jacob is now jumping having found he isn't that frightened of heights after all!

The smile says it all.

Making our way back to the coach at 4pm.

The journey back showed us some of the sights:London Eye,

Big Ben

a close up of Big Ben

A super day-long- 8 hours on a coach-but worth it. We stopped off at a service station on the way back for extra snacks to enjoy whilst watching the DVDs that were playing for us.

A chance in a life time-to meet Sarah at the end of her challenge and welcome her back and we were there!