Catching the kayak river bus to work

Guaranteed seat all the way, no getting stuck in traffic, just watch out for waves.

Two commuters have given up their normal journey to work to paddle from Fulham into central London.

Will Lawrie, 35, a property fund manager for CBRE Investors in Marble Arch, and Major Tim How, 39, based at the Ministry of Defence, set off from a riverside pub near their homes at 5.30am to catch the fastest tide. They navigated their £1,800 German-built Klepper kayaks in an hour and 15 minutes to the RNLI pier near Waterloo Bridge.

Mr Lawrie, a former volunteer lifeboatman at Tower Pier, had permission to moor his kayak there. Then he hopped on a bus and Mr How strolled to the MoD.

Father-of-one Mr Lawrie said: "It just caught our imaginations. We both live near the river and Tim's working by it.

"Gliding away in the dark and out on to the glassy water was a really good feeling. As we made our way along the river we got a sense of the city waking up."

He can dismantle the kayak and pack it into a holdall in about 20 minutes but as it weighs about 30kg he was grateful to leave it moored.

Unfortunately they were unable to kayak home as the tide was too strong.