There is exactly one seagoing paddle steamer left on the planet, and this month she turns 80. The Waverley, launched on the Clyde on 2 October 1946, is marking the milestone with a special birthday sailing from London Tower Pier, complete with 1940s jazz from the Bel Canto Vintage Sisters.

The ship's story reads like a rescue mission. Built at the Pointhouse Yard in Partick, Glasgow, and named after Sir Walter Scott's Waverley novels, she worked commercially until 1974, when she was handed to the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society for just £1. Restored to her original 1940s condition, she returned to service in 1975 and has since carried more than six million passengers on day, afternoon and evening cruises around the UK. An independent Economic Impact Assessment puts her contribution to the British economy at £11.6 million (€13.5 million). She still runs on a 2,100 horsepower steam engine, so expect the full sensory package: hissing steam, churning paddles and a deck that smells of another century.

The anniversary sailing departs London Tower Pier on 2 October. A one-way ticket to Gravesend in Kent costs £47 (about €55) — a riverside town worth the trip for Gad's Hill Place, Charles Dickens's former home, where he wrote Great Expectations and which opens to visitors on select days. If you'd rather make a full day of it, an £81 (€95) return cruise runs from 9:30 am to 9:00 pm and passes three Second World War-era sea forts in the Thames estuary: Shivering Sands, Red Sands and Knock John, strange rusting stalwarts that look like science-fiction set dressing rising from the water.

The London routes are a sightseeing bargain in their own right, gliding past the O2 Arena, Canary Wharf and Tower Bridge. There are also sailings to and from Southend-on-Sea for a proper seaside finish. Beyond the capital, Waverley's season stretches across the south coast from Southampton, Swanage, Yarmouth and Portsmouth Harbour, and up in Scotland from Dunoon, Glasgow, Greenock, Kilcreggán, Blairmore and Largs — her home waters, where she began life serving the Clyde.

For travellers, this is a rare kind of day out: not a replica or a themed experience, but the genuine article still doing the job she was built for. General manager Paul Semple puts it plainly — the remarkable thing is that, eight decades on, she keeps attracting new generations of passengers. If you've ever wanted to feel a paddle steamer working under your feet, October is the moment, and the birthday cruise with live swing music is about as atmospheric as it gets. Tickets for popular sailings tend to go quickly, so book ahead through Waverley Excursions.

Story via Euronews Travel.