Here at VL, we’re fans of both pop-up events and outdoor cinema. So we’re delighted to hear that the two will be combined next year when a floating cinema sets sail in East London!

The Floating Cinema will navigate the waterways of the five Olympic host boroughs in summer 2011.

Climb aboard for floating film-screenings, film-related activities and larger outdoor screening events.

The Floating Cinema is part of the Portavilion project, whose pop-up dance tent travelled around London earlier this year.

Artists Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie (known collectively as Somewhere) are developing the event which aims to create a “human blueprint” of London’s waterways and their connections to the Olympic Park and the Games.

We can’t wait to see it.

The Floating Cinema, Jun-Sep 2011

London’s iconic river Thames has won the prestigious International Theiss River Prize in Perth, Australia this week. The prize recognises outstanding achievement in river management and restoration.

The Thames has undergone an extensive recovery programme that has seen it go from a biologically dead river in the 1950s to today’s thriving waterway; teeming with fish, and with returning salmon, otter and sea trout populations.

Water quality has also improved, with rivers in the Thames catchment rising from 53% rated chemically “Good” or “Very Good” in 1990 to 80% in 2008.

Alastair Driver, the Environment Agency‘s national conservation manager, said: “In the last 150 years the Thames has been to hell and back, and it has taken thousands of people many decades to restore it to this point. … [Now] we and all of the people and organisations we work with are [are working to] ensure that the Thames remains an iconic river for many centuries to come.”

The photo above is from the Environment Agency’s flickr Pool. Add your Thames pics to Visit London’s flickr pool here.

Read more about the London’s River Thames

London’s long-anticipated Cycle Hire Scheme launched on Friday. Have you signed up yet? Tell us about your maiden voyage!

Whether you’ve joined the Cycle Hire Scheme or not, Visit London wants to know where you enjoy riding in London. Do you like to cycle by London’s waterways, are you an urban road rider, or do you take advantage of the bike paths of London’s many parks and open spaces?

Tell us about your favourite cycle routes in London.

This week’s London photo is by Earthsea Ged who snapped canal boat The Jenny Wren passing through Camden Lock.

If you’re out and about enjoying yourself in London this bank holiday weekend, don’t forget to share your pictures with the Visit London Flickr pool!

We can’t get enough of the lovely September sun in London, and here’s a great example of Camden Lock in the sunshine. Don’t you just wish you were sitting outside enjoying it…?

How have you been making the most of our wonderful Indian summer? Add your pics to the Visit London Flickr Pool and you might just see one on here.