Shortened "free" bus tour

Q: I am absolutely thrilled by your bus tour of london as I have been looking for something like this. One thing I want to ask. I want to take my elderly mum on the tour next Tuesday and she can't walk far. I don't know these places and I wanted to ask if the walks in between bus stops are long...she can walk 5-8 minutes in between rests. also, any idea how long the whole tour would take? I look forward to hearing from you.

A: The entire journey - if you do it all - would probably take around 3 - 4 hours, largely dependent on traffic and on waiting times between buses. Tuesday there is likely to be more traffic, though buses should be more frequent than over the Xmas period.

If your mum isn't up to doing the whole tour, can I suggest you do the following shortened version, cutting out the parts that go west to Kensington and north of Piccadilly.

The shortened tour would be as follows (starting and finishing at Trafalgar Square):

Bus 15 from Trafalgar Square to Tower of London

Change at Tower of London for bus RV1 (you may need to walk around the corner and join it at the top of Tower Bridge)

Bus RV1 from Tower of London to London Eye

Walk along the river front to the end of Westminster Bridge, cross the road and wait outside St Thomas hospital for bus number 12

Bus number 12 from London Eye to Trafalgar Square

That tour would probably take around 2 hours, I guess - again, depending on traffic and waiting times.

The distances between stops at all changing points on the whole tour have been deliberately selected to be as close as possible together, so you shouldn't need to walk more than a few minutes to get from one stop to another at each point.