Day 14: Teddington to Putney - 11 ½ miles

Monday 16 August

This is the first time we have travelled to the start point of our day’s walk by train. The thought of driving to Putney and trying to find all-day parking was just too stressful for us old chaps. The journey worked out well and we were soon on the path and leaving Teddington Lock behind.

Not long after starting we met up with Susan and Richard, an architect ex-colleague of Chris’s who now operate a dog walking business in Teddington (www.thedogsquad.co.uk). From what I could see, architecture must be much easier and less stressful than looking after 7 dogs, and I could not manage to get all of them into the picture below.

We left the dogs and stretched out towards Richmond, passing Ham House along the way. Just below the bustling town of Richmond is Petersham Meadows where cattle still graze in water-meadows that are regularly allowed to flood. The cattle certainly looked healthy and clearly smelt the apple in my rucksack.

After such a close encounter with the local wildlife we were ready for a cappuccino and found a good one in a cafe under the arches of Richmond Bridge.

Shortly after resuming our walk we saw Richmond Lock and the very ornate footbridge. The structure was built in 1894 to maintain a navigable depth of water upstream of Richmond. For about two hours each side of high tide the sluice gates are raised into the footbridge structure to allow river traffic to pass through. For the rest of the tidal cycle the sluice gates are closed, and boats must use the lock alongside.

After Richmond lock we were in open countryside on our side of the Thames as we went past the Old Deer Park. The other bank, however, is much more developed with some fine period houses, particularly around Old Isleworth. The photo below shows buildings around The London Apprentice (a hostelry of my youth) and one of the lodges to Syon Park, a bit further downstream.

The contrast in the two banks of the Thames continued until we reached Kew Bridge. On our side we went past Kew Gardens and the rear of Kew Palace. The Palace was originally the home of a rich merchant and then became a royal home of George III and members of his family.

On the other bank we could see the once busy Brentford Docks, where traffic from the Grand Union Canal and the Thames met. After all this history we were ready for lunch and so pressed on to our planned stop at the Greyhound on Kew Green for a pint of London Pride and a good range of sandwiches.

Starting after lunch is always difficult, but after substantial sandwiches, it was even more so. Still, we managed to get going and set out for Putney. Beyond Kew the riverside is very built up and we came across the old Mortlake Brewery. The main building has been redeveloped, but there are still signs of the past with a cobbled quay and rail tracks to the river. Nearby we spotted a marker for the end of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race and another photo opportunity.

We passed under Chiswick Bridge and went on to Barnes, which is always regarded as a London village. We were not certain about being a village, and the houses fronting the river had more of a ‘seaside’ feel. Two of the houses had blue plaques informing us of the earlier residence of Gustav Holst and the founder of the Royal Ballet School.

The end of our walk was Putney Bridge. After more than 11 miles and what turned out to be a hot day, we were ready for some tea and found an excellent cafe in St Mary’s Church adjacent to Putney Bridge.

I had a look around the church (Chris could not move from the sofa) and found out that during the Civil War Putney was for a time the headquarters of Cromwell’s army. In 1647 meetings of the Army Council were held in the church, including discussions on the future government that were subsequently published as the “Putney Debates”

We ended the day carrying our poles up Putney high street (it being too crowded for Nordic walking and we might get more strange looks than normal) and getting the train back home.

Next stop Tower Bridge and then just one more stage to reach the Thames Barrier. So please help us reach our £3000 target!

Day 13: Shepperton to Teddington - 11 miles

Tuesday 3 August 2010

We were delighted to have a guest walker with us for this stretch. Our friend John joined us on the day, fresh from his day job in Hungary. It was another fine day, allowing us to travel light - in John’s case just his sunglasses and credit card! For this stage we started on the Weybridge side of Shepperton Ferry, choosing not to wake up the ferryman at this hour of the morning.

The first part of our journey took us along the Desborough Cut. The Cut is named after Lord Desborough, the longest serving chairman of the Thames Conservancy and was completed in 1935. It bypasses a long loop of the river to the north with a straight navigable channel.

Our first stop was predictably for a coffee at the noisy Walton Bridge. There was a ferry at this point of the river from the 1400’s and the latest bridge (the 5th bridge) was constructed in 1999 as a temporary structure alongside the previous bridge. I guess these days ‘temporary’ is a euphemism for ‘permanent’. It’s a shame its so ugly.

At Sunbury John regaled us with stories of his youth and what he did growing up in this area - none of it repeatable - without money changing hands anyway! This area is dominated by huge reservoirs with banks much higher than the river. These are the ones you can see below when taking off from Heathrow.

We found time to take this photo of us approaching the old Hurst Park racecourse. The racecourse was last used in 1963, despite the suffragettes burning down park of the Royal Box in 1913. I will leave it up to you to decide who is most like, Compo, Clegg or Foggy!

Across the river was the slender tower of Hampton church dating from 1831, and Garrick’s Ait. David Garrick, the actor, had a domed temple built here, opposite his villa and even had the statue modeled on himself. The temple is visible between the river and the Hampton Court to Sunbury main road.

This part of the river is lined with a veritable traffic jam of weird and wonderful houseboats of all shapes and sizes. It must be strange to live so close to the water.

Lunch was beckoning as we reached Hampton Court bridge and after a fruitless trek across the river to The Cardinal Wolsey, which we found to be in the throes of a refurbishment, we finally settled down to a very pleasant meal at Blubeckers. We managed to stretch lunch out much longer than normal, probably down to John’s ‘bon-viveur’ influence, but eventually we staggered on past the wonderful Hampton Court Palace. It is not difficult to imagine that 600 years ago King Henry V would have been dropped off at this very spot by the royal barge to visit his country seat!

There were lots of visitors walking along the river skirting the grounds of Hampton Court and our next destination Kingston - don’t they have jobs to go to? But before we reached Kingston I had arranged for us to call in on my longtime friend Carole, who very kindly gave us tea and biscuits and made us very welcome.

Duly refreshed we crossed Kingston Bridge and walked though the pleasant public gardens towards Teddington. There are some lovely properties here on the Hampton Wick bank with gardens reaching down to the waterside.

But we needed to push on to Teddington Lock and journey’s end. Teddington Lock is the highest tidal point on the Thames. The lock was originally constructed in 1811 and is a vast construction. In 1940 Teddington Lock was an assembly point for an enormous flotilla of small ships to be used in the evacuation of Dunkirk. I am constantly reminded how much history this river has to offer.

So we crossed back to the north bank by the footbridge to the site of the old Thames Television studios, where The Benny Hill Show, Opportunity Knocks and This is Your Life were all regularly recorded. The studios originated at the turn of the last century when a local house owner allowed filmmakers to use his greenhouse as a studio. It still produces tv programmes independently such as My Family and Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

At the end of a long hot day John’s wife kindly collected us on her drive home from work, whilst Steve and I dozed in the back seat.

Next time we walk from Teddington to Putney and hope to meet up with my friends Richard and Susan and a dozen dogs!

Day 12: Windsor to Shepperton - 14 miles

Thursday 29 July

This stretch of the Thames Path (and the next one) are really home territory for both of us. We started from the centre of Windsor on a bright clear morning that was ideal for walking. But, both being ex boy scouts I was prepared with a fleece and a waterproof, thankfully neither of which were used.

The route took us out into the public part of Home Park, but soon we had to cross the river at Victoria Bridge and go along the road through Datchet, before crossing again at Albert Bridge. These bridges were built in the 1850s to create a private riverside park for Queen Victoria; a situation that has not changed with our current Queen, despite the inconvenience to walker of the Thames path.

After leaving Windsor, the next notable point on route is Runnymede and the gatehouses designed by Lutyens on either side of the road. The gatehouses are owned by the National Trust who let one for an independently run tea room. We were eagerly anticipating our morning cappuccino by this time, but were disappointed. The tea room is more of a ‘greasy spoon’ serving all-day breakfasts and the coffee was dreadful.

As readers will know, Runnymede is the site where King John sealed the Magna Carter in 1215. We could see the memorial that was funded by the American Bar Society in 1957, but as both of us had visited before, we pressed on towards lunch.

Our lunch stop was the Swan Hotel in Staines. This hotel/pub enjoys a great position overlooking the river, but unfortunately the food did not match the location. The beer, however, was better – Fullers Seafarers’ Ale. It seems that Fullers donate £5 for every barrel sold to the charity Seafarers UK, so we did our bit for another good cause.

Barely refreshed we crossed over Staines Bridge, stopping to view a rather strange statue we concluded was a Heron. Being none the wiser about the statue we struck out towards Laleham and Chertsey.

It was just after Chertsey Bridge that we were stopped by a lady asking if our Nordic poles were as good as she had heard. We regularly get strange looks walking with poles (Chris more than me) but this was the first genuine enquiry, so we gave her a brief run down on the benefits of poles and left a convert.

The stretch of the river after Staines is characterised on one bank by ribbon development of bungalows, some clearly dating from the pre-planning period judging by the incongruity of styles. Another feature of this stretch of river is the number and variety of Houseboats.

Captain Pugwash would have felt at home on the white boat, and the other would not have looked out of place on an airfield.

Our walk for the day finished at Shepperton Lock near the ferry that will take us to the other bank at the start of the section to Teddington.