The trouble with the May Bank Holiday is that it always sneaks up right after Easter. We’d barely unpacked from our Easter grand tour and suddenly it was time to hit the road again! After a bit of indecision, we landed on Walton on Thames—perfectly placed for a visit to Keith’s dad in South London and for ticking off more miles along the Thames Path.
We stayed at the Camping and Caravanning Club site in Walton, which is quite different from other club sites we’ve visited. No facilities block means it’s much quieter—a welcome change this time of year. There’s a large field with no electric hook-up (ideal for off-gridders like us), as well as standard hardstanding pitches with electric if needed.
We chose to go off-grid—the first time this year—and it felt so right. Somehow, being off electric always helps us switch off mentally too. Why is that? Still a mystery!
We pitched right next to the River Mole, and it was absolutely idyllic—peaceful, calm, and just what we needed.
Friday night:
BBQ time and relaxation mode: perfect after a busy week at work
Saturday:
We had a well-earned lie-in followed by a proper fry-up.
The bus stop is just a 10-minute walk away, so we hopped on a bus to Kingston upon Thames to continue our Thames Path adventure. The walk was beautiful, and we especially loved the drinks at The Mitre Hotel—right on the river next to Hampton Court Palace. It honestly felt like we were abroad!
We walked all the way to the outskirts of Walton on Thames before catching a bus back to the site.
Dinner was chicken gyros and a big ol’ chill-out session. Perfection.
Sunday:
Another laid-back morning with breakfast baps, then we picked up where we left off—bus to Walton outskirts, then walked to Chertsey.
The transformation of the river from urban to rural was stunning. A highlight for us was the foot ferry near Shepperton—a charming part of the national trail.
A couple of pub stops later, we arrived in Chertsey. Another cracking day of walking.
There’s a club site in Chertsey too (we’ve stayed there before), but we’ll definitely be returning to Walton on Thames. It was utterly lovely—tranquil, scenic, and with great public transport links. You could even get into Central London in about an hour!
Dinner was salmon and asparagus pasta.
We were chuffed to bits with how all our off grid gadgets worked. The joolca hot tap being the start of them all- instant hot water for showers and washing up is absolutely a game changer! read about it here
Next up:
The stretch from Chertsey to Marlow is calling! 🚶♀️🚶♂️
If anyone has off-grid campsite recommendations along the Thames Path—we’d love to hear them!
It’s Friday afternoon, I finished work at 12.30 in Suffolk, by 1:30 I was home, and by 1:40 we were in the road. By 4pm we’d arrived at London’s Abbey Wood campsite and had a super quick set up. The sun was shining and we were both super excited about the weekend ahead.
We’d chosen to stay at the Caravan and Motorhome Club site at Abbey Wood this weekend, a change from our normal base, their sister site at Crystal Palace. Not only is it marginally closer to us, it’s immediately obvious it’s quite a bit quieter.
Our adventure this weekend were based around the River Thames. We were finally ticking a walk off that had been on my list for years- The Thames Path from the Thames Barrier to London Bridge. But before that, on Friday night after a quick pasta meal at Gandalf, we nipped into Canary Wharf.
Just 4 stops on the wonderful Elizabeth Line from Abbey Wood took us right into the heart of Canary Wharf and number 7 of the 13 point Winter Lights festival that runs each January for two weeks. It’s free to attend and the installations ranged from arty to just really lovely and bright.
Jazz, our dear old doggie, attended the weekend with us and actually despite him being 12.5 and us having visited London more than any other place in the world (granted we both lived there for a while – Keefy 38 years!), I still can’t get over the fact that we haven’t yet taken Jazz – until now. As the crowds around Canary Wharf grew, we popped him into his doggie rucksack where he promptly became the start of the show for many- the endless people taking pics almost began to become wearing!
Our favourite parts of the winter lights 2024 were the immersive dangling lights – a great place for a beer! Neuron, which was an intricate network of lights symbolising the neural connections of the human brain- and Sign which looked like a bonfire.
The view across the Thames towards the Shard from Canary Wharf was lovely – it’s always nice to see it from a different viewpoint.
We found a dog friendly bar – The Munich Cricket Club for a nightcap before making the easy journey back to Gandalf the Campervan.
Saturday – the main feature walk.
To get to our starting point of the Thames Barrier, we took bus number 180 – around 5 mins walk from campsite- to Greenwich Trust School Stop, which is then just a short walk to the barrier itself.
I was surprised to learn that the Thames Barrier is actually closed 4 times a year, and whilst looking like it needs a bit of TLC – don’t we all?! – it’s clearly doing its job!
It’s my hope that we can complete the Thames Path Trail – although it will be in segments maybe months apart, at some point I’d like to be able to say we’ve done it in successive parts.
Obligatory photos done of the start of our journey along the Thames, the path took us through a tunnel, alongside the gates of the Barrier and then u scrap and industrial yards. It’s not the prettiest opening, but a reminder about how many companies still rely on the river for their business use.
Luckily the greyness doesn’t last long and before we knew it we could see the Emirates Skyline cable cars which feed into the O2, London City airport, and of course the 02.
Trinity Buoy Wharf lighthouse, London’s only remaining lighthouse. This one wasn’t used for navigation, but for experimenting and developing lightware for the Trinity network of lighthouses.
Before we knew it we were approaching 5 miles and Greenwich- and the closer we got to Greenwich, the more pubs we saw, which was a good thing as it was 11:30 and the sun was over the yardarm.
The following miles passed in a happy daze of walking a couple of miles and then stopping for a beer. We enjoyed it so much that we ended up far exceeding our original hope of walking to Tower Bridge, continuing on to the recently reopened since renovating Battersea Power Station (approx 16.5 miles)
If you haven’t yet been for a visit, it’s highly worth it. Such an iconic building brought back to its former glory. And the trip up the chimney in the lift is absolutely exceptional. (We did this previously)
We ended up doing a total of 19.6 miles including getting to and from start and end points and back to our campervan in Abbey Wood Campsite.
We absolutely LOVED the walk, there was SO much to see! We loved walking under the Thames in the Greenwich foot tunnel, and had some lovely historic pub stops, plus fish and chips in The Prospect of Whitby.
Greenwich foot tunnel was a highlight
Pub stops (all dog friendly)
🍺 Enderby House after the O2 but before Cutty Sark. Dates from 1830s
🍺 The Cutty Sark – about half a mile after Enderby House but grade 2 listed, and a great view of o2 so we couldn’t resist!
🍺 the Ferry House on the Isle of Dogs, oldest pub on Isle of Dogs
🍺 the Grapes, Limehouse, once visited by Dickens and now owned by Sir Ian McKellan who lives nearby
🍺 The Prospect of Whitby, flagstone floor is over 500 years old and has the original ancient Pewter topped bar still in place
🍺The Anchor, Bankside, a tavern has stood here for over 800 years
🍺 Battersea Brewery – the perfect place to finish!
Getting back to Abbey Wood campsite was easy; the northern line to Tottenham Court Road, and then Elizabeth line to Abbey Wood and after some soup and nibbles we had a brilliant and quiet night’s sleep.
On Sunday, we woke up to glorious sunshine, so we did a walk from the Exploring the Elizabeth line book- which was right from our campsite into nearby Lesnes Abbey Woods. We clocked up 3.3 miles before making our way back to Norfolk.
Gandalf the VW Campervan is parked up a stones throw from the River Thames in Newbridge, a tiny hamlet consisting of 800 year old bridge, two pubs and a farm, who’s field we are camped on! We’re on Newbridge Farm, a C&MC CL, with no facilities other than a loo disposal, tap and bin. We’ve come for a last hurrah before we return to work next week, after a terrific summer of travel and adventures. The first part of this trip is a bit of a “working holiday” as we both attacked our return to work admin and time tabling for the term ahead. However, as all we needed for this was a phone, iPad and 4g, we decided a change of scenery out of our office window would be nice. Also there is something really liberating about being off hook up- it does something (positive) to our mind and so we’ve found the headspace here that we needed to crack on with admin.
The site itself is a medium sized field, with elson point, tap, and rubbish disposal and views over the fields. There is a footpath which takes you across a field to the Thames and the Thames Path, and not one but two pubs, and a very historical bridge.
There is some road noise, however it didn’t cause us too much of a problem, and at £6pn we just can’t complain at all! It’s packed as you can see…..!
As I said earlier, we just ADORE these off grid sites. It’s also really interesting to see how the solar panel copes as it’s very grey and cloudy- we seem to be stuck in a cloudy tunnel at the moment! (Update – it worked brilliantly! 2 nights off grid with very cloudy skies and we’re still sat at 12.5 v – really chuffed!)
We arrived here on Tuesday afternoon and settled down for some admin time before taking a dog walk to the local for a river view. We enjoyed a pint in the Rose Revived, a green king pub, and as the seasons have apparently shifted to autumn, it would have been rude not to try an Abbots Ale overlooking the bridge and river.
Newbridge, contrary to its name, is actually the oldest original crossing of the River Thames. It’s 800 years old and was built during the reign of King John. It’s a beautiful bridge.
After our pint at The Rose Revived we decided to inspect the bridge from the other side, this time taking a river front seat at The Maybush. Our luck was in as they had declared £1 a pint as they tried to clear some left over beer festival stock.
We returned to Gandalf, had a shower each in the awning and then made beef and potato curry for dinner. Delicious! Before settling down under fairy lights and reading our magazines.
Wednesday dawned grey again, never mind, we cracked on with our admin in the morning, and just before lunchtime went for a 3 mile linear walk from Newbridge towards the sea (which is 153 miles to the east)
In lockdown earlier this year, I spent a considerable amount of time planning a Thames Path adventure using Gandalf and campsites as our base each night. Sadly I got a foot injury and we had to postpone our walk. The Thames Path runs for 183 miles and runs from the source of the Thames just south of Cirencester where it’s just a spring and tiny stream, into the sea at the Thames Barrier. I really really want to walk this, so hope my injury improves for next year. In the meantime I’ll blog about my Thames Path plans separately sometime.
Today’s walk took in a very remote and pretty section of the The Thames. It’s hard to image this picture perfect rural river ending up running through the capital of England with high rises, Parliament etc on each bank.
After our walk we stopped for lunch at The Maybush -unfortunately the staff in The Rose Revived were extremely rude to us, but it was their loss. Plus, the Maybush still had £1 a pint!
As we’d had such a productive couple of days, we decided to treat ourselves to a trip on the Thames, by hiring an electric punt boat from a stall just by the Rose Revived – Oxford Punts. We spent an hour having the most relaxing time making four way towards the source of the Thames. [£25 for 1 hour on electric punt, £3 for dog] I was desperate to see either an otter or a kingfisher but it was not to be. This stretch of the Thames is so quiet and tranquil. Keith did a marvellous job driving the punt- much better than me! It was great to sail under the historic bridge too.
Following our adventure on the Thames we made our way back to Gandalf for a rather large chill. We attempted pizzas on the Cadac using our new pizza stone but they weren’t successful. We followed the instructions of putting the stone directly on the flame, but it soon became obvious that this was a misprint and infact we ended up with a burnt base. Never mind, next time we will know to follow our instincts rather than the instructions!
