Category: Thames Path

Adventures on the Thames Path (part 2)

Posted in 2024 Trips, Thames Path4 Comments

Bank holiday weekend approached and for months our plans involved going to Hastings to watch the Green Man festival. However a couple of weeks beforehand we realised we’d need to change this – Lydia had an important rehearsal to run on Monday night and the main feature of the green man festival didn’t finish until 4pm on Monday – Hastings to Norfolk wasn’t achievable without us leaving early which we didn’t want to have to do.

So a new plan was formulated- to chip away some more at the Thames path, which we started in January.

We were very reluctant to stay at either of the club sites though that we normally stay at due to a price hike up to £50pn with it being bank holiday. So I was forced to look elsewhere and couldn’t believe I’ve my eyes when I saw a CL within the M25 for us.

Willow tree farm is a small certified location affiliated with the Caravan and Motorhome club. It’s in leafy Surrey in a small area called Horsham, and happily is outside the ULEZ zone.

It has no facilities other than electricity, water and waste disposal, but offered some peace and tranquillity on what is considered a busy weekend for camping. At £25 pn we were happy with the site and its facilities given its proximity to London.

The grass pitches caused some concern for both us and the owner of the site, but after a bit of negotiation, we agreed rather than pitch in the storage area on hard standing that we’d hug the very edge of the grass. As we were the only ones on site this was acceptable for us all.

Friday night was spent chilling. It had been a mad busy week – when isn’t it! – and our journey had been unpleasant through monsoon style rain and on the m25 car park around Heathrow on bank holiday Friday. Happily, the rain stopped on arrival though and we were able to cook our Friday night curry on the cadac outside and enjoy some downtime listening to the birds and the planes above as they left Heathrow.

Saturday dawned with beautiful blue skies and we were thrilled to see them. Our plan was to reconnect with the Thames path, where we had left off at Battersea Power station. This was fiddly to get to – although possible via 3/4 buses and trains, but in the end we decided to grab an Uber for just £33, plead with him to allow Jazz on our knee, and by 11am we were at Battersea Power station getting our obligatory pre walk picture.

The walk from Battersea took in trendy apartments and workspaces, the prestigious Battersea helipad and then began making way for leafier suburbs and green spaces, rowing clubs, larger houses and converted warehouses. We enjoyed a number of refreshment stops along the way and especially enjoyed seeing iconic buildings such as the Harrods village which is now converted into apartments and the old Budweiser brewery too.

A notable ‘pit stop’ was the Ship Inn at Mosley, which is the official end of the Cambridge and Oxford boatrace.

By the time we’d reached Kew Bridge, we had walked 11.6 miles, which we considered enough for the day, and made our way to the campsite via two buses, the 65 to Kingston and then the 481. Amazingly despite a dodgy forecast, the weather was great still and we managed a cheeky bbq back at the van which was great.

Our Joolca shower system worked a treat, providing us with instant hot water with great pressure. That’s been a great bit of kit for us.

Sunday morning arrived again with lovely blue skies. We wasted no time- the forecast wasn’t so good for the afternoon so we left site at 9.30- early for us! And arrived to Kew Bridge just after 11 for section 2.

We enjoyed the stretch from Kew Bridge to Kingston upon Thames. Again the Thames was wider, and the sides were much greener. The first 3 miles we bordered Kew Gardens and we passed Syom House, the London home of the Duke of Northumberland, and also Ham Palace, on our list to visit in the future.

Richmond was a real highlight. It had a great vibe and we thoroughly enjoyed our stop at the White Cross on the riverbank.

The route continued through green meadows, it was unbelievable to consider how close we were to central London

On arrival to Kingston, we had a celebration drink, picked up a few bits for dinner and made our way back to the site, this transfer being much easier with only one bus to catch- despite it running 40 mins late.

Dinner was a delicious carbonara and we enjoyed a very big chill after walking over 20 miles in two days.

The weather turned on the morning of our departure but we got off the pitch with no drama or skid marks and made our way to the Angler at Walton on Thames for lunch with Keith’s Dad and stepmum. This lovely riverside pub will be our end point for the next stretch, we aren’t sure when that will be yet, but hopefully it won’t be too far in the future. The pub was lovely and super dog friendly, so we will look forward to revisiting soon!

Hope you all had a lovely bank holiday. Where did you go if you were away?

Not long until our next trip, until next time

Lx

Adventures on The Thames Path (Part 1)

Posted in 2024 Trips, London, River Thames, Thames Path1 Comment

Friday 26 January 2024

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.

It really was a brilliant weekend!

Adventures on the Thames

Posted in 2021 Trips, Caravan and Motorhome Club, Caravan Club CL, Historical places, Oxfordshire, River Thames, Thames Path3 Comments

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!

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Thursday and it’s moving on day! Admin completed, we’re off for an adventure with my Dad and Step mum down the road. Stay tuned for updates!

Until next time

Lx