Distance: 32.6km (277km)
Steps: 44,102
The train disgorged us at 08:00am on Monday, the hottest day of the year so far. By 8:15am we were walking west from Putney Bridge, past countless rowing clubs along the south bank, the sun already hot on our backs.
Just before Hammersmith Bridge, we met Pria from Earls Court. Well, more accurately, Pria overtook us and stopped to chat. She’s a hiker too and having just completed the South Downs Way, is looking for her next challenge. Pria prefers the south bank and was out for a stroll to Richmond on a sunny day.
Craven Cottage is currently a huge building site. Diggers and cranes all over the precious turf. The West Stand has been completely removed as Fulham FC invest millions developing the facilities at their ground.
We gave a special wave to Disney HQ, Molly’s employer. The monolithic office building just visible between the residential developments on the north side.
And so at about 11:00am, we came to Barnes Bridge, a railway bridge with a sleepy station of the same name. Built in 1895, this structure doubles up as a pedestrian bridge, with a steel walkway spanning the river, attached onto one side of the railway bridge. The people of Barnes proved themselves to be an awfully polite lot. Slung below Barnes Bridge is also a (one person wide) wooden walkway, this being the only safe way to get past the bridge and back onto the towpath. Three people: a lady with a pram, a man on a bicycle and a running lady, all backed up to let me go first. Thank you, kind residents of Barnes.
We reached the entrance to Kew Gardens a bit before midday, where a Mr Whippy ice cream van was parked temptingly. But the ice cream man gesticulated “another ten minutes” so I carried on. There would surely be another.
The iconic ‘Palm House’ at Kew was just visible at the end of an avenue of trees and we were admiring the view when Pria came back the other way having reached Richmond whilst we dawdled along and she was on her way back to Earls Court.
There’s a canny twin obelisk thingy at the side of the trail with a row of polished paving stones crossing the path at an angle. This marks the meridian and the boundary of Old Dear Park. It is possible to look through the gap but I’m unsure what the purpose of this is?
I had planned to rest a while at Richmond Lock, but there is no café here, not even an ice cream kiosk, so we carried on towards Richmond town.
Richmond lock lies beside three magnificent sluice gates, weighing 32 tons each, with a pedestrian walkway over the top. Built in1894 they represent the lowest tidal barrier on the River Thames. Above here the river is penned all the way. We walked just ten minutes further upstream to reach Richmond, where we sat in the air conditioned luxury of the Slug & Lettuce for lunch.
It was a wrench to leave the cool of the pub and return back into the furnace heat outside but we did and we walked on towards Ham House. We passed a couple of riverside restaurants.
I remember doing a gig in one of these and at the end of the evening I found that my car was locked in. The local authority had padlocked the gate with my vehicle still on the riverbank. The restauranteur conveniently had a pair of 36″ bolt croppers behind the counter which were the perfect antidote to the situation.
The banks and shallows of the river were busy with families and groups of teenagers splashing around in the river on this sunny afternoon.
I used to do gigs at Ham House, in a marquee in their Rose Garden. Here was located the most sensitive sound limiter in London. No matter what volume I played the music at, the power would be cut if a guest whooped or screamed, never mind amplified music. The reset button was back in the house, so parties here, whilst in beautiful surroundings, never really had much musical continuity.
We walked on to Teddington Lock, where once there was a TV studio. Perhaps there still is. Just above Teddington Lock there is a blue pedestrian footbridge and here we threw our lot in with a large group of friendly teenagers, tombstoning into the col of the Thames from the bridge about 5 metres above.
The water was very cold. Jezebel would have nothing to do with this life threatening activity and explained the potential risks as we went along.
We walked on and reached Kingston upon Thames at 6:00pm via Canbury Gardens, the world and his wife paying no heed to the alcohol exclusion zone. At Kingston, we checked in to our accommodation, the Premier Inn there, directly above Aldi. Jezebel attended to her feet but they looked pretty bad, more blister than foot showing. The fault of her ‘summer walking boots’. I went down to Aldi and stocked up for a picnic in the room, we wouldn’t be going out that evening.
It was a nice room, high up on the fourth floor, east facing, so caught the sunrise early the next morning.
Sebastian's Swagger 