Day 22 [The Last One]

It's the last day of the walk and we did a final dash of 25 km to complete a 360 km walk (it should have been only 312 km according to the map but we did a few detours to get to our chosen accommodation and to catch some special things we wanted to see along the way). The main thing is that we made it! Three cheers to us! [you may have guessed we are pleased]

The last walking day (yesterday) was long and we didn't get back till about 8.30 pm. Hence the delay in writing this. Started off from our accommodation (below) by 9.15 am but by the time we arrived at Vauxhall (where we finished the previous day) it was 10.15 am.

It was a completely different walk on the final day - it was through a major city, it was full of tourists, and it was very difficult to decide which things to photograph. We didn't take any pictures till we arrived at the Lambeth Bridge (with Westminster Abbey and Parliament House in the background) - couldn't ignore that! Pity that the Big Ben is draped in black for some maintenance work.

Southwark Bridge with St Paul's Cathedral and some of London's unique skyline was next. Of course we couldn't not capture the Tower Bridge.

Lot of high rise buildings right on the river (including those renovated old wharves and warehouses) are residential.

Walking was hot work and we had checked out two pubs by early afternoon (no alcohol though - walking and alcohol don't mix too well). Nice pubs nevertheless.

Cutty Sark (1870 British clipper) looks impressive.  The Canary Wharf, the major financial hub is just across the Thames, visible only as high rise. For some reason sailing craft appear to congregate in this stretch of the water. Obviously a lot of jets take off too, making geometric patterns in the sky.

Despite all this, our thoughts were focused only on one thing - the Thames Barrier; our finish line ... and our sore feet!

A sight for sore eyes (and other parts of the body) - it's like seeing your nearest and dearest after a long separation! We were so chuffed that we even photographed each other in front of the barrier! That doesn't happen often.

There is a pretty good video of this on Youtube.

That's game set and match! Thank you umpires, thank you ball boys! All that remained was to stagger to the nearest pub for celebratory drink (one only as we had to catch trains back to Putney).

Took a long time to get to Putney so we had dinner at the local before heading home. It turned out to be a day of Four Pubs and a Coffee Shop [perhaps not as good as 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' but we will use Nicole Kidman and David Gulpilil for this one - sorry - a private joke].

Summary - 360 km 22 Days.Started aged 70 & 65; finished aged 85 & 80! Loved it, nevertheless.

No more writing. Three cheers for the readers (and us)!

Day 21

Slightly different day - had to do about 13 km but ended up doing 21. This is what happened. We left Kew around 9.30 am heading for Putney. Arrived there just before 12.00 noon so we decided to do a bit more (gone troppo, you think?). So we kept going as far as Vauxhall Bridge and caught a train back to Putney, arriving around 4.00 pm. 

Here's our accommodation at Kew - a nice place.

Now there are footpaths on both sides of the river - we took the south bank path (right side of the river) which had better path going through leafy stretches unlike the north bank which is mainly built-up areas. Plenty of canoes (appear to be in serious training with shouting coaches etc. rather than rowing for pleasure).

It was low-tide when we passed through this stretch and the mudflats are quite wide. There was a tree that looked as if it's also suffering like the river - the combination was hard to ignore.

The tidal effect could be seen from the slope of the ramp from boat to dry land.

Unlike the last few days, we are beginning to see tall building next to the path, and at a distance. From near the Vauxhall Bridge it's easy to see the London Eye in the distance. Perhaps a sign that we are nearing the end of our walk!

Came across this Pagoda at Battersea Park - wonder if that would help me finish the walk.

All going well, we will finish the walk tomorrow (one day earlier than planned) - giving us an extra day to do other things (as yet undetermined).

Cheers

Day 20

It's a short hop from Richmond to Kew Gardens - a mere 7 km. However, walking in Kew Gardens added a bit more making a grand total of 13.24 km for the day. Whilst the walk on the Thames Path was fairly standard stuff, Richmond and Kew Gardens offered much. Our hotel in Richmond was fine and the view from the top of the ridge was marvelous.

On leaving the hotel we visited an old palace (where Henry VII, VII and Elizabeth 1 lived for some time) - the Richmond Palace. We could only see the gate (not a lot more can be seen by the public).

Along the way to Kew, we had been told that the river gets a lot wider (by a chap in Hampton Court). Pity he didn't mention low tide - mud flats were very visible, even close to the Kew Bridge.

Having arrived at Kew very early (11.15 am; too ealy for check in) we left our backpacks in the hotel and spent over three hours in the Kew Gardens, entering through the nearest (Elizabeth) gate.

Our first stop was mad George III's palace. He and Charlotte had 15 children (don't know where they slept as the place was not very big). The medical help poor George had was quite primitive (bleeding with leeches etc.).

Visited the royal kitchens too.

However, we were here for the gardens'. Kew was started in 1759 and has amassed over 30,000 plant species from all over the world. This is quite a problem for a casual visitor (especially one with very little knowledge of botany) - should we take 100 or 1000 pictures?

Visited the famous glass house for 'Temperate' plants - one with a stunning array of flora.

The Palm House has a lovely flower garden next to the lake (apart from all the palms inside - hot & humid)

The Water lily House houses the most amazing Amazonian Water Lily.

Despite all the specialist areas (rock gardens, Alpine House, Bonsai House etc.) I was most impressed by the common or garden trees in the park.

There are some special trees too - including the Japanese Pagoda tree planted around 1760.

One species has survived for 200 million years and is going strong - the Ginko.

A tree that interested me most is the Wollemi Pine, seen only as fossils until 1994 when a live plant was found in Blue Mountains (N.S.W., Australia). It thrives now.

You can't do justice to such a large collection of plants in a few pictures and some words - so I'm not going to try.

Another day tomorrow; possibly only three more walking days to...?

Cheers

Day 19

In sharp contrast to yesterday, this morning was clear - not a cloud in the sky. Cold but not unpleasantly so. Started the walk around 9.15 am (it was hard saying goodbye to a most comfortable guest house!). Having taken a picture of the guest house, it seemed unfair not to take a picture of the pub next to the Hampton Court palace where we had a drink yesterday afternoon. Here they are.

Some really nice houses along the river - didn't photograph many.  Here's an example.

The path itself is good, going through wooded areas or on the bank - but no more meadows! Some old willows and the sunlight through the trees make good pictures though.

Had to take at least one good one of swans.

Teddington Lock is the biggest on the Thames.  Don't know how many boats it can accommodate at a time but it is definitely much longer than all the others.

It was good to see three 'old people' (ha! ha! ha!) learning to row.

Our first sight of Richmond (and it was before 2.00 pm!) - the York Rose is the building at the bottom.

Did only 13.97 km today. We can just about smell the end of the walk - four more days! Wish us luck.

Cheers