The Thames Path - Day 14

Hampton Court to Richmond

On 31st October, over 6 weeks since our last walk, Michala and I caught the train to Teddington to walk from there to Hampton Court in order to pick up our route along the Thames Path National Trail.

A little confused by our early start (our excuse) and the fact that we were exiting from the opposite platform we caught the train from here in September, we found ourselves making a circuitous route to Bushy Park. However, it was fortuitous as our zig-zagging route along the passage ways between streets, and at the back of houses, brought us upon two urban foxes. These beautiful creatures sat, bold and brave, in the pathway watching. We eyed each other for some time and they might not have moved had not a pedrestian come in the opposite direction. Sadly, I had left my longer lens at home deciding to travel light on this occasion so you will just have to take my word for this encounter.

More Wildlife Encounters

We entered the pedestrian gates of Bushy Park and almost straight away encountered a harem of red deer getting very excited as females favoured one male over another and antlers were presented in battle preceded by the bellows and grunts of stags.

Moving on we found a lone fallow deer sharpening his palmated antlers on a pile of sticks.

Many red deer changed camps as they waded across the river east of the Leg of Mutton pond. All this would have been a great photo opportunity had I brought a telephoto lens however, the light was not favourable.

We were in no hurry to leave the park as we relished in the sense of peace we felt in these beautiful surroundings. We stopped to watch the Egyptian geese and coots (normally so very shy). Two of the young geese were a sorry sight with featherless wings. It looked like they had been attacked, possibly by dogs off lead. They will have little chance of survival if they are unable to fly away from danger.

In the pond, the black headed gulls cried out whilst the cormorants calmly dried their wings. Herons stalked their pray through a thick blanket of duck weed and a crested grebe dived under as soon as he sensed our presence on the bank. Parakeets squawked as they flew from one tree to the next and a greater spotted woodpecker flew directly in front of us in his swooping, undulating flight.

Why would we leave all this behind?

However, our conscience got the better of us and we made a pact to return another time.

We walked around Diana's fountain and out through the gates.

The Walk Begins

Shortly we were passing the magnificent baroque Hampton Court Palace with its warm red bricked towers and castellated facade.

The tall windowed walls offered a glimpse into the inner sanctum.

With a last glance back at Hampton Bridge we continued on our way.

It was a strange day with a certain softness about it. It was already after 9am and it was as if the world had not yet stirred casting a silence all around. (A much more peaceful experience than our last leg of the Thames National Trail when we found ourselves walking against hundreds of runners).

As we walked on it was hard to believe we had left the rural Thames behind. The paths were strewn with leaves as autumn had taken its hold.

Today, benches were aplenty and always with a river view.

We thought of the times when we had to search for a bench, sometimes resorting to squeezing together on a log by a muddy bank or even detouring to a local church in order to find a seat on which to enjoy our lunch.

Our booted feet crunched their way through the copper carpet, leaves whispering, as the path swept along side of Hampton Court Park all the way to Kingston-Upon-Thames.

We took great pleasure in the golden hues as

'Every leaf speaks bliss to me

Fluttering from the autumn tree.'

Autumn was bringing with it a welcome mellowness despite the soft grey clouds with not a glimmer of sun.

Memory Lane

We crossed over Kingston Bridge and I was reminded about my days working in Kingston in the mid to late 80s. Those were exciting times and it was a great place to work. I was living in Hither Green, the other side of London, so I had to catch a train into Waterloo East and then out again from the mainline station. I enjoyed those days back then but now I shy away from the hustle and bustle preferring the peace and solitude of nature.

Urban Art

I jested about stopping for lunch in John Lewis' little knowing that the mosaic we stopped to admire had in fact been created in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the opening of the John Lewis store. The store took centre stage on the mosaic with Kingston Bridge and Hampton Court Palace on the right.

The urban art continued with some spectacular work by grafitti artist @Kotze_art who was invited to brighten up these hordings with some very engaging images, understandably not to everyone's taste but I see this as being acceptable whereas offensive slogans grafittied are not.

Thames Life

Life along the Thames on this day was much like we have observed since Lechlade, with rowers pulling hard whilst being called to by their instructor from his launch. Painted long boats sat at rest by the bank with the smell of wood burning being the only sign of life from within. We saw many grey herons along the way sometimes remaining still as a statue, undeterrred by our presence whilst others took off with an echoing ‘kaark’ as they flew low to take up a perch further down stream.

More Memories

Arriving at Teddington I was reminded of 1973 when my family and I met up at Teddington Lock with a friend of my father's whom he had tutored in Dublin to make a little money whilst at Trinity. By then Dad’s young student had grown up and joined the orchestra at Covent Garden Opera House. Ruth Ticher filled our heads with insider knowledge about the Royal Ballet as my sister and I were excited to have seen Anthony Dowell and Antoinette Sibley performing in Swan Lake earlier that week and were going to see Rudolf Nureyev at the Sadlers’ Wells theatre in the coming week.

The lock appeared very different today, looking like a building site as restoration work is being carried out on the gates and hydraulics of the lock and the pedestrian ramp.

Tidal Thames

Beyond the weir the geography of the Thames now changed. It is at this point that the Thames becomes tidal and the water is no longer fresh water but salt. Our pretty blue ribbon would now turn brown as the shifting tides rolling up from the estuary 95 miles down stream at Sheerness would raise sediment rich in biodiversity, thriving with 125 species of fish of which 40 are resident. So often people mistakenly suggest that the Thames is filthy.

We found we could walk down onto the shore where there appeared to be small 'beaches'. On a warm day we might have been tempted to paddle.

As well as this, we were passing the Teddington Obelisk, a monument erected to mark the boundary point at which the upstream part of the Thames has been managed by the Environmental Agency and from this point on it will be managed by the Port of London Authority.

We continued through trees tunnels enjoying the unexpected rural quality of this stretch of the Thames Path National Trail and the peaceful feel of a week day walk without being invaded by 'weekenders'.

By 1:30pm we had Richmond in our sights with the Star & Garter on the hill high above. We had a decision to make. Just a week ago, part of the bank along the Thames National Trail between Richmond and Kew Bridge had collapsed. The detour would take us away from the river along busy roads. It held little appeal and we felt strongly that we did not want to end our walk in such a way.

We left the river and climb up onto Richmond Hill where we enjoyed a view of the river below.

From there, we headed into Richmond Park where we decided to stop at Pembroke Lodge for a cuppa and time to sit and check maps to decide on our next course of action.

One possibility was to walk through the park to Sheen gate and pick up the Thames Path again at Mortlake. Another option was to walk to Richmond station and then walk the main road to Kew Bridge or we could just stick with the diversion. A cuppa would help us think straight and formulate a plan.

So it was that we came to the conclusion that we would end this day just as our day started, in a deer park. We decided we would finish it here and pick up the path again another day. Our journey home from Richmond station would be much more straight forward.

The Way

As we returned towards Richmond Hill I took Michala on a very slight detour to show her what I had deemed to be 'gothic gates' which had always intrigued me. After many years since I discovered these we made a further discovery. These gates show 'The Way' to St Paul's Cathedral, with a clear view of the white dome 10 miles away.

These lovely gates, with their twisted oak branches, were designed by artist blacksmith, Joshua de Lisle. They were installed in Richmond Park in 2012 to celebrate the tercentenary of St Paul's. Look closely and there is a lovely little tribute to Sir Christopher Wren, who we will all know designed and built the cathedral in 1710. In the hazy light we could see the soft outline of St Paul’s great dome perfectly framed between the avenue of trees.

This seemed an appropriate end to our walk giving us a glimpse of what lies ahead.