I miscounted the miles of this journey.
After leg 11, I figured that I had hiked 145 miles of the Thames River Path, leaving me just 40 miles to complete in the London metro area. However, reviewing my map prior to leg 12 I discovered that I was in error. The distance between Hampton Court (my starting point for leg 12) and the Thames Barrier (the concluding point of the Thames Path) is just 36 miles. Over the first 11 legs I covered 149 miles, not 145. My distance estimates for each leg have been approximate, so it makes sense that over 11 legs I might lose a mile here or there. In short, after 11 legs I have 36 miles remaining.
Discovering my error, yesterday I was eager to get going on leg 12 of my journey. I left Oxford on the Tube (the 24-hour bus service between Oxford and London) at 5:30 AM. Normally the bus trip is about 2 hours long, but the commuter traffic slowed things, so I didn’t arrive at Victoria station until almost 8 AM. The local rail service back to Hampton Court put me back on the Thames River Path just before 9 AM. When arriving in London yesterday I didn’t know entirely how much of the path I intended to hike. After a week away from my ramble, the thrill of my journey had returned, so about 30 minutes into my ramble I texted Tara: “I think I will aim to make this an extra long hiking day, so I will be home later than normal. Don’t make dinner for me.” Beginning at Hampton Court, I concluded the day in Putney Bridge. Total distance covered: 16 miles. It was a good day. [Note: a complete album of pictures from leg 12 may be found here.]
What can I say about leg 12? First of all, after my long weekend hike from Lechlade to the Source, Leg 12 offered a nice return to a real river, not the muddy spit of a stream that one encounters across the northern 20 miles of the Thames. Downstream of Hampton Court the solitude of the rural Thames gives way to an urban jungle. The din of London metro traffic is inescapable. The red kites of the Thames valley give way to a never-ending stream of Heathrow-bound jets passing overhead. Between the Source and Lechlade there is one river pub. In London there is a pub within walking distance from any point along the path. Bicycle and pedestrian traffic along the river is plentiful.
As I was walking downstream from Hampton, I realized something. As an outsider to London, my mental geography of this area is distorted. Much like a non-Texan who is unfamiliar with Dallas-Forth Worth, when I think of London I think of it as a single entity: LONDON. But London is not LONDON. London is, rather, a collection of smaller cities, each with its own distinctive character, history, and story to tell to anyone interested enough to listen. On Leg 12, for example, a rambler will make at least visual contact with the following towns: Hampton, Thames Ditton, Kingston-upon-Thames, Teddington, Ham, Twickenham, Petersham, Kew, Richmond, Brentford, Mortlake, Barnes, Chiswick, Hammersmith, Fulham, and Putney. Most of what I know about these towns come from my knowledge of global sports. Twickenham is home to the English rugby team. Brentford is home to Brentford FC, a promising up-and-coming English football team recently promoted to the Premier League. Fulham is home to Fulham FC and one of the most curiously named football stadiums in the world, Craven Cottage. Richmond is home to the fictional English football team AFC Richmond, managed by the greatest fictional soccer manager in history, Ted Lasso. That’s what I know about these towns. But there is so much more to learn, so much more to discover here.
Each of these towns deserves an entire blog post, and one with enough time, money, and curiosity to explore could easily spend at least a day in each town learning more about the particularities of the local community. On a 185 mile ramble, I haven’t time to do this. I opted to hike quickly toward Putney Bridge, eschewing any attempt to wander away from the path into the nearby towns. I did so already knowing that there were numerous hidden treasures within reach. An example of just how easy it is to run into unexpected gems on a walk like this: I stopped for lunch at a local river pub in Mortlake, The Ship. While I was eating my meal, the bartender shared with me the significance of this 19th century pub: it is located at the exact spot that is the finish line of the famous Oxford-Cambridge boat race that has been run every year (save during World War I and II) since 1856. The bartender pointed outside to a striped post on the river bank marking the finish line of the race. Had I not stopped at the pub the post (and the significance of the stretch of the river I was on) would have completely escaped me. I fear a lot escaped me during this leg. There is simply too much to see.
Another interesting thing about the Thames that I learned: I never knew that a river can sometimes flow upstream. This caught my attention shortly before I stopped for lunch. I noticed that the water was flowing away from London toward the north. Why does this happen? Here’s the deal: the Thames River is tidal. At low tide, portions of the river become shallow and not traversable by boat. At high tide, these shallow waters rise, and water flows away from the sea toward points upstream, sometimes flowing over the river bank to swamp the area around the river. During lunch the bartender in Mortlake shared with another customer stories of cars parked near the pub that were physically moved by rising tidal waters that overshot the river banks.
Historically, substantial portions of London and towns further upstream were subject to flooding conditions due to this phenomenon. However, in 1810 a lock was constructed at Teddington, Teddington Lock, that serves to hold back the tidal waters, which used to affect communities as far upstream as Staines. Downstream of the lock, the Thames continues to ebb and flow, something that I noticed early in the day as I passed Teddington Lock, where I came across numerous boats grounded in the shallows during low tide. London would itself still be subject to the risk of tidal flooding were it not for the Thames Barrier, an engineering wonder that will mark the end of my ramble next week.
After lunch I discovered the power of tidal waters. When the tide rises on the Thames, it rises quickly. Before lunch, the Thames was shallow. After lunch, I walked outside to discover a completely different river. A short distance from the pub where I ate lunch, the Thames Path had already become flooded, forcing me to the street for a half mile or so until the path reached higher ground. It only took a few minutes for the waters to cover the path.
It was a fascinating experience, watching the tide come in. I managed to avoid getting too wet during the rest of my hike. As I neared Putney Bridge I took stock of my accomplishment. Sixteen miles is the longest hike I’ve completed, slightly longer than my Newbridge to Lechlade hike from several weeks ago. A short distance from my final destination, it seemed fitting that I could end my day once again with a beautiful rainbow arching across part of the sky, just over Fulham.
As for the remainder of my ramble, I intend to finish my journey in two final legs. Tomorrow (Thursday, 11/10) I’ll be rambling 10 miles from Putney Bridge to Tower Bridge. Next Tuesday (11/15) I will finish my Thames River Ramble, hiking the final 10 miles from Tower Bridge to the Thames Barrier. I’m planning to livestream the final few minutes of the ramble. This ramble has been more than a could have hoped for, and ending the journey will bring with it many feelings: a sense of accomplishment, but also a sense of loss and grief that it is over. May the final two legs be as meaningful as the first eleven…
Return home…