Thursday 12 September
Sunshine! We returned the following morning to Canary Wharf Pier to continue our walk, this is OUR FINAL STRETCH of the Thames Path Trail.
There are loads of residential apartment blocks around here, some colourful and quirky and some shiny.
We were heading to Greenwich which is where we were going to get back onto the south side of the Thames, we are still north side today.
The next section we came into is called The Isle of Dogs, originally Stepney Marshes, it's actually a peninsula not an island. the name possibly derives from the fact the Tudor monarchs kept their hunting hounds here.
7 Windmills once stood on the riverbank, built in the later part of the 17th Century, to take advantage of the strong westerly wind. The embankment was well maintained by landowners who had drained the marshes and the wall kept the river from flooding the island at high tide. Marsh Wall later became known as Mill Wall.
Some of the windmills were used for grinding corn but were in decline from the early 19th Century as wind power was replaced by the steam engine. Eventually the mills were abandoned and demolished and new factories were built along the wall, the wall was strengthened and straightened at the rivers edge to create the wharves, where ships and barges could be unloaded.
The wall and right of way was shut off for locals until 1868 when Sir John McDougall (1844-1917) a member of the London County Council created a Park in his name so islanders could enjoy a view of the river. He was a member of the famous flour milling family who owned a factory on the south easy quay of Millwall outer dock from 1869. The McDougall's company merged with Hovis in 1957. The Mill was closed in 1985 and replaced by the Clipper's Quay housing estate.
This is Burrells Wharf, one of 18 buildings on the peninsula to be listed as a building of special interest or importance. It was converted in 1988 into about 400 apartments.
It used to be the Millwall Ironworks, early iron ships were built here, the SS Great Eastern designed by Brunel was built here in 1858, the largest ship in the world in its time. Burrells established a colour works in the empty buildings in 1888, being so close to the docks it gave the factory easy access to imported raw materials. Raw chemical colours were produced for paints, printing inks, plastics, paper and rubber. In WWII the company produced a variety of chemicals for the government which included a constituent of flame-thrower fuel.
I love the idea that all these beautiful colours used to smoke out of the top of the chimney and pink feathered pigeons could be seen around the area!
It was lovely morning walk along this wide riverside path with the trees and the blue sky.
We found a lovely spot for a sit down in Island Gardens at Rotunda Cafe, one of us had a large snack and the other a small one .... no comment.
To reach Greenwich you have to walk under the river!
There is a pedestrian tunnel just by the cafe, it was built in 1902 by the London County Council to provide reliable access to the ports and docks, it's free and has a lift and spiral staircase at both ends and is open 24 hours a day.
We had now arrived in Greenwich, a UNESCO World Heritage site, an area of London full of maritime history, here you can find the Cutty Sark, the Maritime Museum, and the old Royal Naval College with the Royal Observatory at the top of Greenwich Park (one of London's 8 Royal Parks). (Greenwich is where the eastern and western hemispheres meet - Greenwich Mean Time)
We walked up to the Observatory for the amazing views of the Thames and the City.
But oh no, look at the black clouds coming in! We needed to get to the bottom, to find somewhere for lunch and hope that the incoming rain would pass us by.
Fuelled by a Pizza, we zipped up the cagouls and hoods and got on our way, we had about another 4 miles to reach the Thames Barrier. And no rain was going to stop us!
Some lovely houses and cobbled areas in Union Wharf.
It was really raining now, so we took this bunting as personal cheer to keep us going and that we were nearly at the end! The walk is so good at giving you surprises around the each corner.
This is the riverside Trafalgar Tavern, it opened in 1837 when Queen Victoria came to the throne. Greenwich was enjoying a heyday in the 1930s, with the town centre and market being rebuilt, the arrival of the railway from London Bridge and the new steamboats. Greenwich was seen as a pleasant 'resort'. In 1839 the Greenwich Fair attracted 250,000 visitors.
In 1896 George Damiral, a former mariner and local confectioner took the place on as The Trafalgar Hotel, running a sweet factory in the basement. It closed in 1915 and over time became an institute for aged merchant seamen, a working men's club and a centre for the unemployed. It was saved from demolition in 1937 and turned into flats for the Navy, and didn't reopen as a pub until 1965 when it's interior was gutted and lavishly remodelled by by craftsmen from Pinewood Studios!
After a while we did have to stop and shelter from the rain as it had now turned into SLEET, all the weathers in one day - a day which had started with such lovely blue sunshine!
Thank goodness we are always organised and seem to have everything, so we had gloves in our pockets, along with sun hats and suncream in our rucsacs! It was bitterly cold.
It was interesting to see the 'backside' of Canary Wharf, not a view you usually see.
The area was quite a grey commercial area anyway, so adding to the skies it was a rather gloomy, puddly and muddy section of the path that led us up to the O2.
A great photo with a single spot of colour from this Poppy.
You can't miss the yellow tops of the O2.
You can book to walk across the top of the O2 but decided that could be for another day!
From here there were various pieces of Art ..... it gave us something to look at and read about as we continued our soggy journey.
It started with HERE, I've included the information panel under each piece for you to click on and read.
Thames Barrier 2 miles to go!
And of course no Sculpture Trail would be complete without a Damien Hirst, here is his 2014 work The Mermaid.
And another great artist, Antony Gormley with his Quantum Cloud.
It was really quiet round here, but there are lots of apartments and things going on, maybe it was the weather?! We didn't see any other Thames Path Walkers.
And even this 60 seater picnic table in the shape of a smile was a piece ....
based on a Tommy Cooper joke ...
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More colourful flags to cheer us on our final steps
After passing the Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park and Greenwich Yachting Club we were coming into an area of noise, aggregate, cement and concrete.
Angerstein and Murphy's Wharves, Europe's largest sea-dredged aggregates terminal. They receive 350,00 tonnes of aggregate by rail and 2.5 million tonnes by boat annually.
Almost daily boats arrive bringing in the aggregates from licensed areas available for dredging around the British coastline. Sand and gravels found on the sea bed satisfy around 20% of the UK's total need from an area just under 1% of the UK's seabed.
Angerstein Wharf was named after John Julius Angerstein (1732-1823) who was a local entrepeneur and art collector, born in Russia to a German family who settled in Greenwich. He also built the one mile long railway line, which runs from Charlton Blackheath into the Wharf land. The Wharves and the adjacent 33 acres of land are used by CEMEX, Day Aggregates, Tarmac and Aggregate Industries UK Ltd.
Projects that they have been involved in are the Olympics, Crossrail, Channel Tunnel, The O2, Canary Wharf and the Emirates Stadium.
Then ... in the distance .. we could see the finish line!
The swans swam alongside us for a while, our cheerleaders, we were so ready to finish!
And here it is The Thames Barrier, managed by the Environment Agency, it protects 125km square kilometres of London from flooding from tidal surges. It spans 520 metres across the River Thames, it protects around 1.4 million people and 420,000 properties.
Made of 10 empty steel gates, each weighing over 3000 tonnes. In times of large storms and tidal surges, they raise to the height of a 5 storey building. The gates fill with water as they sink and empty as they emerge from the river.
It's the second largest flood defence barrier in the world. The Netherlands has the largest one in Oosterscheldekering.
Construction began in 1974 and it was opened by the Queen in 1984.
Engineers predict, based on current seal level rise predictions, that it will need replacing in 2070.
To reach the far side and the visitor centre, we had our own tunnel to walk through which was amazing as it showed the profile of the height of the Thames Path Walk from The Source to here, with river levels and the sections we'd been through, the bridges and locks and towns.
It shows we started at 105 metres above sea level in the field by Kemble and by the Thames Barrier we are just 3+ metres above sea level.
Oxford is 65 miles, Abingdon 51 miles, Caversham & Reading is 36 miles, Marlow 26 miles, Windsor Bridge 18 miles, Staines 13 miles, Hampton Court 6 miles, Teddington 4 miles. Amazing!
WE DID IT!
CONGRATULATIONS TO US!
What a walk, we loved every mile, even the sideways sleet ones and the day we got absolutely soaked in the countryside. Every mile was so different. We're so pleased we walked East, from the empty fields to the industry filled end by the Barrier. So many memories ... so many photos!
We met interesting people and dogs, avoided dogs, prams and runners, waved at people passing by on boats, chatted to friendly lock keepers and frequented many a hospitable pub.
We remember the joy of reaching Wallingford and seeing a shop! Our senses on full alert in busy Oxford, it made such a change from the path before then. Exploring and hearing about family links to the river when my Dad joined us at Henley for the hottest walking day and discovering Teddington where Sam and Sophie now live.
We waved at Cameron's office in London and on that note thank you to our families for cheering us along, we did the blog to keep you updated, and thanks to Graham for being our early days taxi driver, the funniest day being when he arrived to collect us but was on the wrong side of the river!
We enjoyed taking time to visit some lovely National Trust properties & gardens (ok cafes and tea shops!) Royal Palaces and Kew Gardens. There are many places that we would like to go back to and revisit in 2025, especially from the early days.
9 May 2022 - 13 September 2024
I will return to the Blog in 2025, with books, apps, maps and lists that we found useful for the walk.
PS: We finished the walk and would you believe it the Visitor Centre closes at 3:30pm, we arrived at 4pm!! Aaaargh ......... Nooooooooo .......
We found our way back to Charlton Station to head back into London, where after a soak in the bath, we met the husbands and went out for a lovely celebratory meal at The Cinnamon Club in Westminster (where almost immediately the waiter wheeled the Gin trolley over to Susan) a fitting end!
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