This is the end of the first week of February and I have been walking for an hour or so most days in oto get a suitable fitness level for my next serious walking trip with my Thames companion EG, we are planning to do Wainwrights Coast to Coast walk, St Bee's Head to Robin Hood Bay walking whenever possible on footpaths rather than hard surface. Distance is about 195 miles and since this is serious up and down hill walking the present plan is for about 6 miles per day with the intention of looking at the countryside as well as the marvels of nature. Six miles does not seem much but it can be rough walking and the weather can vary from glorious to blooming horrible. So far I have done no serious planning, such important details as where to stay and how to move luggage have to be thought about and decided. The current plan is that there will be 4 of us walking and we may have a back up pair to deal with luggage moving. There are complications, EG has serious illness in the family, one of the other 2 has a foot difficulty, the other is a busy lady and 30 days away from serious office work may not be possible.

Unknown

Nothing to say at present but just want to keep the blog open

Clifton Hampden Bridge

The door is of the church note the two carved faces and the ornate ironwork on what is essentially a modern door. It is a legal requirement that notices are pinned to THE DOOR which is a bit destructive of the woodwork and this parish council has decided on a sensible notice board. The picture of the bridge was taken from the church

Clifton Hampden

I have already revisited Cricklade, Lechlade and Henley on Thames but on 14th March 2009 went to Abingdon to look around the town the EG and I whizzed by. It turns out the town is one of the oldest in England. We, Maggy and I, had lunch at a pub on a midstream island then went on the Clifton Hampden, particularly to see the church redesigned by the father of Giles Gilbert-Scott who also did the bridge. This picture shows a seriously refurbished cottage in the village, if you go back you can see what it was like last August. Note the boards forming the sidewalk just to right of centre, they aree for pedestrians to walk on during a flood, my guess is the cottage floods too.

In the train going back to Richmond

We got a train from Charlton to Waterloo then another to Richmond, had a good clean up and went out for a celebratory dinner.
The next day EG went up north to friends prior to flying to Nice?
We met her on her return to London and took her out to dinner at her Heathrow hotel for her 60th birthday.

It now needs EG to write her story but that is a while off, she has problems at home which are much more important.
Good luck Sis, you were a super companion all the time, I could not have wished for anyone better.

Mission accommplished

You can see the shape of the housing for the motors on the left. EG has a smile as wide as the river, I fear I ws a bit pooped but Maggie was there to greet us....not the Queen, not the TV, not even a friend but that is the way it goes. EG was disappointed that there was no mug or T shirt on sale for people like us who had done the whole trip so unbeknown to her I had a T shirt specially printed with an outline of the river plus her picture and mine.

You will remember that we had to divert outside Oxford and two weeks later I went back there and walked the missed 2 miles, EG had to return to USA and did not make it but when she is over next we will do it together.

Was it worth it? YES, YES, YES.

Would you do it again? Perhaps, but not at breakneck speed, there is just too much to see so close to the river that you could spend days around the London Bridge area alone.
I shall soon be giving a list of books to read and some words about where to stay, meanwhile, Thank you for staying with me.

We made it

This tunnel takes the path across the barrier control systems to parkland on the other side

Modern art...the barrier

The modern art looked like a mess of wire and that could be said of the Millenium Dome project.
The other picture is our first sight of The Barrier, it looks a little like a series of hoods straddling the river.
The Dome was built on the site of an old gas works (vide Brentford) to be a large exhibition hall in south London which had needed one since 1934 when The Crystal Palace was burned down. The Dome was inspired by The Government and as with so many Governmental ideas it went wrong from the start and although finished on time the cost overruns were staggering and then no one could be found to operate the place as intended. That problem has been solved to some extent by having an exhibition arena and associated shopping precincts.

Looking backwards upriver and economically

A large notice stated we must take instructions from the crane operator. Who would argue with that bucket liable to drop half a ton of gravel on you?
It is sad to think that what was once a very thriving industrial area is now either derelict or used for recreational purposes. As a student in 1951 I was walking on the adjacent ground watching real men 'spin' 2" steel plate into saucer shaped dishes 8ft diameter for use in all sorts of pressure vessels to go around the world.
What would Shakespeare have said?