The Thames Path by Leigh Hatts

Doggett’s Coat and Badge rowing race is on the River Thames today Wednesday 10 September.

You may see the single sculling boats being raced by apprentice watermen from London Bridge to Chelsea. Founder Thomas Doggett used to commute by water from his home in Chelsea to the City of London.

This is the world’s oldest continuous rowing race having been held since 1715.

The winner’s prize is a Watermen’s red coat with a large silver badge added.

The race starts on an incoming tide at 12.15 and Chelsea is usually reached within thirty minutes.

City livery cutters are expected to be on the water downstream of London Bridge from 11.30pm.

Award-winning author Georgina Moore’s second novel is set around her home on the River Thames.

Her houseboat is moored at Tagg’s Island a little upstream from East Molesey and Hampton Court.

The island is named after Royal Waterman Tom Tagg who ran a boatyard and hotel there in the 19th century. It was originally Walnut Tree Island which is the name of the island in the novel River of Stars published by HarperC0llins (£16.99).

The fictional Walnut Tree Island is a fusion of downstream Eel Pie Island, opposite Ham House, and Tagg’s Island.

Both islands had hotels but it was Eel Pie’s where the pop concerts were staged which feature in the opening. The toll bridge is also borrowed from that island.

Garrick’s Temple with its squelchy lawn, making an early appearance, is nearer Tagg’s.

There is a vital map of the reimagined Thames which will help readers who might be confused by knowing the real river well.

This is a story of love and generations which starts in the 1960s when the Thames Path was only a dream.

The Ferry inn at Cookham is closed for refurbishment.

Reopening is planned for Friday 26 September.

The riverside terrace is depicted in Stanley Spencer’s 1936 painting The Ferry Hotel Lawn, Cookham.

The Norwegian Saga Farmann arrived in the Pool of London on Tuesday night and moved to St Katharine Dock on Wednesday afternoon for a week’s visit.

Goring’s Royal Mail sorting office which closed last year has been listed by Historic England.

The building next to the bridge will be familiar to many walkers who take a break at the next door Pierreponts Café.

The former sorting office, which is now for sale, is a boathouse best seen as you start to cross the river to Streatley.

The boathouse was built about 1894 for Samuel Saunders and designed by local architect Percy Stone who was later responsible for the rood screen in the church.

Saunders was born at Streatley’s riverside Swan inn which had been the home not only of his father Cornelius but also his grandfather Moses who was the last ferryman before the bridge opened in 1837.

Having patented the construction of a lightweight hull for fast steam launches, Samuel Saunders relocated to the Isle of Wight where he pioneered the flying boat and craft for the First World War. The company is best known by its post war name Saunders Roe.

The Saga Farmann longship is being rowed up the Thames on Tuesday evening 26 August.

Tower Bridge is due to open at 10pm but there will be chance to see the Viking vessel depart in daylight at 4pm the following day when she will berth for a week at nearby St Katharine Dock.

The Saga Farmann is Norwegian and based on a reconstruction from the year 998. On its long and complicated journey to London it has travelled across land, as the original will have done, as well as on water.

The overnight mooring in the Pool of London is expected to be between Cannon Street and London Bridges.

An early London Bridge was pulled down on 8 September 1014 by Norwegian King Olaf II who had ropes from the crossing attached to his boats before ordering crews to row hard.

This was part of a friendly plan to save Southwark from the Danes.

Olaf was later declared a saint and St Olave’s church subsequently stood next to London Bridge until being demolished in 1927. Today the figure of St Olaf can be seen on the site – where the Thames Path turns inland to Tooley Street.

Walking from Vauxhall towards Battersea Power Station it has long been necessary to briefly join the main road opposite Waitrose before returning to the river at Tideway Walk.

The obstruction was the Heathwall Quay pumping station but following completion of the Tideway Tunnel Project work there is now a continuous path joining Prescott Wharf to Tideway Walk.

The official opening of the Heathwall Quay path was performed yesterday by Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan.

There is also the addition of a viewing platform giving a view immediately upstream of Nine Elms Pier.

The sand dredger Bowbelle was berthed at Nine Elms Pier in August 1989 before moving downstream after dark and being involved in the Marchioness Disaster.

The new path joins Tideway Walk next to the permanently moored Battersea Barge.

An Act of Remembrance for the 51 passengers who died on the night of 20 August 1989 in the Marchioness Disaster will take place at Southwark Cathedral today Wednesday 20 August.

The river collision happened at night between Cannon Street and Southwark Bridges.

The memorial is just inside the door and the annual remembrance will take place shortly after 1pm immediately following the 12.45pm Eucharist.

Enter by way of the courtyard next to the Thames Path.

The coronation of King Athelstan took place in Kingston-upon-Thames on 4 September 925.

He was the first monarch to be crowned rather than wear a helmet and became the first king of all England.

His was the second coronation to be held in the riverside town perhaps due to its location on the border between Wessex and Mercia.

Athelstan was crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Athelm.

The 11ooth anniversary is being marked by a walk from Malmesbury, where Athelstan is buried, to Kingston starting today Monday 18 August.

The Mayor of Malmesbury Cllr Stephen James will be walking the 130 miles with around fifty others.

From tomorrow, Tuesday 19 August, the route follows the Thames Path downstream from Lechlade over 11 days.

The arrival is planned for 10.30am on 4 September with the last leg being from nearby Hampton Court.

That day Kingston-upon-Thames will be marking the exact date with seven contemporary life-sized embroidery panels unveiled at 2pm in All Saints Church which is associated with the coronations

This will be followed by an address delivered by historian Tom Holland.

Walking The Thames Path by Leigh Hatts (Cicerone Press) is available direct from the publisher.

The Thames Path between the Albert Embankment and St George Wharf at Vauxhall has reopened.

The lengthy closure with a diversion along the main road had been to allow work on the Thames Tideway, or ‘Super Sewer’, tunnel.

Behind Tintagel House the path passes over a line marked Effra Quay where a new wide platform reaches into the River Thames.

Alongside upstream is Lack’s Dock.

Immediately upstream the riverside path behind Vauxhall Cross, the MI6 building, has also reopened. At the far end next to Vauxhall Bridge there is another platform, being called the Isle of Effra, reaching out into the Thames.

The former Effra Creek has long been covered by St George Wharf and the River Effra now enters the Thames on each side of Vauxhall Bridge.

The new Isle of Effra viewpoint affords a close view of one of Vauxhall Bridge’s little seen statues by Alfred Drury RA.

The pedestrian tunnel taking the Thames Path under Vauxhall Bridge to reach St George Wharf has also now reopened.