Author: Leigh Hatts

“The path is generally walkable,” says the Thames Path National Trail office.

It is certainly drying out although there are plenty of signs of the flood damage along the way.

Photographer Peter Marshall is opposing the plan to change the name of Bugsby’s Reach to Waterman’s Reach.

His written objection and more can be read on a Peter Marshall website.

Today’s announcement by Mayor of London Boris Johnson that the ‘mini-Hollands’ cyclists programme will include a Thames Riverside Boardway may raise fears of more conflict between cyclists and walkers.

The Boardway is planned for Kingston and will be cyclist only. “Pedestrians will be restricted to the existing path on the river-bank,” states the consultation document. This will be possible by placing the Boardway partly on floating structures.

Cyclists will be able to cross the river alongside the railway bridge from the Teddington/Hampton Wick bank and continue south past Kingston Bridge where the Thames Path crosses. So cyclists and the Thames Path will be parallel for only the very short distance between the two Kingston crossings.

From the Thames Barrier to the O2 you are alongside a section the River Thames known as Bugsby’s Reach.

It may have been named after a Geenwich Peninsula gardener.

However, the Port of London Authority is preparing to rename the river here Waterman’s Reach on Friday 18 September to mark the 500th anniversary of the Watermen’s Company foundation on that date by Henry VIII.

This is an important anniversary of a vital body but it does seem a pity to change a very old name which is also part of the Thames heritage.

The PLA consultation on the planned name change ends on Tuesday 21 April.

More details and some very good points are on the 853 blog.

Early Thames Path walkers will remember when The Roebuck near Tilehurst Station was open and  a natural stop for lunch.

The path crosses the railway and passes the side of the pub. The huge window at the back gave a wonderful view across the Chilterns.

It changed its name and then closed. It is still a closed pub.

But the good news is that the fine Victorian building has been restored as accommodation. Parkers has the details and pictures.

Having crossed Maidenhead Bridge you turn upstream through the Bridge Gardens and suddenly you have to briefly  join the road to avoid one building.

On Shrove Tuesday Windsor & Maidenhead Council’s rights of way & highways licensing panel agreed that a riverside path should be created. If negotiation with residents fails members are prepared to consider a path creation order and a public inquiry.

Margaret Bowdery, who has just retired after 43 years as East Berkshire Ramblers footpath secretary, remains hopeful of a solution being found without the need for a public inquiry.

The Thames Path continues as a riverside path in front of the upstream building.

Increasing concern all along the Thames about the Environment Agency plans to reduce the number lock and weir-keepers is being highlighted this morning with a demonstration in central London.

Environment Agency and GMB union officials are holding joint talks on staffing levels.

The GMB is to stress the important work of Richard Hawkins, resident lock and weir-keeper at Abingdon, who rescued someone in the river at 7.30am last Saturday as the storm subsided.

The lock-keeper then steered a narrow boat, which had come adrift from its mooring by the ferocity of the current, across the river and secured the vessel safely.

Earlier this month the same lock-keeper had rescued a young boy who slipped into the floods and was in danger of being swept into the weir.

The EA has pursued a plan which would see more keepers’ cottages becoming high rent holiday homes.

This is a huge change in policy since it is the on-site lock-keepers who know and watch the river and have been able to control the flow using the weir alongside the locks.

No flooding is not news but it allows the river to be used and enjoyed. Employing lock-keepers is cheaper than cleaning up after annual floods.

Lovell’s Wharf in Greenwich is holding a consultation following the submitting of a new planning application.

Lovell’s Wharf is on the Greenwich peninsula just before the Thames Path reaches the Cutty Sark pub.

The plan is to extend the residential development north along the riverside to cover the existing Badcock’s Wharf boatyard which will move a little further north to Bay Wharf.

The first phase of the Lovell’s Wharf development alongside Pelton Road was as controversial as the present proposals.

The work caused confusing temporary diversions of the Thames Path .

If approval is granted by Greenwich Council for the revised plan to complete the full scheme then work will start this year and continue until 2018.

The good news is that the intention over the next four years is to keep the path by the river open almost all the time. Any closures will be notified on this website whenever possible.

As elsewhere on the peninsula, the riverside path is to be separated from the cycleway in front of Lovell’s Wharf when it embraces Granite Wharf, Badcock’s Wharf and Piper’s Wharf.

The consultation exhibition is open for a final day on Thursday 20th February at The Forum@Greenwich in Trafalgar Road from 3pm to 8pm.

What is  it like at the Thames source at Kemble in Gloucestershire?

It is very rare to find water there but there is now.

You usually have to walk downstream for about about a quarter of a mile to cross the Fosse Way before finding water.

George Monbiot has made a film for The Guardian showing his visit to the source last week.

In the short film he also goes to Hurley near Marlow where he takes to a canoe and finds The Olde Bell closed.

Work has begun on the Deptford Creek pedestrian swing bridge.

The new crossing is at the entrance of Deptford Creek.

Most of the work is on Granophast Wharf where Galliard Homes has built flats incorporating a Waitrose.

The bridge should be available to walkers and cyclists at the end of the year. The Thames Path will, when the development is completed, be rerouted to stay by the river between Wood Wharf and the Peter the Great statue just upstream of Deptford Creek.

At present the Thames Path runs inland via Norway Street, by the closed Rose & Crown pub, to cross Creek Road’s swing bridge.