Author: Leigh Hatts

The Thames Path at Vauxhall’s St George Wharf has now opened.

The eastern section adjoining Vauxhall Bridge has been open since 2003 but it has taken a decade to complete the residential development at the upstream end.

Now the need to turn inland via Tesco and cross  a main road twice has vanished. You avoid traffic by walking under Vauxhall Bridge and along the front of the Wharf building to find yourself on Elm Quay.

What some may regret is that the Thames Path will cease to pass the lovely 18th-century Brunswick House  which has held out against developers. It’s worth taking the old diversion just to have lunch there.

The new riverside path is across the site of a timber yard run by the occupants of Brunswick House.

The flooding Thames continues to cause problems.

As reported by River Thames News, work on Whitchurch Bridge will now continue until July rather than finish at Easter.

Indeed this week work had ceased due to the “adverse river conditions”.

Road and river are closed for the bridge’s reconstruction. A temporary crossing continues to be available for walkers.

The plan to reopen the river at the end of March remains in place.

There is a handy pizza cafe just opened very near Cookham Station.

You pass Pizza Dreams Cafe when walking into or out of the village.

Pizzas start at £6 and puddings are £4.

It’s worth trying when the floods go down and we can walk again.

The Wild Duck Inn at Ewen is up for sale.

After almost a quarter of a century, owner Tina Rowley-Mussell is leaving.

The pub, often a last stop before the source at Kemble, dates from 1563 and has a sign painted by Sir Peter Scott.

Having crossed Deptford Creek, the Thames Path soon runs up Watergate Street and past the Dog & Bell into Prince Street.

This brief inland route is around Convoys Wharf which Dame Joan Ruddock MP has highlighted in the House of Commons as an extremely precious site.

It is good to hear the unusually helpful reply from the minister Edward Vaizey.

Today, Friday 10 January 2014, the entire Thames Path at Shiplake which only recently opened on the line of the towpath is under water along with the adjoining meadows and the gardens opposite. The tiny Lash Brook is now like a major river.

This is just one of many stretches which are now impossible to walk and where the water will get higher.

I am remaining on the tidal Thames since it is unwise to attempt to visit the upper reaches however tempting. In many places it is of course impossible and one would just be in the way of rescue work.

Such is the magnitude of the flooding that when scenes are shown on television it difficult to recognise the location.

In writing reports and guides to the river over more than thirty years this is the worst and most prolonged flooding I have known.

It will be some time before the entire Thames Path is available again but even longer before riverside homes will have dried out.

The idea of a garden bridge being built across the river Thames in central London has run  into opposition in the House of Lords.

The London SE1 website has  a report.

The death near Osney Lock involving a mobility scooter on the towpath is a reminder that the Thames is a dangerous river at the moment.

Tonight there are 152 flood warnings along the river. Walking the Thames Path is not  a good idea or even possible.

We are ending the year with uncertain weather which will affect walkers on the Thames Path.

River levels are rising in places on the River Thames including in the Marlow area where the towpath has been under water.

This Sunday night is due to see high winds and heavy rain which will leave some problems on Monday morning.

The latest information can be found on the Environment Agency website.

The CAMRA Joe Goodwin Award for Best Street Corner Local is not given annually due to lack of good candidates but this year one of the joint winners is the Cat’s Back near Putney.

This most unusual pub used to be on the Thames Path in the days when the route was inland between the River Wandle and Wandsworth Park. The return to the river was by way of Point Pleasant where you had to walk past the Cat’s Back.

Today, when reaching Prospect House, it’s worth turning up Point Pleasant a few yards to visit  the Cat’s Back for lunch or just  a drink.

The citation reads: “The Cat’s Back is a back-street jewel, with its interwar tiling and fenestration still intact on its external walls. The existing bar counter has a newly-salvaged top, and there’s new mix-and-match seating.

The ‘stripped’ patterning of the wallpaper may not be to everyone’s taste, but the plethora of wholly relevant archive photos on the walls of this highly interesting part of town are illuminating.

A fine local pub sensitively updated.”

The Cat’s Back is a rare pub owned by Harvey’s of Lewes.

The other winning Joe Goodwin pub is the Albion Ale House in Conwy.

The award is named in honour of a former national CAMRA chairman who died at an early age while still in office.