Prince Charles was at Kemble Station this morning to open a new garden which can be enjoyed by all those who complete the Thames Path.
Kemble is very convenient for Thames Head but sometimes one can have a long wait at this attractive station so there will often be time to appreciate improvements.
Price’s is offering 50% discount on their candles online to celebrate the birth of the Prince.
This recalls that Price’s became a household name selling candles to mark the wedding of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert in 1840.
Prices’s has long ceased to make candles on Battersea riverside but in part of the old factory there is a candle shop. It is run by Farris which was at first a rival and then briefly part of Price’s.
The factory floor has recently been opened as a Barker and Stonehouse furnishing shop with the candle shop in a corner. Both Farris and Price’s candles are stocked. Candles hang from the ceiling as in factory days.
Farris candles are made in Wiltshire but Prices’s candles now come from just outside Turin.
From the river walk inland down York Place, just before Plantation Wharf, and turn left at the main road to find the shop.
A lovely stream of pictures have been taken by Eric Wong who in the last hot week has been walking along the Thames Path from Oxford to Pinkhill.
The photographs include an at first confusing but interesting map of Eysham.
The first few yards of the riverside path west of Vauxhall’s St George development has been relaid and landscaped.
Riverside Gardens, as this ‘pocket park’ is now called, is the result of cooperation between Lambeth and Wandsworth Councils and the developers St George.
There has been a grand opening ceremony with a plaque unveiling but Vauxhall still does not have a continuous riverside path.
The relaid path is next to One St George Wharf, also known as The Tower, which has fifty storeys and is still be completed. It’s hoarding not only cuts off the riverside but has also closed the pavement.
The directions for those walking upstream are now for a period: On reaching Vauxhall’s Brunswick House, do not now immediately go right into Nine Elms Lane. Instead cross the road and then turn right along Nine Elms Lane. At the next ‘green man’ crossing walk across the road to join the river at the new garden. This is the start of the section known as William Henry Walk and named after Wandsworth’s borough engineer in the 1980s.
Michael Bryn-Jones, Managing Director of St George South London, said: “We are very proud to have delivered these improvements to Riverside Gardens; making them more accessible and inviting. The re-opening of Riverside Gardens will provide a pleasant and secure environment for residents and visitors to relax and enjoy views of the river. Today’s opening signals the first of a series of new public parks and squares planned for the area, representing an important milestone for the regeneration of this exciting London quarter.”
St George could be bringing bigger changes next year when Thames Path walkers should be able to avoid all traffic at Vauxhall although some will no doubt want to turn inland to visit the splendid cafe in the charming Brunswick House.
The National Churches Trust, still better known by its old name the Historic Churches Preservation Trust, has asked personalities to name their favourite church.
Timmy Mallett has chosen Cookham’s Holy Trinity Church which has the Thames Path running through its churchyard.
“This is my church – I ring the bells here. It’s the spiritual home of the League of Frontiersmen and home of the anchoress who was bricked into her cell for 12 years to pray for Henry II. The choir say they can still smell her at certain times of the year! Brilliant! Stanley Spencer wanted to paint murals in the 1950s – the Church turned him down! Mistake, I think….”
The idea of a new swing bridge for walkers and cyclists spanning the entrance to Deptford Creek has just been given planning permission.
Although it appeared in the original plans for New Capital Quay its construction now seems to rely on additional storeys being added to the already very high blocks of flats.
This new route would save having to walk up the Creek past Waitrose and across the main road’s swing bridge but those operating ships may not be so keen on the additional barrier.
The Deptford Dame blog has more background.
A future stretch of the Thames Path is emerging at Deptford Creek where New Capital Quay is being redeveloped.
Huge blocks of flats have replaced open ground which was once Phoenix Gas Works.
The present route between Greenwich and Deptford is along the riverside for a short distance and then inland at Wood Wharf to go via Thames Street to the closed Rose & Crown (more recently The Thames) and up Norway Street.
One day it will be straight ahead at Wood Wharf to follow the creek back to Norway Street. It’s longer but will be rewarding.
A short section of the new riverside path can be seen off Norway Street where Waitrose has opened under the new flats. This is not big enough to have a cafe but there is good picnic food.
Despite the uninspiring flats there was the lovely sight from the new path of the James Prior tied up the working Brewery Wharf just upstream of the lifting bridge.
Oxfordshire County Council’s Countryside Access Team has received an Access Innovation Award for improvements to the highest bridleway on the Thame Path.
A welcome flight of steps alongside a ramp were installed last year on the path from Whitchurch to Gatehampton. The problem was a worn path on a very steep slope just before Hartslock Wood.
New steps, ramp and handrail have been widely welcomed.
The award was made by the British Horse Society’s Oxfordshire branch.
Henley Royal Regatta runs from Wednesday 3 July to Sunday 7 July during which there will be a towpath diversion.
The Royal Barge Gloriana, which was an attraction at the regatta last year, will be back in Henley on Monday 1 July.
In the morning the barge will travel upstream from Henley to the nearby River & Rowing Museum carrying again the cauldron used last year from Hampton Court to London.
The cauldron has been donated to the museum and Sir Matthew Pinsent, as a museum vice-president, will formally accept the gift.
Queen’s Swan Marker David Barber says that swans on the Thames have suffered from “mindless vandalism”.
He told The Times: “It is most regrettable that swans and cygnets suffer serious injury or even death as a result of mindless vandalism, dog attacks and injuries sustained by ingesting or being caught in abandoned fishing tackle.”
Swan Upping this year is from Monday 15 July starting at Sunbury and finishing on Friday 19 July at Abingdon.