You will find Thames Crossings on Radio 4 at 1.45pm all this week from 20 April.
It could be described as a bit of a ramble with Piers Plowright but those know the Thames well will find the references in the first episode fascinating.
Eyot House on D’Oyly Carte Island near Shepperton is for sale.
The Sunday Telegraph featured the carefully restored house which was made to look like a Swiss chalet by Richard D’Oyly Carte in the 1890s.
The article includes the interesting information that the narrow bridge was only added in 1964 which explains why so many people claim to remember having to ring the bell at the lychgate on the towpath to attract attention.
The Deptford Jack in the Green really will be in Deptford on May Day 2013.
Some years the figure surrounded by musicians has been seen upstream in Borough Market.
On Wednesday 1 May the Jack will leave the Dog & Bell in Princes Street in Deptford at 12 noon.
The Thames Path passes the door.
Dressing the Jack takes place at the Dog & Bell the night before and on Wednesday the pub will open at 11am.
Last year’s Southwark pictures are here.
This year’s programme has been published on the Fowlers Troop website.
The royal row barge Gloriana, will be rowed from Hampton Court Palace to the Tower of London on Sunday 21 April.
This will be part of the Tudor Pull but Sunday is also the Queen’s birthday.
The Gloriana and other traditional cutters are expected at Putney about 3pm and should reach the Pool of London about an hour later.
Earlier walkers on the Thames Path in Southwark can expect to see a human tower from Catalonia outside Tate Modern at 11am and in Borough Market at 1pm. The visitors are in Southwark for St George’s Day celebrations. George is the patron of Catalonia as well as England and Southwark has a St George festival.
A wonderful exhibition of Eric Fraser’s work has opened at the Chris Beetles Gallery in London’s Ryder Street.
Eric Fraser’s black and white drawings were seen regularly in The Radio Times. He was also responsible for the Mr Therm logo of British Gas Council.
He lived at Hampton just upstream from Hampton Court.
In the exhibition is a picture of riverside Garrick’s Temple in the snow. He also depicted local resident Henry VIII for a History of Parliament exhibition.
Hampton Church can be reached by ferry from the Thames Path. It is probably this church which Eric Fraser depicted on the cover of The Twelve Days of Christmas (1961). The Holy Family is in the church, angels and Father Christmas are in the sky and below the boar’s head is on the Hampton Court dinner table.
The church, usually open on the third Saturday in June for a fete, has a window, doors and an altar cloth by Eric Fraser where he worshipped and is buried.
Eric Fraser 1902-1983, a superb and not to be missed exhibition, continues until 11 May.
The high flow of water has caused the riverside path at North Meadow outside Cricklade to be breached.
Indeed it is being described as the Thames “changing course”.
One can leave Cricklade on the official route but at West Mill one must now turn away from the river and follow West Mill Lane inland. Keep ahead on joining a more major road. Take the second right and soon go right again into Stones Lane. The leisure centre grounds are opposite. Some distance after a bend go right to follow the cycleway on the old railway line.
Having crossed the Thames you are on the Thames Path again.
Good news from the Greenwich Peninsula where the riverside path between the 02 Dome and Greenwich is suddenly open without any diversions.
So having walked round the outside of the 02 and reached the restored drawdock you can now again stay beside the Thames. At first the path even has a separate cycle lane marked for two way traffic.
This is a sign of how it will be in the future but before that there will be occasional closures or diversions since there is a massive luxury flat building programme just beginning all along this part of the riverside.
Today was sunny enough for me to want to walk the Thames Path at Greenwich.
Lunch was at Goddard’s pie and mash shop in the former Cricketers pub at the back of Greenwich Market.
For years I used to enjoy lunch at Ye Olde Pie House in Greenwich near today’s DLR station. It was not as old as many people thought since pies had only been available there since 1952. It was an off-shoot of Goddard’s pie and mash shop in Deptford.
In 2006 the Greenwich pie shop suddenly closed although it had been made a listed building by pie and mash fan Tony Banks MP. It is now a Gourmet Burger Kitchen.
Last year came the good news that Goddard’s was reopening in Greenwich. Today’s long planned visit came a year and one day after the opening in April last year. It was good to enjoy the familiar taste and find that cherry pies are still available for pudding.
The business started in 1890 and is now in the hands of the fifth generation.
Upstairs there a long tables and old church pews for seats.
Today pie and mash is £3.70. It’s a good reliable stop for lunch two hours from the Thames path start.
The towpath has been flooded today by the extra high tides.
Running coach Simon Barnes has completed the Thames Path in 57 hours and 10 minutes.
He walked upstream without stopping for sleep a year ago this month when the weather was better.
A short report appears in the latest Strider, the Long Distance Walkers Association magazine. He might have been even quicker had he not had “a few diversions and navigational errors”.
Simon says that it is the toughest venture he has ever undertaken.