Author: Leigh Hatts

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.

There is a map here.

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.

The Mail has pictures.

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.

An updated edition of Cicerone’s Thames Path is out now.

This just issued guide is the most up to date available. Included are the many changes in London as well as the recovered waterside route at Shiplake.

Copies are available from Cicerone.

The arrival of better weather has allowed work to start on repairing and painting Bourne End Bridge.

The iron and steel railway crossing, which carries the Maidenhead-Marlow branch line, was built in 1895 to succeed a wooden one.

The work will take all summer but walkers will still be able to use the footbridge which was attached twenty years ago.

Some important points are made about the state of the Thames Path by John Orchard of Oxfordshire Ramblers.

Writing in the latest South East Walker, he says that the entire Thames was recently under a flood warning. “Vast swathes of land under water” for weeks has been the situation especially in the Abingdon area.

An interesting point made by John is that paths will take a long time to recover and it may be some time before we can walk the paths without being caked in mud.

But as I write it is still February.

Last week rubbish was dumped in Waterhay car park between Cricklade and Ashton Keynes. The gate was also damaged.

It’s already  reopened thanks to a Cotswold Water Park team working with local farmers and the Freeth family.