Anchor in St Olav Square recalls maritime linksFlowers in the walled St Olav Square
Rotherhithe has a new feature.
Public toilets, famous for having Ladies and Gentleman boards in Norwegian, have given way to an extended space in front of the Norwegian Church.
St Olav Square was inaugurated this month by Princess Astrid who also unveiled a bust of King Haakon VII.
Haakon brought his exiled government to London during the Second World War. His wife was Maud, daughter of Edward VII, who died shortly before the outbreak of war with Germany.
The Mayflower pub
Today quiet Rotherhithe is preparing for another significant occasion.
In 2020 there will be celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of The Mayflower sailing with the Pilgrim Fathers to America.
The ship left from a jetty behind today’s Mayflower pub which in 1620 was called The Shippe inn.
Captain Christopher Jones, who took The Mayflower ship to America via Southampton and Plymouth, returned and is buried in St Mary’s Church.
Another focus in 2020 will be the striking Christopher Jones figure in the churchyard. The statue by Jamie Sargeant was unveiled in July 1995.
The Mayflower left for Southampton in July 1620 and the many possibilities for the July 2020 programme includes a visit by President Donald Trump who will be completing his term of office.
Remains of Mayflower jettyChristopher Jones statue
Start of the diversion in Albert EmbankmentDiversion sign at Lack’s Dock
The Thames Super Sewer project work is now affecting the Thames Path around Vauxhall.
After Lambeth Bridge, the path follows the Albert Embankment where the road gradually leaves the riverside allowing the path to be separated from traffic by welcome grass.
However, where the path once went ahead between a building and the water there is now a diversion. Don’t go through the temporary barrier even if it is open – you won’t get far.
Turn inland by the building (number 93) to follow the Albert Embankment main road.
But a few yards beyond Cafe 89 (right) turn right into Lack’s Dock to return to the river and follow an enclosed path along the back (riverside) of the MI6 Vauxhall Cross building.
The tunnel under Vauxhall Bridge is now closed so climb the steps and go left to use the road crossing. On the far side of the bridge approach turn right and soon find a path on the left running down to the Thames Path on St George Wharf.
Path at MI6Tunnel closed
There is a further diversion a little further on at Nine Elms.
This is at Bourne Valley Wharf where the proposed Pimlico footbridge may land.
From here one must go inland and cross the Nine Elms Lane main road. At once turn right to continue upstream.
This may seem a long way from the river but there is a good view of the moat being dug for the new US Embassy.
Soon after Waitrose it is possible to go back to the opposite side of the main road by using a pedestrian crossing and return to the river by passing between tall buildings.
The three others on the list are The Gun at Coldharbour in Docklands, City Barge at Strand-on-the-Green and The White Swan at Twickenham.
The latter two are of course on the alternative left bank offered by the National Trial but not on the towpath.
Meanwhile a campaign to encourage pubs along the Thames to use more washable plastic glasses rather than single-use plastic glasses has been launched by Thames21, London’s waterways charity.
Plastic glasses are one of the top ten objects washed up on the Thames foreshore.
The Thames Friendly Pubs initiative has the backing of food expert and campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
From Thursday 24 August to Saturday 26 August, during the Reading Festival, the Thames Path will be closed from 9pm to 6am between Caversham Bridge to Scours Lane near Tilehurst.
The festival is sold out so 100,000 people can now be expected to attend.
A temporary bridge has again been erected across the Thames near Scours Lane.
Tuesday 1 August is Lammas Day when when the first wheat from the harvest is made into a loaf to be the bread consecrated with the wine at a thanksgiving Mass.
Lammas comes from an Anglo Saxon word meaning loaf mass. The ancient custom predates the autumn harvest festival.
There will be the blessing of bread in Borough Market followed by a procession to nearby Southwark Cathedral where the bread will be offered at Mass and consecrated as the Body of Christ.
The Blessing of bread is at Bread Ahead in Cathedral Street at 12.15pm.
Upstream at Cricklade in Wiltshire the hay has been cut on North Meadow where Lammas Day marks the start of grazing. However, the town still observes the old calendar so the gate will not be opened until Old Lammas Day on 12 August.
This later date was when harvest was more likely to have started but this year walkers will find harvest already under way all along the river.
Staines-on-Thames recreation ground is Lammas land where the barons gathered in 1215 before meeting King John on Runnymede to secure Magna Carta.
The Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) is hoping to extend its protection of meadowland at Chimney which is midway between Newbridge and Tadpole Bridges.
The Trust wishes to buy the Duxford floodplain opposite Chimney and on the south side of the Shifford Lock Cut.
The land is downstream of Tenfoot Bridge with the Old Thames as its eastern boundary.
In the early days, the Thames Path followed the Old Thames to the ford at Duxford before passing through Duxford Farm and rejoining the towpath at Tenfoot Bridge.
In the 1980s the towpath alongside Chimney meadows was overgrown and rarely used.
BBOWT has launched an appeal for £220,000 to be raised by 30 September to purchase the 113 acres which at present is unprotected.
Today is the 300th anniversary of the Handel’s Water Music premiere.
Handel’s Water Music was composed for King George I’s progress up the Thames on Saturday evening 17 July 1717.
The King embarked on a borrowed City livery barge at Whitehall Steps, near the PS Tattershall Castle’s present mooring, at 8pm to be rowed up to Chelsea.
It was a river party with George Frideric Handel and an orchestra on board.
The performance started as the barge was passing Lambeth Palace.
So the actual anniversary hour must be 7.15 BST.
Tonight, Monday 17 July 2017, there will be a re-enactment when a large party with a 12 piece baroque orchestra sets out on the Golden Jubilee party boat.
BBC Radio 4’s Front Row programme will be broadcasting live from the river at 7.15pm.
The King was so pleased with the new music that there were at least three encores 1717 as he was rowed to Lord Ranelagh’s Chelsea house for supper and back to Whitehall.
