By Nick
Yesterday, was marked by the number of people - walkers, runners and, most particularly, cyclists, almost a plague of cyclists - we had to negotiate on the tow path. Today, in addition to more of this human traffic, we had to contend with a plague of flies, or rather midges. Great swarms of them. I pity anyone out for a run today, no doubt breathing in lungfuls of the nasty little bug(ger)s. Incidentally, although I've not presented today's weather report as yet - it was bright, but chilly, if you're interested - tomorrow, we're expecting, if not 'storms of fire' then quite a bit of rain. Well, it was never going to last, but it's a shame the fine weather had to break on the last day.
Obviously, finishing in Westminster as we did, the end of our walk today was always going to be within a built-up, city-scape. What surprised us was for how far along our route the dominant landscape feature was trees. Certainly, once we moved on past Richmond town, we found ourselves walking through a tunnel of green, pretty well all the way to Putney: practically half-way.
One of the pleasures of this walk has been not having ever to worry about loosing our way, even when the path deviates from the river: there's always been excellent signage. Well, that all changed today. Negotiating some of the detours today, especially around the extensive new building work close to Battersea Power Station, has not been a pleasure. Often, what signs there were, had been mischievously misdirected, and at many points, were simply absent. Once you get back to the river, though, obviously, you can't really go wrong.
Another thing that was markedly absent was public conveniences. Back in the countryside, it's relatively easy to find a suitably masking tree or bush. In town, however, that's not so easy, particularly with the increase in passers by. We had assumed that loos would be plentiful, but not a bit of it, so we ended up popping into quite a few pubs en route and feeling obliged to order something. Well, that's our excuse. There's certainly no shortage of watering holes, especially, according to our map, along the north bank. I wonder why south-Londoners enjoy fewer opportunities to whet their whistles. Maybe north-Londoners are more in need of a drink just to help them make it through the day. Who knows.
So, that was that for our penultimate and longest day. Tomorrow, once we've negotiated the Sunday engineering works on the line between Staines and Waterloo - why they would scheduled those for a bank-holiday weekend is beyond me - we'll be walking a mere 12 or 13 miles from the London Eye to our final finishing line: the Thames Barrier. Will there be a brass band, barely audible above a host of cheering locals, throngs of flag-waving supporters, medals and speeches? Probably not. Will there be beer and chocolate? Oh yes. Oh yes.
TTFN - N
Yesterday, was marked by the number of people - walkers, runners and, most particularly, cyclists, almost a plague of cyclists - we had to negotiate on the tow path. Today, in addition to more of this human traffic, we had to contend with a plague of flies, or rather midges. Great swarms of them. I pity anyone out for a run today, no doubt breathing in lungfuls of the nasty little bug(ger)s. Incidentally, although I've not presented today's weather report as yet - it was bright, but chilly, if you're interested - tomorrow, we're expecting, if not 'storms of fire' then quite a bit of rain. Well, it was never going to last, but it's a shame the fine weather had to break on the last day.
Obviously, finishing in Westminster as we did, the end of our walk today was always going to be within a built-up, city-scape. What surprised us was for how far along our route the dominant landscape feature was trees. Certainly, once we moved on past Richmond town, we found ourselves walking through a tunnel of green, pretty well all the way to Putney: practically half-way.
One of the pleasures of this walk has been not having ever to worry about loosing our way, even when the path deviates from the river: there's always been excellent signage. Well, that all changed today. Negotiating some of the detours today, especially around the extensive new building work close to Battersea Power Station, has not been a pleasure. Often, what signs there were, had been mischievously misdirected, and at many points, were simply absent. Once you get back to the river, though, obviously, you can't really go wrong.
Another thing that was markedly absent was public conveniences. Back in the countryside, it's relatively easy to find a suitably masking tree or bush. In town, however, that's not so easy, particularly with the increase in passers by. We had assumed that loos would be plentiful, but not a bit of it, so we ended up popping into quite a few pubs en route and feeling obliged to order something. Well, that's our excuse. There's certainly no shortage of watering holes, especially, according to our map, along the north bank. I wonder why south-Londoners enjoy fewer opportunities to whet their whistles. Maybe north-Londoners are more in need of a drink just to help them make it through the day. Who knows.
So, that was that for our penultimate and longest day. Tomorrow, once we've negotiated the Sunday engineering works on the line between Staines and Waterloo - why they would scheduled those for a bank-holiday weekend is beyond me - we'll be walking a mere 12 or 13 miles from the London Eye to our final finishing line: the Thames Barrier. Will there be a brass band, barely audible above a host of cheering locals, throngs of flag-waving supporters, medals and speeches? Probably not. Will there be beer and chocolate? Oh yes. Oh yes.
TTFN - N
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