We’re delighted to announce that we’ve teamed up with Rosalind of Wide Eyed London to deliver three guided tours for Thames Path walkers. The three walks are:
The Secret Streets Behind the Abbey: exploring the lesser known streets behind Westminster Abbey
Between Westminster and Tower Bridge: The Strand runs parallel to the left bank of the Thames from Trafalgar Square to Aldwych. The back streets, so very close to the busy Strand that we know today, are quiet and filled with stories of the characters who lived there.
East London and the Docklands: As an area importing some of the most luxurious and valuable goods from across the world, the society that lived here were, in contrast, rough and ready, with a history of piracy and executions. Devastated in the 2nd World War, the area is now vibrant and exciting, with wonderful buildings and lots of little details to reveal its past history.
Obviously there are no tours currently operating. However, you can catch Rosalind on a virtual tour (which is how we found her!) by checking her website. For other Thames Path experiences, please visit our website.
Following last week’s snow and more rain this week, there are flood alerts out for much of the Thames Path. Do check our status page before venturing out. Note: as we are in lockdown we have no way of checking on the state of the Path other than what we can see locally and what we are told. Do keep us informed if you know of any issues.
This week Country Life featured an article on Cricklade’s North Meadow. North Meadow is an old hay meadow which is now part of the National Nature Reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Whilst the meadow is almost certainly under water right now, in spring time it comes alive with an abundance of wild flowers including snake’s head fritillaries, The meadow is now owned by Natural England who arrange guided walks at weekends when the fritillaries are in flower. The site hosts the largest collection of fritillaries in the country.
We are currently planning a new release of our route planner. We have some enhancements we’d like to make including the ability for a user to lock a page when using the map – to prevent accidentally jumping to another page. We would love to hear from you if you have any suggestions for improvement.
We start with some disappointing but understandable news that the Chelsea Flower Show, held annually at Kew, is to be postponed to September. The show was originally scheduled for May 18 – 23. No doubt this decision is driven by the fact that preparations would need to start soon if the event was to be held in May. On a happier note, the Chelsea Physic Garden has re-opened.
We hope you have been enjoying Tony Robinson’s latest series on the Thames broadcast on Channel 5. This week’s episode was probably the best so far as he showed some stunning images of the tunnel boring machine Selina being towed into London. Still available on My5.
If you enjoyed Tony Robinson, you’ll probably also enjoy Robson Green walking Hadrian’s Wall, also on Channel 5. This time, the presenter is actually on a long distance walk. As we are trying to do with the Thames Path, he focuses on the places to visit on and off the Path.
Finally, the Luminaries has kicked off. This week’s schedule is as follows:
Wednesday February 3 Chiswick House, William Kent and the birth of the English Landscape Movement
Thursday February 4 Marble Hill: Howard and her garden of grottos and groves
Friday February 5 Horace Walpole‘s “enchanted little landscape at Strawberry Hill”
All talks are at 7pm. For more details and tickets see here.
We’ve concluded our blog post featuring the all the bridges across the Thames. This week we covered from Richmond to the end of the Thames Path, the last one being Tower Bridge. This has been a learning experience. For instance, did you know that Lambeth Bridge is painted red after the colours of the House of Lords whilst Westminster Bridge is green on account of the House of Commons? And that Brentford was the first point on the Thames where it could be crossed on foot?
Here are four of our favourites for this week.
Ready to book?
