Thames Path Route News
All things considered, it doesn’t seem to have been a bad January. Obviously the Path is wet in many places. And, where it’s not wet, then it’s muddy. But that is to be expected at this time of year.
A petition has been started to urge the Environment Agency to repair the boardwalk to Marsh Lock approaching Henley (see below under long-standing diversions). As of writing there are 3.500 signatures. If you would like to sign, please click the link here. It’s easy to get caught in the swell of “this will never happen”. But sometimes it takes a child to get us out of our chair and appeal.
We’ve been a longstanding stalwart of walking on the right bank between Westminster and Tower Bridge: a traffic free route giving wonderful views of Westminster, St Paul’s and the Tower of London, not to mention such doorstop attractions as The Tate Modern and The Globe. Circumstance brought us to The Embankment, on the left bank, from where we decided to walk to Monument. It was surprisingly good making us question the wisdom of recommending the right bank. Whilst it’s true that the right bank is more traffic free, the left bank, with its network of embankment gardens, is not the highway we once thought. The thoughtful redevelopment around Upper Thames Street by the, mostly out of pecuniary reach, Westin Plaza has removed some of the awkward diversions that used to exist along this stretch. In fact, the only diversion lies for 200m just before Blackfriars Bridge. We will be covering this stretch of the Thames Path on our webinar on February 12.
Long-standing diversions:
The diversion to avoid the closed boardwalk at Marsh Lock Henley now starts at Shiplake and takes you briefly into the Chilterns. The diversion adds an extra 1.0 miles to the walk although feedback that we’ve received is that it feels much longer! But, bear in mind that the distance from Shiplake to Henley is already 2.4 miles. So the diversion is therefore 3.4 miles in total.
The diversion at Temple Bridge is still in place following its closure. The diversion makes use of the lane running from Temple to Bisham and then a road with a pavement into Marlow
And damage to a bridge over a tributary has caused a diversion from just past the Runnymede Hotel to shortly before Staines. The diversion uses the A308 (pavements) returning the walker to the riverbank just before the bridge at Staines. The diversion replaces about 0.6 miles of the route with minimal added distance. The diversion is set to be in place until 2026. The signage for this diversion is not that obvious. Also note that you might find that the barricades preventing you getting onto the bridge have been removed. If so, this will have been unauthorised.
Between Richmond and Kew a section of the embankment has collapsed into the river. There is no way around meaning that section of the Path is temporarily closed. We advise you to follow the left bank through Isleworth and Brentford. However, development work is ongoing at the Grand Union Canal in Brentford with the Path being blocked. This can be avoided by skipping the walk along the canal and following Brentford High Street instead.
For a full list please see our route alerts page on the website. | 
