Day 14 - Barnes Bridge to Waterloo - Thursday 10 August

Distance: 11.25 miles
Time: 3 hours 51 mins
Walking partners: Gabrielle and Billie George Rowles (from Hammersmith to Vauxhall)
Accommodation: Home

My youngest walking partner to date, though 'walking' might be overstating her contribution

A slightly earlier start than anticipated due to Archie Rowles' decision to come and wake up his Auntie Dow and Uncle Bull at 6am. CBeebies is a wonderful thing.

Having dispatched said young man to go visiting with his cousin in Acton, I set off from Barnes Bridge to meet up with his mother and sister at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. A slightly damp morning giving atmospheric views over the river from Hammersmith Bridge. Georgie obliged us by having a good long sleep as we made our way down river to Putney, past some minor league football ground I believe. The way became much harder thereafter with lots of diversions through building sites and up busy roads in Wandsworth, Clapham and Battersea - a kerb and obstacle nightmare for most pushchairs but no match for Gabs 'guerilla mum' Rowles.

We stopped for lunch at the Thai Riverside Terrace in Battersea with a pleasing outlook onto the rich denizens of Chelsea Harbour across the river. Luckily Battersea Park provided a brief interlude of greenery before we were back in the pollution and thundering traffic noise of the north embankment leading up to Vauxhall - what a difference to a week ago.

Gabs went in search of a tube station without escalators to get home and I continued under ever darkening clouds back over Lambeth Bridge and towards one of the most famous views of London Town. On a day when an alleged terrorist conspiracy has had the country in its grip, the capital's skies seem aptly foreboding. In fact what they mainly predicted was that I was about to get doused in a short sharp shower.

A disrupted stroll through the throng of tourists around the London Eye brought me quickly to my destination of the South Bank Centre near Waterloo. I indulged myself in a cup of tea at my beloved National Film Theatre and pondered that I only have one day left of my personal walking odyssey. I actually feel really sad that it is nearly all over. What will I do with myself when I get up on Saturday and have no walking to do?

Got the tube home in reflective mood.