Day 15 - Waterloo to Thames Barrier - Friday 11 August

Distance: 13.5 miles
Time: 5 hours 3 mins
Walking Partners: Uncle Alan (Waterloo to North Greenwich); Dad, Bek, and Sonny (North Greenwich to Thames Barrier and the END!)
Accommodation: Home

Three miles in on the last day and still smiling.

Catching the train up to Waterloo with the commuters seemed a strange way to start my last day of the Thames Path Challenge. Two weeks ago with Trish I had passed a day walking through rural Gloucestershire and we saw only one other person on the trail. Even a week ago walking from Pangbourne to Sonning I had spent much of the walk in open fields with one or two dog walkers. My expectation was that it would be a get-it-over-and-done-with kind of route march with little of interest to see as I know (or thought I knew) London pretty well. But being in reality a West End girl, the path after Tower Bridge was completely new and totally fascinating. Even Uncle Alan who worked man and boy in the city was staggered by the refurbishment and renewal of places like Wapping and Rotherhithe. All very des res these days. He did still seem to have a homing instinct for most of the pubs in the area though, with a memory of some misdemeanour in each one which is why I presume we weren't able to go into any of them.

Uncle Alan, being a senior gent, was only expecting to walk to Tower Bridge with me but after we stopped for a coffee at the Blue Print Cafe at the Design Museum he declared himself to be fit to carry on and eventually did 11 and a half miles with no sign of weariness whatsoever. I keeping my fingers crossed that I've inherited those Rowles genes!

There were lots of historical plaques and little nuggets of trivia in the guide book to make us feel that we were learning loads about ye olde London town though inevitably I can barely remember any of it now. But it was really interesting at the time... We lunched at the delightful Cafe Nabo in the Surrey Docks Farm where you can sip on your latte surrounded by the sights, sounds (and smells) of a variety of farmyard animals which feels faintly incongruous with Canary Wharf in the background.

This was our view for a very long time.

After Rotherhithe we entered Deptford which I would say, how shall I put it, is a bit tasty. The route goes away from the river for a whole section and you walk through parks which give you a strong inclination to clutch your valuables to your breast and avoid eye contact as you step over the cans of Tennents Extra and Strongbow. I did feel more at ease having Uncle Alan with me if only to laugh nervously at the benefits of witnessing the rich tapestry of human life while on the walk. You can take the girl out of safe suburbia, but can you take suburbia out of the girl?

We went past the Cutty Sark in Greenwich and then through the part of the Thames walk that demonstrates how much of a working river it still is, with factories on each bank and heaving industrial plants vibrating, gurgling and cranking as you go. With the bend of the river being so marked (think of the opening credits of Eastenders) it is really disconcerting to see some buildings over and over again from different angles. You never seem to be more than a couple of miles from the Gherkin and from the Isle of Dogs however long you've been moving. The walk around the Millenium Dome is rather desolate, stuck on the tip of a peninsula in what appears to be an abandoned wasteland. There is a huge temptation to take a short cut across the middle (fear not! I would never do such a thing) except for the fact that you would inevitably get lost. Two miles from the end I bid farewell to randonneur extraordinaire Uncle Alan as he delivered me into the care of my final companions for the last part of the journey: Dad (he of imminent hip operation fame), Bek (sister-in-law and superlative fine artist) and Sonny (adorable nephew).

.

My stirling young walking partner leads me to the end.

By now the end was in sight with the Thames Barrier looking, as my guide book puts it, like a line of giant monks crossing the by now extraordinarily wide Thames. You can tell that the sea is close here; sea gulls, a certain salty ozone and the obvious tidal nature of the river. The sky looks very big here as the flood plain is wide and flat. Just before the end of the trail there is a profile of the river Thames etched into the concrete wall showing the height of the river at the start (105 metres) and how it comes down to sea level over 180 miles. When you look at it like that, it does seem quite a long way

Look at where I started!

Through the tunnel you finally come to a sign which marks the official end to the Thames path, or the beginning if you fancied doing the whole thing in reverse. I rather like the last line of my guide book which reads: 'Here, beyond the Barrier, you have a satisfying sense that the river you have followed from its first modest trickle is opening out to its estuary, ready to greet the sea.'

The official end!

After taking lots of photos we looked around for somewhere to go for a celebratory drink. The Barrier visitor centre and cafe being closed meant that we had to go hunting in Woolwich, not generally known for its gastro pubs and in the end we stopped at the rather extraordinary St Clair's Pub. It turned out to be emminently appropriate in its exact opposition to the gorgeous Red Lion where I had my first pint of Real Ale of the trip two weeks ago. There was obviously no real ale available at the St Clair's. The staff and clientele were ethnically diverse and no one spoke with a west country accent. MTV was blaring out from one TV and sports fixtures from another and had we waited a couple of hours we would have been treated to a display from the exotic dancers. But the barman was lovely and came to shake my hand when my Dad (as Dads will) told him about my challenge. He performed a fabulous trick with a pint of lager for Sonny who was as enchanted by that as he was by the 'dancing' decorative lights and the cheese and onion crisps. All in all, a rather marvellous end to a wonderful adventure.

Celebrations at the rather salubrious St Clair pub in Woolwich

The starring plates of meat