Tales of the Riverbank

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My blogs predominantly start as taking a walk round and see what I can see. They inevitably end up at a football match. This blog would be different. The Other Half had a request for her special day. “I want to go out on a boat ride on the Thames” she announced. Who was I to argue? The short drift around turned into a serious nautical expedition and so we found ourselves up early after the “World Cup Final” festivities and heading for central London. After a bus and the District Line, we alighted at a Westminster already brimming with a host of tourists and those willing to relieve them of their spending money. The plan was to sail all the way to Hampton Court. We were certainly doing the rounds following Henry VIII this weekend. The water buses ply their way both directions from Westminster Pier and fortunately the majority were waiting for the Greenwich services. We joined a short queue to the ticket booth for the Kew, Richmond and Hampton Court routes. The shutters were down, but the once opened the number dissipated quickly. We parted with our £!9, which sounds excessive but then isn’t everything in London? It was £15 to get to Kew, so the extra £4 for the miles to Hampton Court seemed quite competitive. In the meantime, I listened with interest to the 6 week tour of Europe being described by 2 retired Australians. They were pleased to hand back their hire car, after a few torturous weeks navigating the less than satisfactory narrow lanes of both Ireland and the Cotswolds and take the train to London. Life behind the wheel of a 4 litre Ford Falcon in rural South Australia did not prepare you for the challenges that life can throw at you it seems. They would soon be heading home via Switzerland and Singapore. They liked Singapore. It would be another return visit. The weather today would nearly be as warm as Singapore, so we headed to the shaded section at the front of the boat. The majority made a bee line to the rear open deck. Sunburn would surely follow.



We waited patiently at Westminster Pier for departure. I was keen to see whether this more relaxing form of transport would enable me to remember more of the sights I would see. The Man In The Middle always hails my memory, but we would see how the day went. There would certainly be a lot more to see and remember than Elvis had offered us on Lake Ohrid. A succession of boats heading to Greenwich docked before us, each chugging out copious quantities of diesel fumes as they attempted to align with the dock to take on board the passengers. London Clean Air Zone indeed? The river was perhaps exempt. The London Eye was beginning to turn in front of the old County Hall. However, the appearance of Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster was somewhat different from our last visit. The clock face peaked from behind the scaffolding, but the rest of the tower as completely covered. The Big Ben title is commonly used, but in theory only relates to the actual bell. The tower is officially the Elizabeth Tower and has been so since 2012. Sporadic section of scaffolding also covered other parts of the main building, but the Victoria Tower at the inland end remained unscathed. Lambeth Palace – the official residence of the Archbishop – was visible to our left before the Lambeth Bridge and the MI5 building on our right thereafter. The old ICI headquarters are now spy HQ, but we can’t talk about it. The original Tate Britain was just visible through the trees before Vauxhall Bridge. The Tate Modern opposite the City grabs all the attention, but this was the original gift to the people of the sugar baron. The shiny new MI6 building stood on the opposite bank. The MI5 types probably look on in jealousy at the building compared to their own, but again it is so secret so we don’t really know it is actually there. The next major landmark is the controversial new US Embassy. The project to relocate was started under the Obama years and needless to say, Donald has a few things to say on the subject ever since. The building is certainly a striking addition to the river skyline. It opened in January 2018, but somehow didn’t look finished.



The sleek modern structure of the new US Embassy is in contrast to the old Battersea Power Station. The cranes surround the old chimneys, which must be maintained as part of the redevelopment. The Grade II listed status has caused years of delay on the project to convert them to executive flats, but the decree is the largest brick built structure in Europe must retain the core of its original appearance. The adjacent land is also now covered in flats and waterside bars and eateries on the approach to Chelsea Bridge. Battersea has been up and coming for years now, aided by good schooling – Prince George attends a local school – and the wide open spaces for recreation offered by Battersea Park. A peace pagoda fronts the river. On the opposite bank, the Chelsea Pensioners are in residence and enjoying their piece of prestigious real estate at the old Hospital. The Chelsea Flower Show takes place in the grounds, but was now over for another year. We were approaching Cheyne Walk – home to billionaires – where Russian oligarchs pop by and snap up properties in between buying football clubs. The Sheikhs from horse racing world also favour this as their base when in town to see their four legged friends in the European classics. The property at Chelsea Harbour offers an opportunity to house your super yacht, should it not take to well to waters at Monaco. The Worlds End beyond does not live up to the description and is in fact just another executive part of Chelsea.



One of the more unusual buildings in the next section of river is the old Harrods Depository. It was formerly the place that the Knightsbridge store kept larger items before transporting to the shop floor. The exterior largely dates from 1914, but it is now part of the Harrods Village residential site and nothing to do with the shop. The conversion was completed in 2000. Craven Cottage looms on the right. The homely venue for Fulham Football Club will be one of the smallest Premier League venues next season. The statue of George Cohen – Fulham and England great – gazes out over the river from the corner of one of the stands. Fulham is no stranger to statues, as the former owner Al Fayed produced a Michael Jackson statue on the other side. The current owner has his eyes on buying Wembley, so hasn’t had the best ride in the English press recently. The FA could be a half-price sale, if the World Cup doesn’t go to plan. We were into Boat Race territory now. The annual University race between Cambridge and Oxford runs the course of the river here. We passed the finished post at Mortlake. The Sunday morning messing about on the river types were making their way out of the boathouses in various craft.



The original plan had only been to sail the last section of the Thames between either Kew or Richmond and then down to Hampton Court. The last section from Richmond was in truth fairly dull. The capacity of the boat was 90 something and at Richmond, it became crowded. The families with the disinterested children had well and truly arrived. Prep school hadn’t prepared the mini ones for the nautical trip. They were bored, before we had gone past the boatsheds before Ham House. The Petersham Hotel stood majestically on Richmond Hill looking down on proceedings. Ham House was barely visible between the trees, but Marble Hill House reflected in the bright sunshine. The Thames is very green on either side at the point. The next bend revealed Eel Pie Island, home in the past to makers of eel pies which were once prevalent in the river. The grounds of Ham follow all the way round the bend to the series of locks at Teddington. We aimed for the central lock. As it was approaching high tide, the rise in the water was not significant and we were out on to the other side. Large houses front on to the river, each with their own boat dock. The captain pointed out properties where allegedly random figures such as the owner of National Car Parks and Sandie Shaw resided. The property prices are of course outside the scope of most, although I am unsure that I would want all passing traffic gazing into my garden all day. Kingston on Thames looked a bit high rise and concrete. The scenery up to this point was all old England with lovely houses, but Kingston was a bit of a functional concrete jungle. A nice concrete jungle I am sure, but probably not worthy of the inflated house prices. We mentally cancelled plans to walk back this stretch. Hampton Court, the final destination, came into view or at least the perimeter walls and gates did. The palace was a favourite of Henry VIII, who followed our exact same route on the royal barge. We have been to Hampton Court before, so save for a wander around the gardens outside the main walls we didn’t linger. We caught the bus initially past Hampton Hill and Teddington, before taking a longer and more exhausting walk back along the towpath to Richmond. We found salvation and an acceptable pint in the Richmond Vaults.

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Photos

Palace of Westminster aka Houses of Parliament
Victoria Tower

Big Ben
...or more correctly, the Elizabeth Tower, covered in scaffolding

River Thames
.... allegedly the house of a horse racing sheikh

Comments

[Rainyb]

The ornate Crown of Chimneys – Tudor Excess at Hampton Court Palace

[Rainyb]

Thanks for sharing!