Well, we’ve done it! We have finally completed the Thames Path, all 185.2 miles of it. I have to admit that we didn’t do it in one go, day after day, unlike those hardy pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago. I’ve just calculated that we did it in 28 sections and it took nearly two years. However, there were months of flooding back in the winter of 2023, so there is some excuse for the delay. And we had the joy of our own beds every night, until the last few days of the walk, when we stayed in leafy Clapham, which could hardly be considered roughing it. And it’s not exactly a pilgrimage with the Thames Barrier as your goal, but, still, we did it.
However, and it’s a big however, it turns out that all this time we had the wrong goal. We were following a fairly old guide and in fact the Thames Barrier is no longer the official end of the path. We realised this only the day before we were due to finish. I didn’t think that stopping at the barrier was enough – to complete the experience I was convinced that we needed to travel through it on a boat. The nearest pier for the Thames Clipper is Woolwich, a further 1.2 miles along the Thames, which, we learned, also happens to be the new official end of the path.
I can’t help but think that this is a metaphor for life: you spend two years aiming for something, only to discover that you’ve been aiming for the wrong thing all along. But maybe it was the right thing after all? The Thames Barrier is a much more striking end to a long-distance path than Woolwich ferry terminal and we could easily have stopped there, perfectly happy in our ignorance. Although then we wouldn’t have travelled through the barrier on a boat, which was definitely a bonus.
The irony of all this is that the signpost at the start of the walk clearly spells out that the path ends in Woolwich. Not one of us noticed this. Oh well, it’s time for the next challenge and the Ridgeway Path is a strong contender. It’s only 85 miles long, but hillier and more demanding than the flat Thames Path. It’s an ancient way, the oldest road in Britain and thought to have been in use for over 5,000 years by travellers, herdsmen and soldiers. Surely no-one would dare to tamper with the Ridgeway and decide that it should end somewhere other than the Ivinghoe Beacon? At a pub maybe? I know that Bronze Age burial mounds and Iron Age hill forts are significant, but people do get thirsty after all that walking…
Congratulations on such an achievement. And so nice to do something in life at a slower pace , so that you could really enjoy it.
Thank you. It was slow at first, then gathered momentum as we went on! I think we started to worry that if we didn’t get a move on, we’d never finish it.
I love the metaphor for life thought!
Walking the Thames path was a wonderful thing. It had an overall objective and each leg had an objective. Initially we walked in glorious countryside with lots of flowers and insect life. There were old Cotswold like villages and bridges. That gradually transformed into a wider river and then the suburbs of London . And finishing in London was fabulous. For instance, it was a joy to walk along the south bank from Vauxhall to London Bridge in the evening to avoid the heat of the day.
Roll on the Ridgeway. Maybe we should aim to finish in Leighton Buzzard. You know, a bit like Woolwich.
I’m sure lime and soda will still be the drink of choice!
I loved the changing scenery too. I thought I’d enjoy London the most, but the Cotswolds were beautiful and the food was wonderful. I’ve never been to Leighton Buzzard. Something to look forward to?
OFC I had to comment….
Beautifully described, thank you. What a great sense of achievement when we reached the Thames Barrier. All the signs were indicating the end (even if out of date), but taking the boat back through was a memorable way of ending our two year mission. We visited lots of interesting places along the way, revisiting some favourites and finding new to return to at a future date. It was a journey with friends, not a marathon. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
It was a great pleasure to walk with you and a terrific experience.