Thames Path Ramble 20: Wednesday 16th March 2016
Weybridge to Hampton Court Palace, which
is about 6½ miles.
Sue and Jem, Jean, John, Margaret, Dot, Julie, Ann, Peter and Sue, Ian and I
have walked this stretch. We started out on a rather cold and cloudy day. Later on there were
brighter interludes. From the Shepperton-Weybridge ferry site we continued
along a straight woody stretch and throughout the day kept to the southern bank
of the Thames. We went under the new single-span Walton-on-Thames road bridge
(opened 2013) and on past many attractive and picturesque riverside houses,
chalets and bungalows often with moorings for a yacht or two besides. We had
arrived in Suburbia. We saw the covered bridge over the Sunbury weirs and then
were disappointed to find we were too early to get a cuppa at The Weir Hotel. Sylvester
the cat amused me standing to attention outside a rundown building, and then we
watched boats going through Sunbury lock.
More amusement was provided by someone with shears! Who is riding the bird? Then past Platt’s Eyot or island where in the 16th century barges carried the clay from brick fields on the site of the nearby Stain Hill reservoir to construct Hampton Court Palace. A boatyard is still here, one of the first to build and operate electrical launches along the Thames up to Henley, then taken over by Thorneycroft, a designer and builder of high speed motor boats, especially during both world wars, until the early 1960’s.
On the opposite bank, are the grand buildings of Hampton Water Works. It is part of a vast system of pumps, filter beds and nearby reservoirs, all designed in the 19th century to provide clean water for Londoners, (combatting the ‘Greak Stink’) and it is still largely operational today.
We were glad to find that elusive café at East Molesley Cricket ground and most tucked into snacks and made good use of the facilities. The last short stretch brought us in sight of Hampton Court Palace with all those chimneys!
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