Snubnose and I tried to get in one last walk before the cold snap set in, and it was one of the most beautiful walks we took this year. K and Piglet were feeling a little lazy and stayed back home, but after seeing the pictures, they really had a fair bit of FOMO.
Just a short bus ride from our house is the leafy suburb of Twickenham. There’s nothing to note there apart from the fact that it’s a fairly posh suburb, and the Thames flows through there. But, it’s part of The Thames Walk, part of a 181-mile walk along the Thames starting in the villages of Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds and ending in London.
Since Twickenham was the section closest to us, we started there and walked all the way to Richmond, roughly following these directions. It was a glorious, sunny day. The water was blue, and everyone was taking advantage of the heat.
Here are some photos.
I knew Twickenham was posh, but you can’t actually see most of the houses from the road/bus, or at least not very well. It’s only when you walk along the river behind the houses that you can see the extent of the space. Massive houses everywhere.
The one thing that I like but that also frustrates me at the same time about the UK is how posh one street can be, and then you turn the corner and it’s completely run-down. We are starting to look at buying a house here, and it’s super frustrating to understand what’s a good, safe location when you turn the corner and there’s a dump.
Our first rental in London – so scenic and pretty, and with a massive garden. We love the area, but there’s a wine shop just a couple of blocks away, and all summer long, there were drunks sitting on the road and singing all day long. They weren’t dangerous or anything, but it’s just something that we needed to get used to, after living for so long in a gated community in Bangalore. In London, it’s mostly footballers and other high net worth individuals who live in gated communities.
I am digressing here. So, back to the walk.
After passing through the shaded path along the river in Twickenham, we started hitting the sunny spots. We stopped for a short snack and drinks break before embarking on this section of the walk.
We were tempted to do a short detour and explore Ham House and Garden, but we weren’t sure of the prices and if it was worth the money. Seeing the property in the distance, it looked gorgeous and definitely a place we’d like to explore in the future.
After a while of walking in the sun, we finally reached the turnlock and entered Richmond. There is a vast section of park here, but we decided to continue following the Thames into the urban area.
Richmond upon Thames was full of people enjoying the sun, relaxing along the river, drinking beers, and picnicking.
There were several boats queued up here. Possibly, people taking the boat to come to Richmond? I’m not sure, but it was a peek into the lifestyles of people and how they like to spend their free time. In the city proper, you usually see hordes of tourists and out-of-towners, and in the summer, especially, it can be a bit chaotic. However, here in Richmond, it was more the local people who were out and about enjoying the quiet and beauty of the place.
We stopped to take a quick picture of the iconic Richmond Bridge. To be fair, since then, we have seen a number of such bridges, so it no longer feels as iconic. It’s still a beautiful structure, however.
This bridge marked the end of the fun part of our walk. By then, it was getting quite hot, and so we continued on to the bus stop (quite a long walk away), and then headed back home.
One of the more underrated walks in the city.
