Four Go Down The Thames: Day 3, The End is Nigh

I started the day feeling surprisingly fresh, mentally at least.  We made another early start, aiming to get to the Thames Barrier before the final day of the Premier League finishes. 

Today we actually left on time, and made very good pace from Slough to Staines. 

We joined the river towpath at Staines and followed it all the way to Shepperton.  This route was brilliant, with good pace, flat surfaces, and great scenery.  We crossed the river with the Shepperton Ferry, and followed the towpath again all the way to Hampton Court, via Walton on Thames and Sunbury.  We made great time to reach Hampton, although the towpath was busy with other cyclists (for another charity event).  Since we’d arrived at Hampton before midday, we carried on to Twickenham for a lunch stop. 

The morning had seemed to fly by, it hadn’t even occurred to me that we were now on the tidal section of the Thames, starting just by Teddington, and were now deep in Greater London.

We then followed the roads through to Richmond, and were grateful for the not-so-busy roads.  At Richmond it was back on the towpath following the river right round to Putney Bridge.  Where the excessive rain of the past few weeks had left puddles of mud, this made this footpath much more interesting by trying to avoid walkers, cyclists, dogs off leads, and tree routes!  Here the cyclocross bike came into its own, handling the muddy, stony, and uneven surfaces well.   

From Putney to Westminster it was back on the roads, having to deal with a very busy King’s Road, which had a lot of gridlocked traffic on it.  Fed up with breathing in the fumes of taxi’s and buses, I decided it would be quicker to get off the road and walk up the pavement instead.  However, I hadn’t reckoned for the tide of Chelsea FC fans walking in the opposite direction to Stamford Bridge! 

However, once the King’s Road was finished, it was on to the Chelsea Embankment, which was much quieter and had a lovely cycle path down the pavement by the river.  Soon after, it was on the best part of the route so far – the Cycle Superhighway up Millbank.  The blue painted smooth tarmac seemed to allow the bike to just glide down the road towards Westminster. 

A quick stop outside the Houses of Parliament, and it’s onto London Bridge for a final quick stop before the final leg of the journey.  We crossed the river one last time and went straight on to Greenwich and the Cutty Sark, and then the final few miles to our ultimate destination, the Thames Barrier.   

We had made it!

I felt quite emotional at the end - probably more relieved, but very happy at the personal achievement.  There was much back slapping and high-fiving, before slumping on the nearby benches.  We arrived just in time to catch the last 10 minutes of the Premier League season.  The two Manchester United supporters in our group went from ecstasy to agony within minutes at hearing the scores.

We had a long deserved break at the Thames Barrier, before we went our separate ways; Shum cycled back home to Redhill, while Paterson, Foster, and I went to our overnight stop at the Canary Wharf Hilton Hotel, on the Isle of Dogs. 

This meant cycling back to Greenwich, where we could take the foot tunnel underneath the Thames.  Unfortunately, the lift at the other end of the tunnel was broken, which meant after all our excursions, we had to lift our bikes and climb the steep spiral staircase!!  Once checked in at the hotel and suitably refreshed, we set about milling about Canary Wharf for a decent restaurant.  I just wish I'd bought something more suitable than flip-flops to wear!  We celebrate and enjoy the evening with a few well earned drinks.