Thames Path: Fulham to Chelsea

I have got very behind with posting here ... since my last post we have done two more legs of our walk along the Thames Path through London. I want to record them both here so will do them as separate posts to keep them straight. A combination of a busy couple of months and doing All The Things since everything started to open up again makes it look as though we are never at home, whereas in fact I just haven't got round to writing about the ordinary days. 

The first of the two Thames walks was on the Friday before last. Friday is now the best day for a longer walk as TG does not have any dance classes in the evening and is happy to let herself in when she gets back from school, so we do not have to be home at any particular time. We caught the train down to West Brompton, then took a bus to our starting point at The Crabtree pub in Fulham. Not far into the walk we had to divert inland and walk round Fulham Football Club's stadium, which sits right on the river. 

After the football ground, we cut back to the river through Bishop's Park, where I spotted this duck and duckling on a rock by the lake. We hoped to pick up lunch at the cafe in the park, but it was closed for renovations. There was a stall outside, but it was only selling ice creams, drinks and cake, which wasn't what we needed. 

After failing to find lunch in the park, we spotted a sign for a cafe at Fulham Palace, the official residence of the Bishop of London which has an entrance into the grounds from the park (the gardens are open to the public and free to enter). The cafe was very nice, the squashy sofa variety inside, with tables on a patio outside, but the food mostly involved cheese or bacon, neither of which M eats, so we decided to wait and find somewhere else. The part of the Palace we saw wasn't particularly inspiring, but I loved this quirky Gothic style lodge at the entrance. Just look at those twisty chimneys! 

We finally found lunch at a cafe just round the corner from this bookshop. Just look at this window! We didn't stop, as lunch was definitely the priority by that stage. We bought filled baguettes and took them to Hurlingham Park to eat. Compared to the pretty Bishop's Park, the public section of Hurlingham was definitely more functional - tennis courts, cricket / football pitches and a children's play area, rather than lawns, flowers and ponds. 

By the time we got back to the river again after lunch, it was definitely getting more city like, with high rise buildings like these on the south side of the river at Battersea. 

We walked past new blocks of flats at Imperial Wharf, with a green public park between the buildings and the river, and on to Chelsea Harbour. Again, lots of modern and extremely expensive flats. I just browsed properties for sale - £15 million for a 9 bedroom, 8 bathroom apartment, or £400,000 for a small flat. House boats are more affordable! 

 

The last stretch was along Chelsea Embankment to Albert Bridge. I was intrigued by the sign on this old tollbooth  - "All troops must break step when marching over this bridge". It is near to Chelsea Barracks, so I presumed that must have something to do with it. Google tells me that a general order that troops must break step when crossing a bridge was issued in 1831 after a suspension bridge collapsed when 74 soldiers were crossing. The reminder on this bridge was indeed due to the proximity of Chelsea Barracks. The Barracks closed in 2008, but the sign remains. 

We hopped on a bus to Victoria, then the tube to Euston to catch a train back home. The official length of the walk was 5.5 miles, but in practice it was more due to occasional diversions, and walking to the station  from home and back adds an extra 1.5 miles. It was a warm day, so by the time we got home we were quite tired. We anticipated this and decided just before we reached the Chelsea Embankment to order fish and chips to collect after we got home. Amazing that it is so easy to pull out a phone and place an order!