From Worcester Park to Kingston, then to Chertsey via the Thames Path! (Sept 11th 2013)

Finally the day has come and I can get back out into the open air once more! I catch a train up to Stoneleigh, but for some reason the train conductor said I wouldn't be able to get off there and so I end up getting off at Worcester Park.

I forget about the Thamesdown Link (which was horrible anyway!) and hit the tarmac to Kingston upon Thames, my birth-town and the place where I will meet the Thames Path. I'm in such a hurry to get there I take the round turn at New Malden and end up going the long way round to Kingston! Ugh! 

Finally get to Kingston Bridge, cross over and under, and we are already in the countryside it seems! 

Kingston Bridge

Swans by the Thames

We'll be seeing a lot of these as we go! 

A couple of miles trekking later, we past the walls of Bushy Park and then the gates of Hampton Court, a palace that I remember visiting a lot as a child. Take some pictures and revel in its glory, and then I cross over Hampton Court Bridge, and down to Molesey Lock. This will be the first of many weirs and locks I'll be passing on this walk, as the Thames is not tidal after Teddington lock. Molesey lock is quaint and well kept, with flowers everywhere! 

Gates at Bushy Park

Ornate decoration

Hampton Court Bridge

Arty farty pic of Hampton Court Palace

The signage for the Thames Path (among others...)

Molesey lock

After Molesey, there's a slight claustrophobia as we get hemmed in by reservoir walls and tree-lined banks and eventually we come to Sunbury lock.

Sunbury Lock

After Sunbury lock, we carry on to Walton-on-Thames with its ugly spanking new bridge and its older sibling close by. The new bridge is an absolute eyesore in my opinion, so much so I didn't even take a picture of it! There's a temporary diversion in place and we walk around and then carry on along the towpath until we reach a bell hanging on one of the barriers. This bell calls the ferry over for the Shepperton to Weybridge route. A short but pleasant cruise affords me a few minutes rest and then its onwards to Chertsey, the endpoint of today's walk.

On the ferry! 

Waiting for the ferry

Shepperton Lock

Past Shepperton lock, we see some very colourful riverside moorings near a water meadow scene, our first of the trail. Cross Durnsey Meadow and over the Chertsey Bridge to get to the station (which was 1.5 miles off the trail!) 

Chertsey Bridge

Statue in Chertsey

What followed was a nightmare journey back to my sister's where I was going to be staying for the evening, a journey that reaffirmed my determination NEVER to be a commuter ever again.