Thames Path: The Final Stretch -- How Did It Go?

 We wanted to give some closure on our Thames Path walk from the summer, since it appears the blog kind of ended at Richmond.   First and foremost, we DID complete the walk and passed the Thames Barrier a few days after the Richmond entry in the blog.   Once you pass Richmond, you are quickly in central London then suddenly not!    Once you get out toward Greenwich and Woolwich (where we stayed for the final stretch), it gets more rural and/or village-like again, coupled with industrial portions.    

Thames Barrier

One thing to particularly note is that the new Elizabeth line tube runs all the way out to Wooolwich (and beyond) and that town is already seeing some gentrification around the waterfront and tube station area.     Woolwich has a long  history as an arsenal, but now those buildings are being repurposed.

Historic Woolwich Arsenal Area

Woolwich Arsenal Promenade with sculptures

Elizabeth Line Station at Woolwich

As far as the walk goes, given that the path is mostly flat, it's mainly a matter of "just doing it" and plotting the route to end your day either at a lodging point (particularly important early on) or near a transport point for bus/train/tube.    London is easy in that regard.    Big shout out to the Oxford Bus Company for having a super cheap weekly pass that covers a huge area of the rural region in the area, all the way over to Reading.   That really saved our hides on a daily basis as far as returning to Oxford or getting started where we left off the next morning.   Late in the walk, we also used the Uber Water Taxi that runs up and down the Thames from London to Woolwich.

In general, the weather was our friend, although it got pretty hot early in the walk before cooling down and being a tiny bit damp as things progressed.    No special equipment needed in our case, we didn't even bring hiking poles, just day packs and good outdoor clothing.   We did hire a service to move our bags a few times.  

It was a fabulous adventure.....highly recommended.    Next on our sites is "walking across Portugal" or perhaps "London Orbital" in the next couple of years.    Stay tuned as things evolve.