The award-winning Dog & Bell pub on the Thames Path at Deptford is looking very welcoming this Christmas.
It’s looking extra special this year due to the pedestrianisation of Prince Street which carries the Thames Path round the back of Convoys Wharf.
So the tree and lovely beer barrels are outside. Sometimes there is even a brazier.
The closure of this part of the road to traffic remains ‘temporary’ but there are high hopes that it will be permanent.
The future of much loved weeping willows on the Greenwich Peninsula appears to be uncertain.
The trees, existing and renewed at least since 1970s, are alongside the Thames Path just as it returns to the river after Bay Wharf. The path with trees is on the former Primrose Wharf at the northern end of Morden Wharf.
In recent times terraced beds were created and planted with reeds.
There are more than a dozen weeping willow and crack willow trees on the river bank.
A planning application for the site has been submitted for “Provision of hardstanding and wheel washing facilities, conveyor belts and
associated refurbishment works to jetty, and revised boundary treatment”.
This involves overhead conveyors.
At present the trees do not appear to be safeguarded.
There is a temporary (and easily missed) diversion on the Greenwich Peninsula.
This is towards the south end of Victoria Deep Water Terminal.
The diversion runs parallel to the path before joining the inland path behind Bay Wharf.
Also at nearby Paynes Wharf in Deptford
Upstream at Deptford Green there is currently no continuous access to the river due to a barrier on Paynes Wharf.
So continue along Borthwick Street to go left into Watergate Street,
But to look at the lovely arches along the front of Paynes Wharf of course go up Wharf Street (right) from Borthwick Street.
St Saviour’s Dock footbridge will be closing on Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 December from 9am to 3.30pm.
This is to allow for further restoration work on the crossing.
The alternative route is:
At the west end of Bermondsey Wall West, bear left to follow Mill Street past Vogan’s Mill to the main road.
Holy Trinity Church Dockhead is to the left. Go right past the Co-op to have a good view (right) down St Saviour’s Dock.
Go right again to enter Shad Thames which into the late 20th century was noted for a strong smell of spices. Here are Jamaica Wharf, St Andrew’s Wharf and Java Wharf.
At the far end the road bears round to the left past Tea Trade Wharf (right) and under a bridge (the old Design Museum) to a junction. Turn right up steps for the River Thames and rejoin the main route on Butler’s Wharf.
Go left towards Tower Bridge.
The Finnish Church at Rotherhithe is open this lunchtime with lovely food as part of its Christmas Fair.
The church is in Albion Street -cross the road from the station near the river- where Friday to Sunday there is a Scandinavian Christmas Market with more food.
The Norwegian Church Christmas Fair also runs Friday to Sunday in the same street.
The Pilgrim Fathers sculpture at Rotherhithe has been relit by the restoration of its lamp.
The artwork, placed at the upstream end of Cumberland Wharf, is encountered by walkers as they turn inland to go through Rotherhithe village.
Rotherhithe resident Peter McClean who created the work in 1991 was present on the Thames Path just after dark last Saturday to see the integral lamp turned on.
The work is called The Sunbeam Weekly and the Pilgrim’s Pocket because it depicts an open mouthed ‘back from the dead’ Pilgrim Father looking in astonishment over the shoulder of an early 20th-century boy reading a copy of The Sunbeam Weekly.
The two figures were originally standing under a lamp post.
This light has been replaced with a working replicas now shining ready for next year’s 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim Fathers leaving Rotherhithe for America.
The light restoration is the result of pressure by local activist and historian Sheila Taylor and funding from Southwark Council.
The switch-on countdown was led by technology entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael Tobin.
The information board alongside has recently been updated following research by Bermondsey historian Debra Gosling.
Twenty years ago the Queen and the President of Hungary dined at the Compleat Angler by the Thames.
The hotel terrace is alongside Marlow Bridge which is why the venue was chosen.
William Tierney Clark, who had designed Hammersmith Bridge in the 1820s, was the engineer for Marlow Bridge completed in 1832.
Budapest’s landmark Széchenyi Chain Bridge across the River Danube, linking Buda and Pest, is also the work of Clark. In 1839 he designed a large scale version of his Marlow work for the city. It took ten years to build.
The Swan at Streatley is one of The Sunday Times 100 Great British Hotels.
Most are expensive, especially for a walker wanting just a sleep and not a health club, but The Swan is The Best Budget Hotel winner.
“…agreeable nooks, booths with Thames views and a terrace. The menu sounds standard -burgers, pizza, pasta- but is executed with aplomb.”
Doubles at The Swan are from £70.
JMW Turner’s painting The Fighting Temeraire is to feature on the new £20 bank note.
Confirmation of the suggestion made three years ago was given this morning at the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate where Bank of England Governor Mark Carney announced that the note will be issued on Thursday 20 February 2020.
The painting, in the National Gallery, shows the Trafalgar ship in 1838 being towed up the Thames to be broken up at Bull Head Dock Wharf in Rotherhithe.
Turner began the painting by sketching from Cherry Garden Pier on Bermondsey Wall East near Rotherhithe.
Rotherhithe church has an altar made from Temeraire wood.
The painting was exhibited in the Royal Academy the following year.
The bank note will be the first to feature the signature of Sarah John, the Bank’s first female Chief Cashier.
“The new £20 note celebrates Turner, his art and his legacy in all their radiant, colourful, evocative glory,” said Mark Carney.
He was speaking a short distance from Long Nose Spit which will eventually be the start, or finish, of the Thames Path.
There will be a night-time closure of the Thames Path (9pm to 6am) in Reading from Thursday 22 August to Saturday 24 August.
The closure for the annual Reading Festival will start around Caveresham Bridge and end at Scours Lane near Tilehurst.
During the day walkers will see a temporary footbridge spanning the river near Scours Lane.
This first appeared in 2008 and replaces a temporary ferry where queues built up.