The Thames Path by Leigh Hatts

CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, has announced a list of 210 Local Pubs of the Year to help launch its Community Pubs Month.

This is the shortlist for the CAMRA National Pub of the Year to be declared in early 2015.

On the list is The Nag’s Head at Abingdon which has the Thames Path passing the door. Indeed it is on Abingdon Bridge and after along closure reopened in 2012. Within a year it was Oxfordshire’s pub of the year.

Real ale includes Abingdon brewed Abingdon Bridge ale and the food is good.

Meanwhile there are plans for a theatre on the downstream end of Nag’s Head Island.

The 350-seat theatre would only be used in the summer with daytime availability for amateur groups and buskers. The project team is seeking funding.

The Convoys Wharf development has been given the go-ahead tonight by Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

The controversial development covers historic Deptford Dockyard which with the adjoining Sayes Court Garden have been highlighted by the World Monuments Fund Monuments Watch as being at risk.

Trinity House was founded here 500 years ago, Elizabeth I came here and the Golden Hinde docked here.

The Mayor’s decision is subject to provision for Sayes Court garden restoration. The National Trust, which was founded as a result of a failed attempt to save the Sayes Court building and garden, has the backed the garden plan.

During the hearing at City Hall mention was made of the Thames Path being routed along the riverside where newsprint for Fleet Street was until recently landed.

Today’s inland route does have the advantage of passing the unique Dog & Bell pub.

River Thames News has an important story about a rescue by the Shifford lock-keeper.

This comes just after the Abingdon lock-keeper came to the rescue.

“The path is generally walkable,” says the Thames Path National Trail office.

It is certainly drying out although there are plenty of signs of the flood damage along the way.

Photographer Peter Marshall is opposing the plan to change the name of Bugsby’s Reach to Waterman’s Reach.

His written objection and more can be read on a Peter Marshall website.

Today’s announcement by Mayor of London Boris Johnson that the ‘mini-Hollands’ cyclists programme will include a Thames Riverside Boardway may raise fears of more conflict between cyclists and walkers.

The Boardway is planned for Kingston and will be cyclist only. “Pedestrians will be restricted to the existing path on the river-bank,” states the consultation document. This will be possible by placing the Boardway partly on floating structures.

Cyclists will be able to cross the river alongside the railway bridge from the Teddington/Hampton Wick bank and continue south past Kingston Bridge where the Thames Path crosses. So cyclists and the Thames Path will be parallel for only the very short distance between the two Kingston crossings.

From the Thames Barrier to the O2 you are alongside a section the River Thames known as Bugsby’s Reach.

It may have been named after a Geenwich Peninsula gardener.

However, the Port of London Authority is preparing to rename the river here Waterman’s Reach on Friday 18 September to mark the 500th anniversary of the Watermen’s Company foundation on that date by Henry VIII.

This is an important anniversary of a vital body but it does seem a pity to change a very old name which is also part of the Thames heritage.

The PLA consultation on the planned name change ends on Tuesday 21 April.

More details and some very good points are on the 853 blog.

Early Thames Path walkers will remember when The Roebuck near Tilehurst Station was open and  a natural stop for lunch.

The path crosses the railway and passes the side of the pub. The huge window at the back gave a wonderful view across the Chilterns.

It changed its name and then closed. It is still a closed pub.

But the good news is that the fine Victorian building has been restored as accommodation. Parkers has the details and pictures.

Having crossed Maidenhead Bridge you turn upstream through the Bridge Gardens and suddenly you have to briefly  join the road to avoid one building.

On Shrove Tuesday Windsor & Maidenhead Council’s rights of way & highways licensing panel agreed that a riverside path should be created. If negotiation with residents fails members are prepared to consider a path creation order and a public inquiry.

Margaret Bowdery, who has just retired after 43 years as East Berkshire Ramblers footpath secretary, remains hopeful of a solution being found without the need for a public inquiry.

The Thames Path continues as a riverside path in front of the upstream building.

Increasing concern all along the Thames about the Environment Agency plans to reduce the number lock and weir-keepers is being highlighted this morning with a demonstration in central London.

Environment Agency and GMB union officials are holding joint talks on staffing levels.

The GMB is to stress the important work of Richard Hawkins, resident lock and weir-keeper at Abingdon, who rescued someone in the river at 7.30am last Saturday as the storm subsided.

The lock-keeper then steered a narrow boat, which had come adrift from its mooring by the ferocity of the current, across the river and secured the vessel safely.

Earlier this month the same lock-keeper had rescued a young boy who slipped into the floods and was in danger of being swept into the weir.

The EA has pursued a plan which would see more keepers’ cottages becoming high rent holiday homes.

This is a huge change in policy since it is the on-site lock-keepers who know and watch the river and have been able to control the flow using the weir alongside the locks.

No flooding is not news but it allows the river to be used and enjoyed. Employing lock-keepers is cheaper than cleaning up after annual floods.