We started this section with a train ride from Gravesend to St
Pancras, followed by a tube to Richmond and then a train Teddington.
We were completely oblivious to that fact that today was the last day
of Royal Ascot and so were surprised to see so many people in their
‘posh’ clothes at Richmond station.
We arrived at Teddington and walked down to the lock and over the
footbridge that we had passed over on our previous walk here and turned
right and headed along the path and passed the weir.
We stayed on the path until it met Lower Ham Road which we followed
until Cranbury Gardens where we took the riverside path all the way to
Kingston Bridge.
We made a slight mistake here as we were supposed to cross the bridge
and follow the path on the other side but for some reason, we stayed on
the side that we were on which was fine until just before Ditton Marina
where we were forced to follow the Portsmouth Road into Thames Ditton.
We stopped at the White Swan for a drink before continuing on to Hampton
Court Bridge.
At Hampton Court Bridge the path returns to the south side of the
river and on to Molesey Lock where we stopped for a sandwich before
continuing our journey to Walton-on-Thames.
Just before Garrick’s Ait we stopped to look at a particularly nice
looking houseboat on the opposite side of the river completely
obviously, at the time, to the fact that it is a famous houseboat called
the Astoria once owned by theatre impresario Fred Karno who was a mentor
to Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin.
In 1986 The Astoria was purchased by David Gilmour, the Pink Floyd
guitarist, who used it as a recording studio and where parts of the last
two Pink Floyd studio albums, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The
Division Bell, were recorded.
Our next stop was at Sunbury Locks followed by a short stroll to
Walton Bridge where we crossed over to Shepperton and made our way to
Shepperton Station to catch the train to Waterloo.