Blogs Along the Thames: Chelsea Embankment to Putney Bridge

 I have posted only twice on this blog about my several walks along the Thames. 

Canary Wharf

Very recently I wrote on my walk from Tower Bridge to Canary Wharf on the north side of the Thames, and a bit earlier than that I posted on a walk I took from the same bridge to Rotherhithe on the south bank of the river. I have less than 40 days left in London, and one goal I've set for myself has been to cover as much of the London-area River Thames as I possibly can. To date I have covered from Ham House, about a mile past Richmond, all the way to Greenwich, mostly on the Thames Path along the north bank of the river. This represents most of the territory that it is possible to cover along the river in the London area. I want to get to the Thames Barrier in an easterly direction, and maybe to Hampton Court heading westerly before I leave, but I must admit that I've already trekked a considerable distance in either direction. Bravo, Dottore Gianni!

Walking towards Rotherhithe
on the South Bank of the Thames

I'm quite not sure how to write about these walks, first because I've got behind in my research and photo processing, second because I'm doing them in chunks, and not necessarily in any particular order. For instance, in the last two weeks, which have been filled with beautiful weather, I hiked from Canary Wharf to Greenwich, from Putney Bridge to Barnes Bridge, from Kew to Richmond and today from Kew to Barnes Bridge. I like to write about the history of each area, knowledge that I've crammed in quickly, and of course photos are a must. Perhaps I'll just...begin! and see where the writing takes me! 

First I should note that there are some "chunks" I have trod frequently on my present extended stay in the U.K., and on previous shorter visits as well.

The Thames near Richmond

The half-hour walk from Richmond to Ham House I have "rehearsed" before taking my French Revolution seminar there in the fall semesters of 2005 and and 2011, a very pleasant walk indeed, passing Petersham Meadow, and walking alongside a very rural riverside, until reaching a very likely candidate for the house that might have been Sir Percy Blakeney's, hero of the Scarlet Pimpernel. If of course Sir Percy had really lived and not been a mere figment, a fictional character! 

St Paul's and the City from Gabriel's Wharf

Another walk that I've taken innumerable times is that from the Hungerford footbridge across to the South bank, and from there amidst the bustle of the area jammed with arts complexes including the Royal Festival Hall, the Hayward Gallery, the British Film Institute, the Royal National Theatre and so on, down to the Tate Modern and the Globe. This walk can easily include a stop at Gabriel's Wharf for pizza or a crepe, a pint at a pub, a quick peek into Foyles on the River or the excellent bookshop in the National Theatre, a look through the Tate Modern's excellent collection and astonishing space. What a wonderful way to get a feel for the great city of London!

I began to explore other sections by accident. 

Unusually bright townhouses on the Chelsea Embankment

One of the first was a wander down to the Chelsea Embankment from our London Center, and then strolling westward for a while. I liked it, I became curious about some of the structures, wanted to find out more and see more. It wasn't difficult, as this beautiful area has been home to many famous people. In the photo above you can barely see a blue historical marker placed on the building to the right. That tells you that Sylvia Pankhurst, a campaigner for women's rights, lived here and while I saw no plaque to point it out, right nearby JMW Turner, the great nineteenth century painter died in 1851. There is a statue of historian Thomas Carlyle on Cheyne Walk, Henry James live here, James Abbott McNeil Whistler did as well,

The plaque
commemorates
Rossetti & Swinburne

the pre-Raphaelite movement's Dante Gabriel Rossetti also lived here, and in the same building the poet Algernon Swinburne wrote his dark romantic poems: 

"They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,  
Love, desire, and hate
I think they have no portion in us
After we pass the gate.
They are not long, the days of wine and roses;
Out of a misty dream our path emerges for a while,
Then closes, within a dream."

I did that last from memory, and the memory is from O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, though that my love for that play prompted me to buy a copy of Swinburne's poems -- but is that a digression or what?!

SIDEBAR: Not only a digression, but an in-correction! The poet who wrote the words above was Ernest Dowson, not Swinburne! While O'Neill references and I think quotes Swinburne in the play, this poem is written by another -- apologies! Sloppy work, will not happen again...well, it MAY happen again, but I'll try to keep it from happening!

Many many others lived in this desirable neighborhood -- Lawrence Olivier and his first wife Jill Esmond, more recently Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithful, while they were faithful to each other, and another Stones man, Keith Richards chose the location as too.

Albert Bridge, Chelsea Embankment

So I wandered down to Cheyne Walk again and from there headed east, to the Houses of Parliament. That walk surprised me as I was heading specifically for the Tate Britain and realized as I walked that it was a good bit more distant than I'd realized, that I was too exhausted to enter and explore once I go there, and that I was near enough to Parliament which in this case meant a tube stop that could get me back to Gloucester Road without having to use my legs and feet! 

Chelsea Embankment looking west towards
Battersea Rail Bridge

My next visit to the vicinity of Cheyne Walk and the Chelsea Embankment was very purposeful. I now headed west, towards Putney Bridge, along a goodly portion of the Thames I'd not yet seen. Not all of this walk was along the Thames, and some of the stretches inland are pretty grim-looking, others very posh. I suppose that I'd characterize it as an area that is rapidly becoming gentrified, and much of that gentry is housed JUST along the river. Interestingly much of the gentrified portions DO allow walkers river views. Of course the promenades are for residents as well, but during daylight hours at least any old tourist can get assess, and I did. 

Chelsea Marina

One of the posh areas is pictured just above. I cannot imagine what these places go for, but clearly many people can afford them, as this and other communities are popping up all along the Thames. 

Now leasing: Imperial Wharf

Clearly there is still space left. Maybe I should have bought a lottery ticket!

After walking past these condos the trip got less interesting, a good bit of it on a street with some nice new dwellings on one side and ugly old factories on the other, and when back on the promenade along the river some of it is alongside the back ends of stores in a shopping center.

Putney Bridge in the distance
and a depleted Thames in the foreground

The riverbed widened somewhat as I neared Putney Bridge. Of course the Thames is a tidal river, but it's pretty easy to see the effects of the drought on it. The weather has been good for tourists, but not for the locals, and not at all for the water supply.

At Putney Bridge there is an underground only a few yards from the Thames Path. I boarded a District Line train and was back at the London Center in no time, considering what it took to do the walk.

Not all underground stations are under ground!
Putney Bridge Station, on the District Line

Well, even though I didn't think I'd have all that much to say about this trip (and I'm not sure as I finish that I've really SAID all that much) I think I will stop here. In very short order I should have another blog up about the rest of the journey west, and soon after that I hope to tell you more of my easterly wanderings. But for now, Dottore Gianni says, "Ciao!"