Planning the Thames Path walk.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve done long walks before and parts of National Trails but never a whole Trail.
I’ve decided to walk the Thames Path. But I can’t take many days off work for it so I’ll be walking it over some weekends between now and the summer, over about 12 to 15 days.
I’ve read up about various options and I decided to walk it in sections, and upstream.
Timing and planning
As I work remotely but my job (office) is based in London, I will use the opportunity to be in London for work in October, to start my walk from the Thames Barrier (tomorrow!). I’ll walk for the weekend then I’ll go to work on Monday and Tuesday.
The official National Trail website recommends the walk downstream so I find this book best to organise my walk, with the narrative around the upstream. I like the book as I’m reading about what I’ll see in my walks in advance, so I can hopefully remember some facts etc. as I go along my day.
Note, if you use this link to purchase this book, I will get a small commission from Amazon.
I have got three OS Explorer maps numbers 161, 162, and 173.
Note, if you use this link to purchase any of these items, I will get a small commission from Amazon.
The plan is to walk from Thames Barrier to Putney Bridge on day 1 and Putney to Kingston Bridge on day 2. I have no idea whether I can do this, what pace I’ll keep and whether I’ll cover this distance in two days, but I’ll have a go!
It’s 32km (20miles) on day 1 and 22km (14miles) on day 2.
Accommodation and transport
After initially choosing to use the coach to London, I decided to opt for a train trip on the Friday night, four night in a cheap (for London) but clean hotel and train back home on Tuesday evening.
I’ll be take the Tube and but to the start of the path at the Thames Barrier visitor centre tomorrow morning and coming back to my hotel on the Tube at night, then back to where I stopped on the Tube and back to the hotel again on the train and Tube on Sunday evening.
I’ll update you on how that worked out.
Photography
I’m not a naturally gifted photographer but I’ve decided to give a DSLR camera a go. That’s the model I have (borrowed from my boyfriend): Nikon D3200. I’ll also probably take a few pictures on my iPhone.
Packing
I’m packing today for the weekend and two days at work so I need to bring everything as well as keeping it light. I’m going to compile a list of kit I’m using for this walk and post it under the ‘Gear‘ category of this blog in the next week or so.
Tracking
I’m also looking into how I can get tracking of my route to share live from my Garmin but I’ve not worked this out yet. Watch this space 🙂
If you have tips or suggestions regarding the route, comment and let me know please.
I’m off to London today and will update on my walk this weekend.