The Wandle from Morden Hall to Carshalton

The second leg of the Wandle Trail walk started at Morden Hall Park. This is a great place to start / end being a National Trust property with cafe, loos and even a bookshop, all near a tram spot.

It was understandably quite busy with families out for the weekend, some even playing in the river, which felt like the right spirit even if there were worries about water quality given the lack of enforcement by the so-called Environment Agency.

But it can't be that bad, to be honest, as the banks of this part of the river were thick with men (and it was just men) with rods, out fishing. And looking into the river, fish were clearly visible:

They seemed quite large! I wonder what they'd taste like?

As with so many places along the Wandle, there was a mill here:

There were other mills along the route, sometimes working, sometimes ruined, and sometimes just their mill-stone left as an abstract sculpture:

The trail passed through more parks, such as Ravensbury. Poulter and Dale Parks. Poulter Park had this nice stone bench dedicated to the memory of Miranda Hill (1st January 1836 to 31st May 1910) "by some of her grateful and affectionate pupils". 

Here you could sit and listen to the wind in the trees and lullaby of the Wandle:

Around Hackbridge the river split into two and I took the east path, though I don't think there was much difference between them. When they joined again, near the Hackbridge Road, I was approach by a woman calling out "Trevor! Trevor!" (or a name like that). I guessed this was her dog's name, which was confirmed when she approached a man walking his dog asking if he'd seen it.

Five minutes later, halfway to Wilderness Island, I was stopped by another woman in a car, who asked me if I'd lost a dog as she'd seen one running down the road.

"No" I said. "But there's a woman on Hackbridge Road who's lost her dog - you might want to go there."

As the car drove away I wondered how this little scene from the suburbs would play itself out, whether Trevor would be reunited with his owner.

I made a diversion onto Wilderness Island which wasn't on the route but really was a bit of a wilderness. Here the Wandle split into two, heading in one direction to Croydon, the other to Carshalton, which was to be my destination for that day.

The final point of this leg of the Wandle is Carshalton Pond which turned out to be rather elegant:

There was another ruined watermill (obviously) and this little waterfall:

I think this was probably my favourite of the three Wandle walks, with the river looking healthy, many parks and things to see. Kudos also to the planners who'd taken the time to make signs identifying pedestrian and cycle priority parts of the path:

Here you could really believe that the Wandle was one of those elegant chalk streams that England is so lucky to have:

The Wandle from the Thames to Morden Hall

The start of my Wandle river walk was where it meets the Thames, as in the photo above. There used to be a half-tide weir here, but it was removed a few years ago (see this post). Just before the Wandle reaches the Thames there is an island in the Wandle called The Spit with this blue sculpture called Sail by Sophie Horton.

Nearby there's a sign pointing up river, and this is where I was headed:

In general the Wandle Trail was quite well sign-posted. Not every bit can be cycled, which is a shame, but mostly its bike friendly. Some bits (such as in King George Park) even had dedicated cycle paths, which is great.

The initial section was quite urban, heading up the Causeway passing one of the Thames Tideway Tunnel sites, then the South Circular road must be crossed twice to get to the Southside shopping centre. When I kayaked down the Wandle a few years ago, the dark tunnel underneath was memorable - particularly when we turned our lights out!

On the other side of that there are the first of the many parks, namely King George Park, with goal posts for football games, children's playgrounds and swarms of dog owners doing their walkies.

The path is forced away from the river at Earlsfield, and then becomes a corridor of green squeezed between industrial parks and terraced houses, connecting parks, in particular Garratt Park and Wandle Park (the first of two of that name I'd encounter).

This section also goes through a tunnel that was part of the world's oldest railway lines, the Surrey Iron Railway, which was a horse-drawn plateway along the Wandle valley, from Croydon to Wandsworth, which was opened in 1802. Parts of the route are still in use for the tram network, which is pretty amazing.

Some of the industrialisation is still visible, such as the Merton Abbey Mills:

As well as the many, many water mills along the Wandle, there were factories, including those of William Morris, the famous Pre-Raphaelite textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, translator and socialist activist.

It was hard to visualise those times, as its so different now, with housing estates, roads, business parks and a huge Sainsbury's supermarket. However away from this bustle in places it felt a lot quieter, maybe even pre-industrialised:

Finally, for this segment of the walk, I arrived at the very pretty Morden Hall Park, manged by the National Trust. There was a wooden walkway through the wetlands and on the far side reached this fetching bridge:

And then Morden Hall itself:

Then it was time to get the tram home.

What tram? you might be asking, if you weren't aware of London's (limited) tram network. Well, for more information, check out this Kraftwerk inspired video:

London Rivers Week: The Wandle Trail

This week, from October the 23rd to 31st, is London Rivers Week, and to celebrate that I'll be posting a description of a walk I did along the Wandle River during the summer.

The basic route can be seen from this Google Earth plot which I did in three sections, as in the different colours:

There are a number of good resources that describe the walk which is clearly signposted and generally feels like a proper walk. The one I used the most can be found on the Merton Council web site, downloadable as a PDF here. There was also one on the Wandle Valley Park web site and in practice I typically just followed the signs or Google maps.

I did the route in three segments, starting at the Thames and heading upriver, as if trying to discover it's source:

• Walk 1: the Thames to Morden Hall (9 km)
• Walk 2: Morden Hall to Calshalton (8.6 km)
• Walk 3: Calshalton to Croydon (7.5 km)

Of course you can do it the other way round. There are train / tube / tram stops all along the way so this route could be described as:

• Walk 1: Wandsworth Town train station to Phipps Bridge tram stop
• Walk 2: Phipps Bridge tram stop to Carshalton train station
• Walk 3: Carshalton train station to East Croydon train station

The Wandle was part of the industrialisation of London, and all along its length there were signs of this, most notably the number of mills, both working and ruined, and also in place names. Apparently at its peak there were 90 mills along its length. Inevitably it ended up as an open sewer.

Fortunately, that time has long gone, and the river has recovered and now seems in good health, with fish in its waters and birds in the air above. Having said that, the water quality was apparently not great in 2019 according to Wikipedia.

What was surprising was how many parks I encountered that I'd never heard of before.

Save the Chalk Streams of England!

The number one top priority of our age must be the environment. We see the heroic efforts of the likes of Greta Thunberg to push reluctant leaders to doing the right thing at a time when the Greenland ice cap is melting and the Amazon burns.

But there is an environmental problem much closer to home that needs attention too, namely our chalk streams. Of the 210 known globally, the vast majority of them, 160 in total, are in England. They represent a unique and precious environment.

Yet the vast majority of them are in poor state due to water extraction and pollution, typically sewage but also agricultural waste. These include the Cam (above) and the Nailbourne (Little Stour). This map from a report by the WWF shows the state of the rivers at the time it was written:

Since then things have only got worse, and a more recent version of this map can be found here. This shouldn't happen as the Environment Agency exists to manage our rivers - a task for which it has clearly failed.

One pushing for change is Feargal Sharkey, once of the Undertones, who is now campaigning on behalf of these lovely rivers, and you can follow him on Twitter here.

A good summary of the problem can be found in this article in the Observer.

Save our Chalk Streams!!

The Putney Foreshore Festival 2/2: Blue Light Demo

After the presentation of the SUP (stand-up paddleboard) Cup there was another lull but there was rather a lot of emergency service boats (like the one above) lurking with intent and as promised we soon got a "Blue light demonstration".

Also lurking around had been this rower who all of a sudden had a heart attack!!

Fortunately he'd learnt rule #1 to safety on the river which is have an RNLI lifeboat within 100 m at all times and soon they and a rather crowded fire services inflatable were on hand:

Quickly he was assisted ashore and had this miraculous recovery:

Hurrah!!

Then this motor boat that also been hanging around in a suspicious way (above, background) had an engine failure directly in front of Putney Embankment!!

Fortunately they too knew rule #1 so got a tow from the RNLI before you could say "staged". They also seemed to know a rule #2 which is to have an RNLI crew member on-board from the start to help with the lines:

Well planned, guys!

Alas, what should happen next but a fire broke out!!

What are the odds on that: it never rains but it pours (like it did in the morning).

Luckily they also followed rule #3 so the fire boat was immediately to hand for just such an emergency. 

Unfortunately they seem to have their water gun thing (ok pump + nozzle) set to stun and with the wind in their face only made themselves rather wet:

Finally they got upwind of the "fire" and managed to create an artistic arc over the motor yacht: unsurprisingly all the crew seemed to have gone into hiding:

Finally the "fire" was out and the canon switched off, leaving a brief rainbow:

Nice!

Then the RNLI, motor cruiser and fire boat went safely on their way:

Emergencies sorted! Good job Thames Blue Light services!!

I see these guys going up and down the river all times of day and night and they do a fantastic job. 

While I've never needed them its really good to see them in action and know they would be to hand if things went wrong.

Boats! Boats! Boats! ... on the Thames at Putney

... and, apparently, an amphibious car.

River Picture Puzzle

This picture was taken in London on World Rivers Day (i.e. Sunday).

Can you work out from it which direction the river is flowing?

For extra bonus marks, if I were to say the building on the right used to be a brewery, what animal would you see if you were to look up?


Updated: Chris is correct! The direction can be worked out because in London most satellite dishes point SE to SSE, so the river is flowing north. It's the Wandle River which passes what used to be the Ram Brewery, hence:

Soon to be developed into lots and lots of apartments (e.g. in a 36 story tower block).

Foggy Thames, misty Mars

The last few mornings London has been covered with a thick blanket of fog, causing the Thames Clipper to sound its horn as it felt its way carefully up or down the river.

And it appears that the Earth is not the only planet to suffer from the seasonal vapours as can be seen by this photo from Mars which show the canyons covered in mist:

World Rivers Day: The Westbourne

This is Sloane Square tube station and there is something extraordinary about it: it has been built under a river.

There are many rivers in London. As well as the majestic Thames there are lesser known tributaries which continue to flow into it, such as the Lee in the north east, which was used as a moat around the Olympic Stadium. The Wandle, meanwhile, flows from the southern suburbs near Croydon, passing Lady Hamilton's house in Merton Place and Lord Nelson used to fish there.

Some have been buried, leaving traces in places above, like the Fleet, after which was named many streets, one of which became famous for the nearby newspapers. It has a Nelson angle too, for he used to stay with his uncle in Kentish Town "in order to keep an eye on the Fleet".

The Westbourne is less well know but at least it remains on display, if clothed in the metal pipe above. In size it is similar to the Fleet and arose from the hills around Hampstead, flowing down through what is now Hyde Park down to Chelsea where it meets the Thames.

The part through Hyde Park was damned in a curving lake, hence its name of the Serpentine, where it is used for boating to this day, though the water no longer comes from the Westbourne. So it too has an Olympic link, for it was here that they held the triathlons in 2012.

But as London grew it became increasingly polluted, first an open sewer, then covered over, built upon, it's end, where it joins the Thames, renamed as Ranelagh Sewer.

No longer do cattle drink from its fresh waters, nor do travellers heading into London from the west need to bridges to keep their feet dry.

But, visible to anyone standing on the platforms of Sloane Square Station, the Westbourne is not forgotten, particularly on this day, which is World Rivers Day 2013.

Working boats of the Thames

London used to be a thriving commercial port, but that was a long time ago now.

It sometimes feels that there are no more working boats plying the muddy waters of the Thames, but they haven't completely died out.

Here are some dirty boats that justify themselves by what they can do rather than how they look.

From the angle you can tell that the photo was taken from somewhere unusual - can you guess where?

The Danube at Vienna is not blue

There was only the shortest of times to explore the Danube River as it flows through Vienna, but we did walk across it on a pedestrian bridge.

Confusingly there are actually three branches. As well as the "real" Danube, there is also the "New Danube", which follows its partner in parallel, creating in between a park like long island called Donauinsel.

Both are slightly away from the main town, unlike the Danube Canal which is just a short walk down from St. Stephen's Cathedral.

Light show on the Wandle River

Unlike the exhibition at the Hayward Gallery's Light Show, this display, also involving light, water and colour, but created by fuel pollution, I did not like.

Polished nicely

I was going to post a detailed description of tonight's GBBO (*) but this is meant to be a boating blog. Well, of sorts, anyhow.

Anyway I've just made myself some crepes in sympathy with this week's patisserie-themed semi (well, they're French, and yes still GBBO) and jolly good they were too.

To keep the boaties happy here is a well polished Holt designed boat sailing nicely along on Sunday.

I'd like to see James (the baker) make a boat shaped choux gateau with lots of chocolate, nuts, caramel and cream - yum!

Even better, I'd like to eat it.


(*) Great British Bake Off - do keep up