H
hg137
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Hello, Mrs Hg137 here.
Our walking (and geocaching) project for 2025 is Shakespeare’s Way, a 146-mile long-distance path ‘twixt Stratford-upon-Avon and the Globe Theatre in London. We’re nearly there; the section we were walking today was along the River Thames from Battersea to Vauxhall.
It was a lovely clear winter’s day, not too cold, when we arrived at Clapham Junction Station. From there we made our way to the Thames near Battersea railway bridge. We were drawn there by a geocache, which came with a grand view upriver. The cache was well worth it for the view alone, but it needed ‘persuasion’ to open.
St Mary’s Church was dwarfed by the Montevetro building behind – a complete contrast in style, size and age. Across the river, there was another good view, of Chelsea Harbour. It’s very smart and shiny now, but much less so back in the 1990s when I worked there at the British Gas site which occupied part of the site. We’d been having mixed success with the geocaching so far – some found, some not found – and there was another reason to not find a cache at Albert Bridge. Workmen were doing who-knows-what right in front of the likely cache hiding place, so we grumbled inwardly and walked on.
Chelsea Harbour
We reached Battersea Park : this is a lovely wide section of the Thames Path with the river to one side, well-kept greenery on the other, and the London Peace Pagoda halfway along the river frontage. To get past Chelsea Bridge, there was a new bit of the Thames Path/Shakespeare Way which went under the bridge (well, it was new to us). We emerged from the underpass to be dwarfed by Battersea Power Station. An ice rink had been built for Christmas and folk were skating around with varying degrees of competence.
Both the old power station and the surrounding gardens are smart , neat and … expensive. We had a good look around outside, found some more geocaches, plus a handy bench for lunch. After lunch, our route went inland a little, and we walked round the back of Cringle Dock waste station, where waste is loaded onto barges, and through a mixed industrial and redevelopment area before rejoining the Thames towpath a bit further on.
As we rejoined the river path, there was another cache to find. But another cache we coudln’t quite get (sigh). Assorted fencing was in place, along with a work van parked alongside, complete with workmen, engine running. We could see the cache on the ground from a little way off but couldn’t quite reach past all the ‘stuff’ to get it.
Just can’t reach it!
After another half-mile or so along the river, we had a decision to make. We could finish our walk at this point, and travel home from Vauxhall Station, or we could press on to Westminster Bridge. We had time to do both – but walking further would have left us with a very short final section of the walk. We decided to stop at Vauxhall and get home a little earlier. We walked up to the station, decided to try one last cache . and couldn’t find it; no matter, we could have another go next time.
In summary, this section of the Thames is full of contrasts. Old churches are overshadowed by apartment blocks, a park, complete with pagoda! – stands almost next to an upmarket redevelopment of an old power station, itself next to the most mundane of industrial areas, which in turn becomes a path beside more apartment blocks.
And the caching – rather mixed – 6 found, 4 not found, 2 unreachable (those pesky workmen) – just as varied as the walking. And here are some of those we found:
Our walking (and geocaching) project for 2025 is Shakespeare’s Way, a 146-mile long-distance path ‘twixt Stratford-upon-Avon and the Globe Theatre in London. We’re nearly there; the section we were walking today was along the River Thames from Battersea to Vauxhall.
It was a lovely clear winter’s day, not too cold, when we arrived at Clapham Junction Station. From there we made our way to the Thames near Battersea railway bridge. We were drawn there by a geocache, which came with a grand view upriver. The cache was well worth it for the view alone, but it needed ‘persuasion’ to open.
St Mary’s Church was dwarfed by the Montevetro building behind – a complete contrast in style, size and age. Across the river, there was another good view, of Chelsea Harbour. It’s very smart and shiny now, but much less so back in the 1990s when I worked there at the British Gas site which occupied part of the site. We’d been having mixed success with the geocaching so far – some found, some not found – and there was another reason to not find a cache at Albert Bridge. Workmen were doing who-knows-what right in front of the likely cache hiding place, so we grumbled inwardly and walked on.
Chelsea Harbour
We reached Battersea Park : this is a lovely wide section of the Thames Path with the river to one side, well-kept greenery on the other, and the London Peace Pagoda halfway along the river frontage. To get past Chelsea Bridge, there was a new bit of the Thames Path/Shakespeare Way which went under the bridge (well, it was new to us). We emerged from the underpass to be dwarfed by Battersea Power Station. An ice rink had been built for Christmas and folk were skating around with varying degrees of competence.
Both the old power station and the surrounding gardens are smart , neat and … expensive. We had a good look around outside, found some more geocaches, plus a handy bench for lunch. After lunch, our route went inland a little, and we walked round the back of Cringle Dock waste station, where waste is loaded onto barges, and through a mixed industrial and redevelopment area before rejoining the Thames towpath a bit further on.
As we rejoined the river path, there was another cache to find. But another cache we coudln’t quite get (sigh). Assorted fencing was in place, along with a work van parked alongside, complete with workmen, engine running. We could see the cache on the ground from a little way off but couldn’t quite reach past all the ‘stuff’ to get it.
Just can’t reach it!
After another half-mile or so along the river, we had a decision to make. We could finish our walk at this point, and travel home from Vauxhall Station, or we could press on to Westminster Bridge. We had time to do both – but walking further would have left us with a very short final section of the walk. We decided to stop at Vauxhall and get home a little earlier. We walked up to the station, decided to try one last cache . and couldn’t find it; no matter, we could have another go next time.
In summary, this section of the Thames is full of contrasts. Old churches are overshadowed by apartment blocks, a park, complete with pagoda! – stands almost next to an upmarket redevelopment of an old power station, itself next to the most mundane of industrial areas, which in turn becomes a path beside more apartment blocks.
And the caching – rather mixed – 6 found, 4 not found, 2 unreachable (those pesky workmen) – just as varied as the walking. And here are some of those we found:
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