Where London's Rivers Meet The Thames

Lindsey
By Lindsey Last edited 111 months ago
Where London's Rivers Meet The Thames
The start: Leamouth, Trinity Buoy Wharf
The start: Leamouth, Trinity Buoy Wharf
The Ravensbourne, Deptford Creek
The Ravensbourne, Deptford Creek
Deptford
Deptford
The Walbrook - new style
The Walbrook - new style
Toasting the Fleet
Toasting the Fleet
London beer, London gin + London water + London!
London beer, London gin + London water + London!
Playing with the water in Westminster
Playing with the water in Westminster
Testing the water at Pimlico
Testing the water at Pimlico
Aged Thames  Lion
Aged Thames Lion
On the foreshore by Vauxhall Bridge
On the foreshore by Vauxhall Bridge
Effra
Effra
Tyburn across the water (iPhone shot by Lindsey, sorry)
Tyburn across the water (iPhone shot by Lindsey, sorry)
Chelsea Bridge
Chelsea Bridge
Grosvenor Canal
Grosvenor Canal
Westbourne Outflow
Westbourne Outflow
Lots Road Power Station by Counters Creek
Lots Road Power Station by Counters Creek
The Wandle - the end!
The Wandle - the end!
The route
The route

Londonist walk squad usually thinks nothing of a 20 mile challenge in a day. Yet when we came to tackle a tour of the places where London's rivers empty into the Thames we found ourselves taking a leisurely pace. Back in August we set out from East India Dock to find the mouth of the Lea at Trinity Buoy Wharf with every intention of making it to the Wandle in Wandsworth. But with so much interesting stuff to see and so many good pubs to stop in, the route took us three attempts to complete.

Click through the gallery for a flavour of our travels. Day one took us from Leamouth to Rotherhithe. Day two from Rotherhithe to Vauxhall and the final day, just last week, from Vauxhall to the Wandle.

It's traditional to toast the rivers and we did so with homemade concoctions courtesy of Londonist food and drink editor Ben. Seaweed Sherry was an unusual mix, but was duly supped to mark the mighty Lea, Earl's Sluice and the Ravensbourne.

Our second leg was lubricated by a London gin, London ale and London water cocktail combined to make a smashing drink with which to toast the Neckinger, Walbrook, Fleet, Tyburn and Effra.

The third and final expedition saw us equipped with a lemon-edged version of the London ale and gin mix plus mince pies and chocolate sprouts and we visited and paid respects to another Tyburn outlet, Grosvenor Canal, the Westbourne, Counters Creek and finally, the magnificent Wandle.

Many thanks to the Walk Squad faithful: Matt (especially, for researching our route), John, Ben, Andrew, Michelle, Dave and anyone else who joined along the way. Photos by Andrew Smith AKA McTumshie, John Wilkes AKA psyxjaw and my iPhone. You can probably guess who did which.

Watch out for more random ambles in 2015.

Last Updated 23 December 2014