Maureen's walk for MND

  Blog No 6, Kingston Bridge to Sunbury Lock,  12/06/25 Kingston Bridge This walk was on my own. It was a bit of a treck, parking at the Park and Ride, boarding the bus for Heathrow and then the bus to Kingston. Kingston was the town in which I grew up, however it was beyond recognition to me. I met my cousin for a coffee and a good catch up sessions before setting off from Kingston Bridge. I walked to Hampton Court a distance of about three miles. The path for walkers was gravel whilst the path for bikers was tarmac, so risking life and limb it was easier to walk on the tarmac. The weather was quite sunny on this stretch but I was pleased when it became more cloudy with a slight breeze making it an easier condition weather wise to walk. One of the islands I passed had a large grey building with Wimbledon Lawn Tennis on the side, not sure what it is used for.  Wimbledon Lawn Tennis I knew this walk because my father used to walk me to Hampton Court was I was little just t...

  Blog No 5.   Kew Bridge to Kingston Bridge, 8 miles This was a walk on a special day, the anniversary of Elizabeth’s passing. My neighbour Graham suggested that we walk together in the morning as he would be in the area, picking up his wife Jules from Heathrow. We left at 7am expecting to reach Kew by 9am and walk whilst it was still relatively cool.     We started on the Thames Path but was soon diverted as the path was blocked which meant that we had to walk through Kew Gardens and then on through Richmond to pick up the river again just before Richmond Bridge. It was a long detour but interesting as Graham had never visited Kew Gardens and so we have good pictures of the beautiful hot house and the Pagoda before we exited at Lion Gate. I remembered my visit to Kew with Elizabeth, one time in particular when Eve was still in a pushchair, it was hot and we all enjoyed very messy ice-creams near the Orangery Tea Rooms as they are now. It was not so good...

  Blog No 4 - Putney Bridge to Kew Bridge, 7 Miles It was a great Walk last Saturday from Putney Bridge to Kew Bridge, a gentle walk of approximately 7 miles. The best thing about it was that I was accompanied by my granddaughter Eve and her partner Lucas and Olive, Elizabeth and Eve’s dog.   We met on Putney Bridge and began the walk. It was cloudy and fairly blustery but good walking weather.   https://maureen-thames-walk-for-mnd.blogspot.com/2025/05/blog-no-3.html?m=1     We were joined just before Hammersmith Bridge by Max, Eve’s brother and stepson to Elizabeth. The party of four soon became five after Hammersmith Bridge with Tom a good friend of Elizabeth’s. We talked and chatted as we walked. The time and distance seemed to melt away. I glanced across the river as we passed Hammersmith Bridge to where I knew Lonsdale Road would be opposite. Elizabeth was born in Queen Charlottes Hospital and we lived in Lonsdale Road until she was almost...

Blog No 3. Hi everyone, I managed to walk from London Bridge to Putney last Friday. I learnt a few lessons along the way which I will tell you about later.    First of all it was a sunny day with a cool breeze so not as hot as the first week. What is more important is that I had company. Elizabeth's close friends Dominic and Juli joined me at the Golden Hinde and we walked together to the Covid Memorial Wall just past Westminster Bridge. More of this later. My skills of photography are sadly lacking and so Tower Bridge still does not feature particularly well in my collection. Fortunately Juli took pictures for the part of the walk accompanying me.  We passed the Globe Theatre, where Dominic and Elizabeth saw Andrew Logan's Alternative Miss World 2018.     I remember Elizabeth saying we should go and see a Shakespeare production but we did not get around to doing it. Looking across the river Dominic pointed out St Brides Church which has a tiered tower and ...

Hello everyone, I began the walk on Wednesday,30th of April, it was the hottest day of the year. I travelled from Oxford to Paddington, on to the Elizabeth line and got off  at Woolwich and walked to the Woolwich footbridge.      I am not at all familiar with this part of London and was impressed with the space, the signing for Thames Path and just how clean, litter free and how well maintained the whole of the area right the way through to the Thames Barrier.   From the Thames Barrier I made my way to the O2 Arena but did not manage to get a good picture of it, worried also I would run out of battery before getting home. Seeing 02 Arena reminded me of all the gigs Elizabeth managed to get ‘door passes’ for me to see her playing her saxophone for all different pop groups. One I remember at the Camden Garage a punk group absolutely packed. Often found myself at the Jericho Tavern in Oxford, notably the early days of Primal Scream. Elizabeth managed to get me...

  Maureen's Walk for MND Elizabeth is my daughter who sadly died last May with MND. She was a great walker and lived in London close to the Thames. She liked nothing more than walking the local area with her dog Olive. To pay tribute to Elizabeth’s life I am intending to walk the Thames Path from the Barrier to the source accompanied by friends along the way. I am hoping to raise £3000 pounds for MND research and also to contribute to the MND Association to help local branches who offer advice and support to people living with MND. I intend to walk two days a week starting on 30th April and hope to have completed my walk by 30th August 2025, I will follow the sections advised in the Thames Path Walk book, hopefully achieving approximately 20 miles per week. I will log my progress, and post an update weekly on my Just Giving page, to let people know where I am, inviting walkers to join me in support of MND. I will also alert walkers to the sections that are wheelchair friendly and a...