Rob Relyea

October 28, 2025

Thames Path – stage 15/15

Greenwich to Thames Barrier. 5.5 miles

Last stage. Short walk to finish. Excited to complete.

Made it to Thames Barrier, a set of six flood prevention structures. End of hike!

Will fill in more details later…😁

October 27, 2025

Thames Path – stage 14

Wandsworth to Greenwich. 14 miles

Last full day of hiking! Windy. Gloves, hat, and down jacket.

October 26, 2025

Thames Path – stage 13

Teddington to Wandsworth. 12.4 miles

Going through the last lock here in Teddington. Now walking along the tidal Thames.

Planned rest of hike after watching 1st half of Michigan v Michigan State in the middle of the night:

– Sunday (today) – walk to the Spit in Wandsworth. In the middle of the Wandle river which empties into the Thames there.

– Monday – walk to the Cutty Sark (large ship) in Greenwich.

– Tuesday – walk ~5 miles to Thames Barrier (end of Thames Path)

Teddington lock building. The last lock before tidal Thames.

First sailing I saw. There were about six boats racing around buoys.

This diversion kind of sucked. Took me through the first parts of the path where I held onto one of trekking poles in case something was around the corner.

Unusual, for the Thames, to be able to look down at a lock.

Need to learn more about the canals. Several have connected to the Thames.

These steep stairs are how these towers get into and out of the tidal part of the river!!

I happened to stop at the pub at the end of the boat race course. (The annual race between Oxford and Cambridge)

Arsenal was playing somebody. Sunday is roast day!

Ended walk a bit early today, took bus to hotel. Will bus back to same spot to start tomorrow.

Each bus stop has a two letter code on top…which makes it very easy to know you have the right place.

London has so many beautiful buildings for housing.

October 24, 2025

Thames Path – stage 12

Chertsey to Teddington. 13.8 miles

2 exciting things today:

Going to see the place where a few scenes of Hope and Glory (1984) was filmed.
Excited to be hosted by friends tonight in Teddington.

Each day, usually during breakfast, I read “I never knew that about the river thames” for the part of the Path I’m walking that day.

Today I read:

“In 1940 a huge flotilla of ‘Little Ships’ from all along the Thames assembled at Teddington Lock before taking part in the Dunkirk Evacuation. The headquarters for the flotilla was set up in THE TIDE END, a small cottage pub on the Middlesex bank beside the lock. The pub, now called The Tide End Cottage, is still there.”

Hope and Glory’s grandparents house, I believe.

Video starts at grandparents house, and ends where fishing scene at weir was filmed.

Sometimes the hiking software (Komoot) ignores a bridge for a good reason (it is closed) and sometimes for a bad reason (it is open). Today the bridge was open.

Great cafe on top floor of Molesey Boat Club

Hampton Court Palace is behind that wall. Thames Path has great path next to the river.

Rainbow with pot of gold where I’m sleeping tonight.

October 24, 2025

Thames Path – stage 11

Windsor to Chertsey. 14.2 miles

(Including a stop in Runnymede where the Magna Carta was signed)

Day is starting off sunny, with a bit of rain planned for late afternoon. A bit on the chilly side.

Windsor Castle was a block out two away from hotel.

I noticed from this map the shadows on the river…that made me look up and notice the cool set of trees on the other side of the river that made those shadows.

The shadow trees. Sad that I needed to see shadows on my phone to notice them.

Funny story I read about the Datchett bridge. The two towns on both sides of the river, could not agree who should pay to build the bridge. So they both built half a bridge and connected them. Albert (husband of Queen Victoria) made them take that down and both build a complete bridge, the Victoria bridge upstream and Albert bridge downstream. There is no trace of the Datchett bridge.

Lots of great houses by the river today. Several modern too.

At first I thought they forgot to give me a cup…but then…

Magna Carta was signed in 1215 in Runnymede. For nice things that I saw: the cafe (with the teapot), a JFKennedy memorial that was created in 1965, a Magna Carta statue gifted by the American bar association, and the Writ in Water.

Video of message from Writ In Water

First time I’ve seen a marina with narrowboats perpendicular to the shore. They seem to be live aboards.

My first time taking a 15 minute hike break that didn’t involve a meal. Sat on a bench. Took off my boots. Enjoyed the scenery.

October 23, 2025

Thames Path – stage 10

Wooburn to Windsor. 14.1 miles

Sprinkling a bit. And windy! Turned out to be a two jacket (down underneath and rain on top) and gloves day.

The boathouse restaurant. Had lunch here

City scene in Windsor. Windsor castle in background.

Enjoying reading “Thames: The Biography” by Peter Ackroyd

I did more training than this shows…just not in the two weeks before the hike.

October 22, 2025

Thames Path – stage 9

Henley to Bourne End (staying in Wooburn). 13.6 miles

Taking it slower today. Had good rest. Plan to spend morning in Henley, cause it is great. Friar Park is just down the street- George Harrison (of the Beatles) lived there from 1971 to 2001.

Breakfast in Henley. First time hotel didn’t Audi provide breakfast.

Wanted moleskin for same two blisters, since I am running low on it. Instead found Blister Plasters. Haven’t tried them yet…plan to wait until the moleskin is out.

Shot of Henley towards church steeple and bridge. My hotel was right near the that church.

On the path a bit downriver from Henley, and a pic of many rowing boathouses.

Love the seats in this boat…and got lucky with a single sculler going by right then.

Cyclists are few and far between because of the priority given to pedestrians…and the fact that the many gates between segments are hostile towards bikers!

Talked to this group a bit later while that waited in a lock…the boat is called an electric canoe, and was Canadian.

Henley Business School has some fancy buildings!

Today was my first no jacket day, and the sun was out often. Here, is a shadow of a tree.

Wait for it…

The branch fell from this tree, but is still standing up and being held up by the tree.

A pheasant, I believe.

I need to learn more about the different eras of construction. Love this timber.

Each day, lately, it seems that I run into at least 1 diversion (detour). This one was well marked…but it is always disappointing as it usually takes you away from the river to the outskirts of town.

Markers show flood levels on wall next to path. 1894 was the highest. 1947 was the next. 2014 was the shortest.

The bar at tonight’s hotel has the coolest bar dogs I’ve seen so far on this trip.

I’m staying in a hotel about 1.5 miles away from the river…as there weren’t better options near the river. so that adds 1.5 miles to today’s distance…and likely tomorrows too.

Great fish and chips tonight. (I’ve started to eat some fish on this trip. Unsure if I will continue after…)

October 21, 2025

Thames Path – stage 8

Pangbourne to Henley. 17.1 miles

Based on hotel locations, I could go short or long today. Going long so I will be able to end a further session at the location I need to in order to stay at a place of friends.

Last night, Mariners:

Watching game 7.

7th inning just finished.

7 total runs In game so far.

Both teams first season was 77, when I was 7.

Hiked my 7th day in a row today.

Go M‘s!

9th inning now.

4 R’s up next: Rivas – Robles- Rodriguez- Raleigh

Rivas strikes out

Canzone batting for Robles – and strikes out

Rodriguez up! Strikes out.

Aaggh!

Just ran and got dinner across the street…this is the first hotel I’ve stayed at that has no reception, no bar, and no meals. They emailed me codes to front door and to my room.

I’m exhausted from the big walk and the shorter sleep last night, so I’m going to hit the sack and not post yesterday or today’s photos yet. Sorry.

October 20, 2025

Thames Path – stage 7

Benson to Pangbourne. 12.5 miles

Benson to Pangbourne. The bridge is out in Benson, so I will need to take a ferry, which may not be available on Mondays, or walk mile or two to the next bridge.

Still learning how to take care of feet.

Last nights Inn didn’t have a towel heater / clothes drier in room. So to finish off my laundry, the hair dryer comes in handy.

Adding moleskin to two areas that are getting blistered. Should have done sooner…still learning.

Probably will start today in full rain outfit…

Got to Pangbourne fine. Not going to post more details yet, cause a need a pre mariners game sleep (8:20pm now, waking up at 12:30am for 1am game…then trying to get more sleep after game.)

After 7 days of walking: