Avoiding the half martyrdom

Today it was the annual half marathon in the park, when the paths are obstructed with 13 miles of metal barriers and it's very hard to get around, let alone having to witness the sad spectacle of thousands of people toiling along with faces contorted in agony and their friends yelling and blowing whistles. So I gave it a miss and took the Underground to Richmond, intending to walk back along the south bank of the river. This is what I had intended to do a couple of weeks ago when the park was closed, only to find that the line was also closed for maintenance.

But again it didn't go as intended. A section of river bank had collapsed between Richmond and Kew and the path was closed. So I had to cross to the north bank at Richmond Lock, over a fine bridge of 1894 by Ransomes and Rapier of Ipswich. (Yes, there really was someone called Richard Christopher Rapier and he had already built the first railway in China in 1876, only to have it dismantled by the government because he hadn't received planning permission. Some things never change.)

The first place on the detour was Isleworth, which is pretty. The 14th century Kentish ragstone tower of All Saints church is all that remains of the original building.

The church fell into disrepair and was rebuilt in 1706 to a design by Sir Christopher Wren, but this too was destroyed in 1943 by two boys who set fire to it, and also to Holy Trinity Church in Hounslow. The present church is a red brick structure of 1970 by Michael Blee. The sundial of the Wren church is preserved. A Carrion Crow was watching but probably not praying.

There were few birds of interest here: Canada Geese on the shore exposed by low tide ...

... Mallards and Moorhens ...

... and a Grey Heron exploring the mud.

A brave attempt at a metal heron was in poor repair.

But then there was something worth filming, a Little Egret. I'm putting up two videos because it is a beautiful creature and you don't often see them this close.

As it wandered down the shore it encountered another egret and, with a furious squawk, routed it.

Then through dreary Brentford and back on to the south bank at Kew Bridge. Egyptian Geese rested on the pond at Kew Green.

Since it was Sunday the river was busy with rowers. A trainer in a launch bellowed at a crew of beginners to keep them synchronised.

There were hundreds of Carrion Crows along the shore ...

... but remarkably few Cormorants. A lot of these would have been in Hyde Park hoovering up the plentiful fish in the Serpentine.

Barnes railway bridge is a peculiar structure, as there are actually two bridges side by side. The one at the front in this picture was built of cast iron by Joseph Locke in 1849.

However, in 1891 a cast iron bridge on the line to Brighton collapsed, and a panic about cast iron structures -- which had started in 1879 when the famous Tay bridge at Dundee blew down as a train crossed it during a storm -- led to its replacement in 1895 with a wrought iron bridge by Edward Andrews. To keep the line open during its construction, the original bridge was retained and the new one built next to it on extended abutments. The old bridge is no longer used.

The composer Gustav Holst's beautiful house in Barnes. The curved front dates it to the 1820s.

There was a large flock of Mute Swans on the river, and as I was photographing it some of them took off.

A few minutes later they unexpectedly returned and splashed down.

A solitary Magpie came down to the river to drink.

The detour had taken so much time that I only made it to Hammersmith before having to get back on the Underground and go home to write the blog. Hammersmith Bridge was designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette, replacing an earlier structure of 1827, and opened in 1887.

It was one of the great engineer's few failures. Its 27 ft wide roadway narrows to 19 feet between the suspension towers, from the start causing congestion to two-way traffic. The bridge was also not very strong and required frequent repairs as motor traffic built up in the 20th century, and in 1926 it was recommended that it should be demolished and replaced with something wider and stronger. But this never happened.

The IRA boys seem to have had a particular dislike for the bridge, as they tried to bomb it unsuccessfully in 1939 and 1996. In 1997 it was found unsafe and closed for major repairs. A third IRA bomb in 2000 caused serious structural damage and repairs took another two years. Then in 2019 cracks were found in the cast iron bases of the towers and it was closed to traffic again, remaining open for pedestrians and cyclists. In 2020 it deteriorated further with cracks in the chains and was completely closed.

In 2024, now with a temporary frame supporting the roadway which you can see in the picture above, it reopened to pedestrians and cyclists. But protracted official wrangling about the cost of a full repair has so far prevented it from being brought back into full service.