It certainly has never been an item on our bucket list, but hey, when its hot, and the Thames is nearby and every man, woman and their dog is taking a dip, then swimming in the Thames suddenly becomes quite attractive! It’s not the beach, but it’s still good!
Add to bucket list, take a dip, tick off bucket list. All in the same day!
It was mid August and we were spending a few weeks in West London in East Molesey. This is just across the bridge (and Thames River) from Hampton Court.
We had actually worked in that area in the late 1980’s and in fact got married there in 1989. So it was a bit of a trip down memory lane for us.
Sidebar
After we got married at the registry office, we headed to the Chu Chin Chow restaurant for a slap up meal with all our local friends made up mostly of a motley crew of Saffas, Aussies and Kiwis.
To our amazement but great joy, the restaurant has survived the 33 intervening years. It is still in the same spot at 15-16 Hampton Court Parade. The crispy fried duck is as good as we remember it! So if you are in the area, the Chu Chin Chow is worth a visit for that alone.
And for those of you worried about tradition. We had a proper wedding with parents et al in attendance back in the colonies 6 months later. That makes for two wedding anniversaries in every 12 month period………
To swim, or not to swim?
Hot and humid in London is no fun if you only have a fan to cool things down.
So how to overcome the oppressive summer heat? We were talking about this to the friendly staff at the Cafe Mylel at 89 Walton Rd, East Molesy where we often stopped in for a coffee and a morning pastry.
And that’s where we heard about taking a dip in the Thames.
We were a bit taken aback. Thirty plus years ago, the Thames was hardly filled with clean wholesome water. Granted Hampton Court is upstream from central London and the docks as the river flows but still ….
But everyone was in agreement that it was perfectly safe. In fact, one of the staff members was heading down there for a dip after work with family in tow.
So that afternoon, we put on cozzies under our clothes, packed a picnic dinner and headed for the Thames. We took a pleasant stroll via Hurst Lane, through Hurst Meadows and Hurst Park to the banks of the River Thames.
We weren’t the only ones there! In fact, it seemed like half the local population was there and a good number of them were in or on the river. Dogs, kids, parents, grand parents, rowers, paddle boarders, canoeists, ducks, geese and more were out in force.
In the face of such overwhelming evidence, we claimed our spot on the banks of the river. We spread our picnic blanket out, and then in we went!
It was marvelous. Cool clean water flowing along at a gentle pace which meant it was easy to head out into the middle of the river without fear of being carried off down stream to Kingston.
We got out refreshed and keen to tackle our picnic dinner.
So if you are ever in West London and its hot and humid, add swimming in the Thames to the list of how to keep cool!
Additional Attractions Seen from the River
This outing (which was repeated almost daily over the following days when the weather refused to relent) also introduced us to Garrick’s Temple to Shakespeare . That’s the building on the opposite bank in the picture above.
We never got to go inside due to it’s oddball opening hours. However, it’s one of those institutions that you are not at all surprised to discover in England, but which would be considered weird just about anywhere else.
So if you can try make it there on a Sunday afternoon. But only after 2pm and only from March to October. It is probably worth a visit if for no other reason than being able to say you had been there!
And then there were the planes
Hampton Court/East Molesey is on one of the flight paths heading out of Heathrow airport. So an added attraction of heading down to the river for a dip and a meal was identifying planes as they came over us.
What was quite noticeable was that the big Airbus A380’s took a lot longer to gain altitude once in the air. You could almost (with a bit of imagination….and our binos….) see the white’s of the pilots eyes as they came past/over us.
Thankfully not much flying was done after 22h00 so we usually had a decent night’s sleep after our river escapades!
Read more about our adult gap year here.
