Strawberry blonde (retired triathlete) now Mum: The inspiration behind walking the Thames London Bridges

In December 2017, the Frenchman and I were thrilled and terrified when we discovered there was a mini growing inside me. 9 months of vomiting then ensued and I was desperate to find a sport which would keep me healthy and happy through pregnancy. Swimming didn't work due to acid reflux, road cycling stopped after some near misses with ubers, and my back is still buggered from running, so I turned to walking.

Not one to saunter round the park, I needed a challenge to keep me focused as my belly grew so in my research I read about a 48km London Bridges walk - crossing every pedestrian friendly bridge of London from Hampton Court to Tower Bridge - written by Bex Band 'The Ordinary Adventurer' - and was inspired!

https://www.theordinaryadventurer.com/adventure/thames-london-bridge-challenge/

My friend Charlotte agreed to join me in this challenge, and wrote a blog post about our training and the big walk, so over to you Charlotte...

https://charlottecrowesweb.blogspot.com/2018/04/microadventure-4-london-bridges.html

Sunday, 15 April 2018

Microadventure #4 - London Bridges Challenge

Unlike my night in a bothy (January), cold water swim (February) and weeknight wild camping (March), this month's microadventure required a bit of training.

When my friend Naomi suggested we do a 48km (30 mile) walk along the River Thames, I scoffed at her suggestion of a training plan. It's walking - how hard could it be?!

Fast forward to our first 20km training walk together (in the snow) and I realised that I'd underestimated the effort of putting one foot in front of the other and repeating it for a 3-4 hour period. The following week I battled with a strange twinge in the muscle on top of one of my feet, sore hip flexors and shin splints. So a training plan it would have to be. Fortunately for me, Naomi is a TV producer and LOVES planning!

Over the next 4 weeks, we both incorporated walking into our work commutes and did a longer walk together at the weekends, increasing the distance by 5km every week. Slowly my legs got used to the different range of motion to running and cycling. And with a bit of stretching and foam roller-ing, 4 weekends on from that snowy 20km we were at Hampton Court train station, ready to begin our walk crossing the 26 pedestrian bridges that span the River Thames from Hampton Court to Tower Bridge. There are actually 33 in total, but 7 are railway bridges, so we didn't think they were a very sensible option to get ourselves to Tower Bridge in one piece.

The twists and turns of the River Thames - including the 'Chiswick cleavage'

Here are all 26 bridges in order:

1. Hampton Court Bridge

2. Kingston Bridge

3. Teddington Lock Footbridge

4. Richmond Bridge

5. Twickenham Bridge

6. Richmond Lock Footbridge

7. Kew Bridge

8. Chiswick Bridge

9. Barnes Bridge

10. Hammersmith Bridge

11. Putney Bridge

12. Fulham Bridge

13. Wandsworth Bridge

14. Battersea Bridge

15. Albert Bridge

16. Chelsea Bridge

17. Vauxhall Bridge

18. Lambeth Bridge

19. Westminster Bridge

20. Hungerford/Golden Jubilee Bridge

21. Waterloo Brdige

22. Blackfriars Bridge

23. Millenium Bridge

24. Southwark Bridge

25. London Bridge

26. Tower Bridge

I should probably add, just to add to the adventure, Naomi is 5 months pregnant. WHAT A TROOPER! So to balance us out and to make things fairer, I carried her backpack on my front most of the way. A sort of externally positioned foetus full of sandwiches, soup, water and snacks.

7am and we're off!

Being a doofus in Bushy Park

Bacon sarnies in baguettes homemade by Nico (Naomi's husband)

Charlotte standard 'Ta daaa' pose in front of Richmond Lock Bridge

Standard dog stop (me, not Naomi)

Stretching on Kew Bridge

Saying hello to the geese (with an irrational fear of geese and swans)

Running out of bridge poses

By the time we got towards lunchtime, my "let's cross that bridge when we come to it" jokes were wearing thin and hunger was setting in. So THANK GOODNESS for bumping into fellow Clapham Chaser Gabby near Barnes and Carluccios in Putney.

Bumping into Gabby along the river

Pasta in Putney

The afternoon was mostly about playing games like "What's your favourite..." (covering just about every possible topic) and "Would you rather X or Y" (to which Naomi would normally say one, change her mind then say both). Part of the fun of walking rather than running or cycling is you really can have a proper conversation. But even good friends run out of regular chat so the games were a fun way to get to know each other even better.

Outside Carluccios in front of Putney Bridge

Fulham Rail/Pedestrian Bridge

In Battersea Park we were met by Nico and did a bit of leg elevation by Albert Bridge before heading more central where, after being quite sparse for the most of the way, the bridges came thick and fast.