For those who, like him, started late, Richard will be leading repeats of the first couple of sections. This is a repeat of Section 1; 10.5 miles from the Thames Barrier to Tower Bridge.

Finding us

Richard's mobile is 07970841367. If you're planning to come, please put it in your phone now! See also http://phase.org/where/, particularly if you have an internet-enabled phone.

We will be starting from the Thames Barrier Visitor Centre, on the south side of the Thames, overlooking the barrier. Look for the big "STOP 2" sign saying "Start of the 180 mile walk". It's near the centre's café, but please note that we leave before that opens!

Meet at 10:00 am sharp; we will leave by 10:15. I'll be asking some of the more experienced walkers to help guide people through the first section (up to mile 4 or so) where most of the diversions are, after which you can more easily continue at your own pace.

Getting there

Charlton Station is 0.75 miles from the barrier; it has good, cheap(ish) service from Waterloo East and London Bridge. Please allow 15-20 minutes to walk from the station to the meeting point.

Organisation

Will be minimal. Those who've walked with me before will know that I tend to organise things quite tightly when we're walking cross country, with an official back marker and collected phone numbers. I won't be doing that for this section as it's all highly urban. We'll meet at the barrier, set off in the same general direction at roughly the same pace, and meet up for lunch and for drinks after the walk.

If you're late

we'll probably have set off. However if, say, you get to Charlton by 10:15, phone me and then we can meet up at the first mile marker (see this map) at the junction of Anchor & Hope Lane and Riverside. Just head due north from the station to the river. Any later than that and you can continue the walk yourself; it's all urban and *reasonably* well signed (but see note below).

Beyond that, meeting partway along isn't really recommended for this section, given that we only stop for lunch 3 miles from the end.

If you can't make it

Please update your RSVP any time up to Saturday night, after that PLEASE TEXT ME! Equally, if you decide at the last minute that you want to join us, and you can get to the barrier for 10, text me.

The route

Follows the south bank of the Thames fairly closely, from the barrier, around the Greenwich peninsula, then through Maritime Greenwich and Rotherhithe before ending at Butler's Wharf. See http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/thamespath/downloads.asp?PageId=79 for more info; but note that we're walking the path backwards! :)

Points to note in passing include the Barrier, the new Thames Cable Car, the Dome (look for the "Slice of Reality" right at the point of peninsula), the Royal Naval College at Greenwich, the Cutty Sark, Greenland Dock and of course Tower Bridge itself. The new Canary Wharf development in the Docklands, and the ArcelorMittal Orbit (for the sharp eyed) are visible over the river. We also pass the Greenwich, Rotherhithe and Blackwall tunnels.

Lunch and drinks

I'm estimating a 2.5mph pace for this walk (slightly slower than our cross-country sections due to roads & diversions) which puts us just north of Surrey Docks (miles 7-8) around lunchtime.

Given the number of people likely to turn up, I'm going to suggest a number of locations for lunch, around this point. You can chat with your fellow walkers as to wear you'd like to eat.

In approximate order:

The Wibbley Wobbley is a pub on a barge floating in Greenland Dock.

The Ship and Whale on Gulliver Street.

Surrey Docks Farm. I believe some people ate at the cafe here for the first go at this section and enjoyed it.

The Clipper on Rotherhithe Street.

The Blacksmith's Arms also on Rotherhithe Street.

See https://foursquare.com/parsingphase/list/thames-path-1 for a list of all of these with a map.

Then it's around hour's walking after lunch, and I suggest we finish up at Brown's on Butler's Wharf near the south end of Tower Bridge. While you're around there, the Engine Rooms of Tower Bridge (situated under the bridge at the south end) are well worth a look (even if you've been in the bridge itself) as they're a beautifully restored piece of Victorian engineering.

Diversions / warnings

Note that while this section does contain some very pretty, historical and/or interesting bits, when I pre-walked the first part in mid-December, it was also subject to a mass of diversions. I've posted a map including an estimate of the diversions we are likely to face at http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5227295

Note that the signage of the diversions and closed paths are hit & miss in parts. Bring your London A-Z! The Thames Path map is of limited use for this section, both due to closures and to the fact that the very small scale isn't really readable within London.

Due to the diversions and the possibility of walking along main roads, I'd not recommended this one for kids, although that's not normally an issue.

While it's not our official lunch stop (as it's too early), I did have a very nice lunch at the Pelton Arms when I walked this first section, so I'll recommend that for anyone who fancies doing this section themselves at some point.

See also

http://www.meetup.com/Sea2Source/events/16990192/ for details of the first time we walked this section.

http://www.meetup.com/Sea2Source/events/45693802/ if you're interested in running reboots for later sections.