Staying one night in London gave us the opportunity to visit a few islands in the Thames. After catching the train to Twickenham we strolled down to the water's edge and crossed the bridge to Eel Pie Island, probably the most famous of all the islands in the Thames. There's not a lot to enjoy for the visitor anymore, just a short public path to a boat yard. From its hedonistic heyday in the 60s, the island is little more than a gated community now.
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| Eel Pie Island footbridge |
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| Eel Pie Island buildings |
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| Eel Pie Island privacy |
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| Eel Pie Island from the Thames Path |
We followed the Thames Path in an easterly direction... Glover's Island is an eruption of trees from the water.
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| Glover's Island |
Corporation Island, dripping with willows, is within a stone's throw of Richmond Bridge.
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| Corporation Island, Richmond |
Undeniably large, but seemingly rather dull, Isleworth Ait has something unexpected to offer. Owned by the
London Wildlife Trust, it is home to the two-lipped door snail and German hairy snail as well as kingfishers and herons. We would never have known as we wandered by.
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| Isleworth Ait |
Walking past Kew Gardens, looking across the Thames to Brentford, our view is obscured by the long, split island of Brentford Ait and it's smaller cousin, Lot's Ait.
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| Lot's Ait |
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| The channel splitting Brentford Ait is known as Hog Hole |
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| Brentford Ait |
Kew Bridge signalled the end of our amble. We could see Oliver's Island clearly from the bridge, shaped like a single fantastic tree.
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| Oliver's Island, Kew |
A quick stop at Castelnau offered up Chiswick Eyot, substantially leafier than my maps suggested.
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| Chiswick Eyot |
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