Walk 19: Staines to Walton Bridge 20th February 2026

It was a close call as to whether this walk would happen. The recent heavy rainfall had flood warnings all around this area and just a week before, parts of the route were impassable due to the river’s banks bursting. The crew helping were invaluable, as were the fellow walkers in the WhatsApp group that people join when they sign up. Many live near the area and were able to give insight into the conditions on the ground.

As Mother Nature has done throughout this project, she gave us some grace. The rain eased in the days preceding the walk and, with the additional research I carried out on alternative routes, an updated risk assessment and amended pre-walk waivers and instructions, we decided to go ahead.

This walk pushed my travel time up to 3 hours 40 minutes, which felt quite long before I had even started. It was fairly overcast and grey throughout the drive down, but I did notice the sound of birds chirping as I loaded my car at 5:30 am, giving me a warm, fuzzy feeling that spring is returning and, with it, hopefully lighter mornings.

As usual, I met Ann and Jonathan at the end point in Walton Bridge with cars before heading to the start point - an uninspiring car park in Staines. We had four new faces and two familiar ones joining us, which gave it a different feel again. Everyone was already waiting for us ahead of time, which had never happened before. So there were seven of us in total, and as our designated navigator, David couldn’t make the walk at the very last minute, Ann and I were tasked with leading the way. But as always , the people joining us were happy to help out, making it a team effort.

We walked to the end point of the last stretch by the river for our orientation and check-in. I kept the check-in question light as I wasn’t sure what the walk conditions would be:

This week we have been closely watching the weather forecast to gauge whether the walk could go ahead. What is your internal weather forecast as you are arriving today?

I do love how we can ask the same question to everyone and get totally different answers, giving us a snapshot into people’s inner worlds. Some were already feeling spring-like, others a bit changeable, and some had the sun ready to burn through the clouds.

As we looked to make a start, we realised we were already on the wrong side of the river, so had to retrace our steps back over the bridge. Not always the best start when navigation goes wrong before we’ve even set off, but it adds to the fun!

We followed our usual structure: general conversations, coaching conversations, lunch, silent walking and then more coaching until we reached the end point.

One thing we all noticed on this stretch was the height and pace of the river. It was moving incredibly quickly for the whole eight miles, drawing us in to watch it. There was a real power and purpose to it that I felt drawn to and it was a strong presence throughout the day, along with perhaps vigilance and respect for what it could do. For those in the know, it was running at a 170 flow rate. I believe anything over 65 isn’t safe to swim in, which gives an indication of just how fast it was moving.

There was very little activity on the water apart from the odd brave duck or swan, frantically swimming against the flow to get to the side.

There were signs of the river’s height throughout the walk too: submerged jetties, steps out of sight, waterlogged paths and ground that we had to navigate around that was sodden and overflowing.

The weather felt a little brighter when we started, with someone commenting they should have brought sunglasses, which felt like a positive sign. But it was generally quite grey all day, with some rain arriving just as we sat down on benches along the river in Shepperton - not the ideal way to have lunch, making sandwiches soggy! But it could have been a lot worse.

The silent stretch after lunch was, as always, a wonderful opportunity for reflection. The invitation was simply to notice what we were drawn to. I initially thought I couldn’t hear any birds, but when I tuned in there was chirping as we walked. Then a few of us were startled by what we thought were ring-necked parrots squawking and flying out of a nearby tree, their bright green feathers a sharp contrast against the bare, grey landscape.

I also noticed the diversity of houses along the river - some with incredible installations that caught our attention including the Blue Brothers mannequins sitting on someone's veranda! And as I looked more closely at what seemed like winter bareness along the path, I realised there were delicate purple flowers sprinkled amongst the undergrowth, snowdrops pushing up, early daffodils raising their heads and buds forming on the trees, including some lovely early blossoms. I wouldn’t have noticed any of these if I wasn’t being intentional.

At the end of the silent stretch there was a family of geese (seemingly mum and dad and five little goslings). Ann observed that they were demonstrating an “in the wild” risk assessment. The goslings were trying to get into the water and the parents were quite vocal in ushering them away. Very unusual, but clearly they knew the current was too strong, so they retreated to a nearby puddle instead.

This was the point where we would ordinarily have caught the Shepperton Ferry to cross to the path on the other side of the river, but it wasn’t running due to the river’s flow. As it happens, this was the only part where we were flooded off the alternate path, and it wasn’t even the Thames but another body of water that had overflowed. So we walked the final mile along the road until we reached Walton Bridge.

We finished in what felt like record time, arriving at 2pm when it’s usually at least an hour later. I’d noticed our walking pace had been much quicker throughout the day and wondered if we were subconsciously mirroring the river’s flow.

I noticed that there was also very little litter on this stretch, which felt notable after the previous two sections near Heathrow. Although we have very much left the rural walks behind, this stretch felt less intruded upon by noise than the last couple which was very welcome.

Our check-out was to revisit our internal weather forecast and, as expected, there was a lightness in everyone’s responses. A sense of gratitude for the opportunity to walk and for the connection of like-minded people. Gratitude often comes out in the closing reflections, especially when there are more new faces than familiar. Perhaps those of us who have been part of the project for a while have almost taken that element for granted, so it’s lovely to see it through fresh eyes.

The river was a real feature in our takeaways too - its power, presence and pull for our attention throughout. And again, the lack of litter, which is always good to reflect on.

My drive home was four and a half hours, which felt long. My hips started to seize up by the time I got back - a sign of my age, I’m sure! I probably need to prioritise some flexibility work for the remaining walks.

We have just three weeks until our next stretch - Walton Bridge to Kingston on 13th March. I’m feeling a sense of excitement that we’re getting closer to the finish line, but also a creeping apprehension that I’ll miss this rhythm, focus, purpose, and community we’ve built and also the river once we've finished.

If you'd like to join us on our Source to Sea journey, you can find the latest schedule and link to book here.