Thames Landscape Strategy - Hampton to Kew -

Dry routes

Quite often a walk along the towpath can be disrupted by flooding from a high tide. Within the space of an hour water can overtop the bank and cover large sections of the riverside. This can be fun to watch but for someone who may not know the river all that well be confusing and quite scary.
Our riversides are particularly prone to tidal flooding because they are low lying and are not protected by high flood defence walls. The problem is often exasperated by flood water moving downstream over Teddington weir from higher up the river. When such a ‘freshwater’ flood meets a high tide moving upstream the water has no-where else to go but upwards and outwards.
As climate changes the probability of the towpaths being flooded in this way is increasing. We could one day have a situation where the riverside is inundated almost every day cutting off long sections for walkers and cyclists. As such we have started to plan ‘dry routes’. These could be raised grassy areas, bridges or boardwalks to take the visitor safely across a flooded area.
One of the most affected areas is Ham so the first dry route to be completed was at Hammertons Ferry. A boardwalk was constructed to link the towpath with Ham Avenues across a small stream. The previous structure had become almost un-usable – being too low and dangerous at high tide. At the moment the London’s Arcadia project is building the second link in the area between the towpath and Douglas Meadow footpath roughly opposite Marble Hill House.
The boardwalk is being built by local boat builder Mark Edwards at his boatyard under Richmond Bridge. Although not quite finished yet it is a work of art – made with the same care and attention as one of his traditional rowing boats. It has been constructed to be robust to avoid vandalism and accessible whilst designed to fit into the rural landscape. In addition it has to high enough to carry visitors safely over the flood water that gushes in and out extremely quickly here – we also carried out works to improve the drainage to help take the flood water back out to the river more easily.
These dry routes are just one small way that we are adapting the river landscape to climate change. If you would like to find out more visit www.thames-landscape-strategy.org.uk
Jason Debney is Co-ordinator of the Thames Landscape Strategy – a not for profit organisation to conserve, enhance and promote the remarkable Arcadian Thames between Hampton and Kew.

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