Harper-Thames on a riverside walk that turned into an unplanned scramble across mud she really should have checked for
I know the tide timetable exists. I know roughly where to find it. I know, in an abstract sense, that the Thames is a tidal river and behaves accordingly. None of this stopped me setting off on a riverside walk this week without checking it, a decision I regretted almost immediately and considerably more with every subsequent step.
Where I Actually Went Wrong
There’s a stretch of foreshore I like walking along when the tide’s out, proper riverbed exposed, mudlarks doing their careful searching, generally a lovely bit of London most people walk straight past without noticing. I set off assuming the tide would still be out by the time I got there. It was not.
The Actual Scramble
What was meant to be a leisurely stretch of exposed foreshore had become a rapidly narrowing strip of mud between me and the wall, water creeping in steadily enough that I found myself doing an undignified half-jog across increasingly soft ground while making decisions about footwear I will regret for the rest of the week.
The Mudlark Who Saved Me
A properly experienced mudlark, kitted out with the right boots and clearly not making my exact mistake, pointed me toward the nearest set of stairs back up to street level before I got properly stuck, and I am genuinely grateful, if slightly embarrassed, that someone had to intervene.
What I’ve Learned, Again, For The Hundredth Time
Check the tide timetable. It takes thirty seconds, genuinely thirty seconds. I know this. I will, in all likelihood, forget again within a month and find myself in exactly this situation once more, because apparently some lessons about this particular river need repeating more than once to actually stick.
The Silver Lining
I did get one genuinely good photo of the water creeping across the mud before I made my slightly frantic exit, so the whole ordeal wasn’t entirely wasted, just mostly ill-advised from start to finish.