Walking with Linda: 6 mile, Kew Bridge Circular walk & MI5 Exhibition at the National Archives.

Join Linda for this 6 mile, Kew Bridge Circular walk & MI5 Exhibition at the National Archives.

Please meet in the café at Kew Bridge railway station front entrance (at the top of the stairs up from the platform) by 09:50 ready for a prompt 10:00 departure.  

We will initially have a flat walk on a good walking path alongside the north side of the River Thames. We can admire the lovely houses with steps up to raised front doors to avoid flooding at high tide when the River Thames bursts it's banks and floods the footpath. I'm taking you there at low tide!

We'll cut through some back streets to Chiswick House Gardens for a walk through to admire the gardens and we can make use of the facilities by the café. 

Returning to the Thames, we'll take the footpath between the river and Dukes Meadow.

We'll stop for lunch at a pub opened in 1525, which nowadays, overlooks the River Thames at the finish line of the annual Oxford and Cambridge boat race. I have booked tables for us to have lunch at about 12:00 (at your own expense).  

After lunch we'll walk alongside the south side of the River Thames for about 30 minutes to the National Archives at Kew where the MI5 exhibition is. The exhibition has a variety of information and articles on display detailing it's history, notorious Agents and spy schemes plus you can dress up as a typical MI5 Agent from the 1940's if you wish! 

In the early 1900s, fears grew of a possible German invasion. In 1909 a UK government committee approved the creation of a Secret Service Bureau. Until that time, no single agency had been responsible for countering foreign espionage.

The Bureau was initially staffed by only two officers. Captain Vernon Kell, an army officer, and Commander Mansfield Cumming, of the Royal Navy. The men soon realised that two branches were needed. One would counter threats from foreign spies and subversives at home, the other would run agents abroad.

Kell became head of M15, responsible for all intelligence work in the UK and its empire. Cumming took charge of the Secret Intelligence Service, later M16.

There are free of charge secure lockers to store your day sack while you visit the exhibition. 

We will have individual free time in the MI5 exhibition or you can opt to spend some of your time visiting the indoor café, outdoor tables and chairs area by the lake or the souvenir shop.

We then have a 30 minute walk back to Kew Bridge railway station where you might like to treat yourself to a drink, tea, coffee or dessert perhaps in one of the many pubs by the Thames or in the café at the railway station. 

Please bring drinking water, money to buy lunch and any other drinks and snacks you may want. 

Please dress for the weather on the day (and bring a golfing umbrella if it is expected to rain!).

Please check your transport times, and for any engineering works, at least the day before the walk and allow some contingency time for delays.  

The walk needs to depart on time for the comfort and enjoyment of those who have arrived on time. Thank you. Linda