Another off-the-wall backpacking adventure, this time to Eel Pie Island in West London.
It sounds like I made this one up. I wouldn’t blame you if you thought I did. But I kid you not. Eel Pie Island is a real place.
Where is Eel Pie Island?
Eel Pie Island is an 8.9-acre island in the River Thames at Twickenham in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.
In the last weeks, I have backpacked the Former Self-Declared Republic of Frestonia, the Social Realism City of Nowa Huta and the Wooden Houses of Osiedle Przyjaźń.
So, fellow travellers, backpackers and tourists, forget your Tower Bridges, Buckingham Palaces and Big Bens. This is proper backpacking and far more interesting than the run-of-the-mill tourist sights.
The Paradox of Knowledge
The more I learn, the more I realise how much I don’t know. Albert Einstein
So this blog can inspire you or not but you might learn something along the way.
I took the London Overground from Rotherhithe to Whitechapel, changed to the District Line and rode it to the last stop at Richmond. Then I switched to a National Rail Service and got off at Twickenham.
Twickenham is the home of rugby, so it made sense to first get some breakfast at the appropriately named Wetherspoon pub, The William Webb Ellis.
William Webb Ellis (1806 –1872) was an English Anglican clergyman who, by tradition, has been credited as the inventor of rugby football while a pupil at Rugby School. According to legend, Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it during a school football match in 1823, thus creating the “rugby” style of play. Although the story has become firmly entrenched in the sport’s folklore, it is not supported by first-hand evidence and is discounted by most rugby historians as an origin myth.
Suitably fed and watered, Eel Pie Island is just a short walk away. This is being a tourist in my home country.
It makes sense now to include a map, just so you don’t think I am pulling a fast one.
The island has about 50 homes, 120 inhabitants, two or three boatyards, and some other small businesses and artists’ studios. It has nature reserves at both ends, protected from public access.
Trevor Baylis, who invented the wind-up radio, lived on the Island for many years.
The only way to get there is via the footbridge:
Privacy Signs:
There used to be the Eel Pie Island Hotel, which was used for ballroom dancing in the 20s and 30s. In the 1960s, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who and Rod Stewart all performed there.
The hotel eventually closed before being occupied by a group of anarchists. By 1970, Eel Pie Island was the UK’s largest hippy commune.
The hotel was destroyed by a fire in 1971. Most of the island was destroyed by another fire in 1996.
There is an information board outside the Barmy Arms pub:
Eel Pie Island map:
Back on the mainland, there is the Eel Pie Island Museum. But when I was there, it was sadly closed.
Eel Pie Island Museum
On Church Street, there is The Eel Pie pub but the prices are steep so I had a halloumi wrap at a small Lebanese place a few yards further.
Then I walked up to see the Twickenham Stadium because to have come to Twickenham and not seen it would be disgraceful.
Twickenham Stadium is the home of England Rugby and the largest dedicated rugby union venue in the world, seating up to 82,000 people. You can even do a Twickenham Stadium Tour.
Then it was retracing my steps back to my hostel in Rotherhithe for an evening of writing, blogging and photo editing.