The Way to the Sea is a book by Caroline Crampton who was born on the Thames Estuary, to parents who had sailed there from South Africa in the early 1980s. Now a journalist, she combines her seafaring legs and desire to explore how one of the key estuaries in England has long been pivotal to London’s economic fortunes. It also has sad connotations, with its entry point for immigrants giving rise to far-right politics. Learn about:
- The Thames barrier, which guards the safety of Londoners more precariously than we might
- Ship wrecks still inhabited by the ghosts of the drowned
- Vast Victorian pumping stations that carry away the capital’s sewage
- River banks layered with Anglo-Saxon treasures
- Literature inspired by the landscape
- Beacons used to guide boats through the dark
- Murky waterways of the estuary
- Eerie Maunsell army forts, designed to spot incoming enemy planes
- The estuary’s wildlife and shifting tidal moods
About the Author
Caroline Crampton wrote this memoir about her parents’ extraordinary immigration (sailing to the UK from South Africa in a boat the built themselves) and how she grew up and learned to live an often-overlooked landscape.