Day 7 - Culham Lock (Abingdon) to Benson, 9.8m

As we were checking out of our cottage in Lechade and the temperature forecast was not so hot, we didn't finally start walking until 11am.  We watched a walking group who were just arriving in Culham Lock from the direction we were headed and decided it would be safe to set off in shorts. 

Leaving Culham Bridge, Didcot Power Station, a very noisy railway bridge

Not a brilliant idea; the first 3 miles was through long grass, with occasional views of the river through the vegetation on the bank.  In one of the gaps, we got our second view of Didcot Power Station, which is far less obvious from the Thames Path than it had been last year from the Ridgeway where we saw it for days on end!

Clifton Lock, Clifton Hampden bridge and Church

After Clifton Hampden, we reached Clifton Meadows, a fabulous bend in the river with beautiful bungalows on the opposite bank and lovely views across the meadow land (well except one of the chimneys of Didcot Power station).

Some lovely things to look at along the way

In the skies above us were Red Kites riding a thermal and a Chinook helicopter.  In the latter part of this section, there were lots of grazing bulls, which seemed to favour the area round the path gates, but they were placid and didn't mind being shooed away. 

Some flying things and some hazards to navigation

The lovely section of the path ended at Shillingford Lock.

A striking (struck by lightning) tree, Shillingford lock and weir

This is another place where the towpath crossed the river, but there is no modern bridge, so the Thames Path diverts across a field to the main road, before heading back to the river through the village and behind some very nice riverside properties.

The path approaching Shillingford, Shillingford Bridge, the (unusual) path leaving Shillingford

After Shillingford and the wonderful green tunnel path, we fought our way through more long grass to our final destination for the day, Benson Lock. The last half mile was through Benson Marina with lots of flashy boats, hire boats and quite nice looking mobile homes with a big bar and restaurant.  

Approaching Benson

And finally it was back to the car and the drive home.  We headed back to the St George and Dragon at Wargrave, a pub we found last year on our drive home from the Ridgeway, for a very nice dinner by the river.

So after 7 days of walking and 75 miles covered we are just over halfway to London.  We will be having a break for 3 weeks before returning to start another stage of our Thames Path walk.  We have not quite reached the crossover point with the Ridgeway at Goring which we reached last year in 4 days on the Ridgeway, so we are really looking forward to Day 8 when we will cross the bridge between Streatley and Goring and shortly afterward have less than 100 miles to go to the Thames Barrier.

Day 6 - Iffley Lock (Oxford) to Culham Lock (Abingdon), 9.2m

We set off early because the weather forecast said it would be hot again, and then thought we had made a mistake as we drove through the mist.  By the time we had parked a car at Culham Lock and fought our way back into Oxford, the weather had brightened and it was a lovely temperature to start our walk from Iffley.

Iffley weir and lock

The path was really good as we left Oxford through another green corridor; even the bypass didn't seem too noisy though there were lots of joggers, cyclists and dog walkers until we parted company from the cycle track.

Various views leaving Iffley lock

The path continued to be good until Sandford Lock where we had a chat to the lock keepers who were not too busy.  We had thought from the description in the book, that the next part of the path would be poorly maintained, but they assured us that it would be fine so we shed our jumpers and trouser legs.

Sandford lock

Once again, the grass had grown and in some places we couldn't see the river, but it was OK for shorts.  We saw some interesting places along the way including Radley College boat house, which is in the middle of no-where but does not seem to have a problem with outboard motor theft as they were just left on boats!  Next were a rather an unusual boat house and a very nice house by the river.

Clockwise from top left - Approaching Radley boathouse, Radley boathouse (2), an elegant boathouse

And in one of the spots where we could see the river through the vegetation on the bank we saw a rowing crew under instruction.

Rowers under instruction

Eventually, we reached Abingdon Lock.  This part of the river up to Oxford has the small cruisers and narrowboats we have seen since Lechlade, but we have started to see many more flashy sea-going gin palaces, which can't get under Osney Bridge.

Abingdon weir and lock

We stopped for a lovely lunch at the Nags Head, right in the middle of the river at Abingdon Bridge, with fabulous views back along the river.

A lovely lunch stop - the Nag's Head at Abingdon

The walk from the bridge is nice at first, but soon crosses fields where the river isn't visible through the vegetation on the bank, so it was really nice to emerge at Culham Lock, where we had a chat with the lock keeper before returning to the car.

Culham lock and bridge

Day 5 - Farmoor to Iffley Lock (Oxford), 9.8m

This was our walk through Oxford day, so we set off early to avoid the worst of the traffic, and managed to miss the worst of the traffic.  Today we saw more of everything, boats, people, geese and even clouds of tiny flies. We had a short road walk almost immediately, then it was back to the river and a variety of walking, woods and meadows.  Unfortunately, we could very soon hear the traffic on the Oxford bypass. 

Clockwise from top - Farmoor reservoir, Swinford Bridge, Oxford Cruisers boatyard

Swinford Bridge was sold in 2009 but despite widespread local opposition to the toll and lobbying for its removal, the bridge was sold to new private owners for more than £1m and the toll, 5p for a car, remains as does the traffic congestion!

Eynsham lock

There are quite a lot of locks on the Thames and I expect there's a "best kept lock" award every year.  Eynsham must be a strong contender.

Clockwise from top left - nice walking, more geese, peaceful Thames, King's lock

After a miles of meadows beside the river, we went under the bypass and into Oxford. The amazing thing was that as we passed Godstow, we were still in a green corridor within the city.

Godstow bridge and the ruins of Godstow abbey

The city comes into sight beyond Port Meadow, though the dreaming spires were hazy and the cranes were higher.  Port Meadow across the river is full of cattle and horses and gets the "biggest flock of geese so far" award. Amazingly the there was no traffic noise from the bypass or the city, but there were lots of walkers (though most were not English and not doing the Thames path).

Views across Port Meadow towards Oxford

The green corridor continues right into the city and it is only just before Osney Bridge that the buildings begin.  This bit was really disappointing, as we walked past the backs of some very uninspiring property with high walls covered in graffiti.

Medley Bridge to Osney Bridge

The next bit over Osney bridge was equally uninspiring, though there are some newer, nicer properties on the far bank.

Osney

We almost stopped for lunch by the river in the centre of town, but decided that the view of the river was not inspiring, the table by the river was tatty and the meal prices were high, so we walked on.

Oxford centre

The next part of the walk is into a second green corridor past the university boat houses where we saw a couple of rowers. We finished our walk at Iffley Lock which has a very nice looking riverside pub but sadly it is shut on Wednesdays.  Pubs that aren't open every day is becoming a bit of a theme! 

Top - the college boathouses and bottom, Iffley lock

We collected the car, drove back across all the bridges we had walked past and found The Perch at Binsey, which we had spotted a sign for earlier and enjoyed a very nice bar snack in their garden.

Day 4 - Tadpole Bridge to Farmoor, 12m

We set off very early as we were expecting a warm day and a long walk.

Clockwise from top - Tadpole Bridge, a serene Thames, spot the path!

It was definitely a day of two halves.  When we set off the path was not too bad for the usual half mile of dog walking territory, but it soon deteriorated and for the first 6 miles to Newbridge we struggled through knee high grass overhanging the path and in places a very uneven surface.  The path was at least alongside the river, but the view was often blocked by the vegetation growing along the bank. By the time we reached Newbridge we had damp legs and were caked in grass pollen.

Clockwise from top left - a lonely footbridge, path maintenance anyone?, a lonely pillbox

There were some compensations, we startled a deer and quite a few birds and dragon flies.

River life

We stopped at the Rose Revived Pub at Newbridge for a mid morning break and having consulted the book we decided to convert our trousers to shorts.  

Newbridge - a 13th century bridge

The next 3.5 miles were glorious, open meadows by the river, no long grass, few people, few boats and some houses we could only dream about owning - though as we get nearer to London, the houses will no doubt become even more amazing.  

Un-affordable housing

We stopped for lunch at the Ferryman at Bablock Hythe.  The pub has a nice terrace and the portions are enormous, but it is definitely misnamed, as the old chain ferry no longer operates, which is a shame because the path on the other side continues to follow the river.  On our side the path diverts round a truly ghastly permanent caravan park and across a very strange field.  There must have been 6 or 7 bonfire sites in various stages of building and burning and some very tatty sheep huddled in the shade. 

Clockwise from left - a nice stretch of path, a nice stretch of river, the field with lots of bonfires

Several fields and a lane later we finally rejoined the river just before our destination, Pinkhill Lock near Farmoor.

Pinkhill Weir and lock

Day3 - Lechlade to Tadpole Bridge, 10.3m

Leaving Lechlade was lovely, we walked along the bank of the Thames in open parkland.

Leaving Lechlade

As we reached the end of the park, a B52 from RAF Fairford flew overhead.

We soon reached St John's lock, a little oasis watched over by old Father Thames who has moved about from Crystal Palace then to Thames Head and finally to St John's lock.  The other excellent provision at locks is water and toilets.

St John's lock

The Thames was a last line of defence in WW2 and a line of pillboxes guarded the north bank,  Fortunately they were never needed as we felt they were rather too far apart.  This part of the Thames is navigable, but although we saw lots of moored boats, there were very few moving. Unlike the past 2 days, we spent the whole day walking along a lovely peaceful river bank.

River views

We did see and meet some interesting people including a canoeist and a group of lady walkers from Wanganui in New Zealand.  We also saw lots of wildlife - the number of swans on the Thames is remarkable, but we heard birdsong rather than traffic noise for most of the way.

River life

We stopped to talk to friendly lock keepers and boat owners.  One man was rebuilding a narrow boat so he and his family could live on it.  He had made friends with a family of swans who came right  up to his boat and could be fed by hand.

Clockwise from top left - Grafton lock, river birds, Radcot Bridge

Our lunch stop was right on the river bank and we were entertained by 2 families of geese.

Rushey weir and lock and (bottom right) the first sighting of Tadpole Bridge

The locks are beautifully kept and little oases along the way.  Some are manned while some are 'do it yourself'' but all are really lovely.  Finally, we arrived at Tadpole Bridge, home to the Trout Inn, where we enjoyed a cool drink by the riverside before setting off back to our cottage.

Day 2 - Cricklade to Lechlade, 10.8m

Parking in Cricklade proved trickier on Sunday than Saturday, so we were round the corner from yesterdays's location and had to rewalk a couple of hundred yards, but we were soon on our way out of Cricklade.  The much needed by-pass is very noisy, so it took a while to get away from the noise.

Cricklade

The first part of the walk through the edge of the town and the parkland was very pleasant, but as we followed the river, the paths became more challenging with uneven surfaces and very narrow gaps between the crops and the river edge vegetation. 

Clockwise from top left - a nice open path, not a nice path, a swan on the Thames, "where's Glynis?" 

We reached the pretty village of Castle Eaton too soon for lunch

Castle Eaton

It was a day for nature, beautiful white and pink hawthorn, damselflies and butterflies and crops, rape seed, barley and wheat.

Clockwise from top left - a damsel fly, a butterfly, nice woodland path, another footbridge

For 5 miles we followed the river, when we were ready for lunch, the path and river parted company and since we wanted to have our first packed lunch on the river bank, we took a short diversion to a road bridge over the Thames.

Thames views, one with lovely pink and white  hawthorn blossom

For most of the afternoon we walked through varied paths including a mile up the edge of the A361.  Regular readers of our blogs will know that we have a 'thing' about photographing unusual items in people's gardens - how about this soldier, keeping an eye on things?

Clockwise from top left - varied paths and "halt; who goes there!"

Finally we rejoined the river just before Lechlade, seeing our first boats on the navigable Thames, and the famous 'halfpenny' bridge at Lechlade - originally a toll bridge charging (you've guessed it) a halfpenny until the locals revolted and the toll was abandoned .

Lechlade

Day 1 - the source to Cricklade, 12.8m

The Thames Path is very different from our previous long distance walks as it is downhill all the way. At 184 miles, it's also quite a it longer!  The weather was very different from the first days of our other walks, it was humid and cloudy rather than sunny, but at least it was fairly warm and it didn't rain.

The source of the Thames and some old folk at the source marker stone

The first challenge is to actually get to the starting point, the official source of the River Thames.  It is at the edge of a field two fields away from the nearest road.  We found a place to park one of our cars about half a mile away, so we began our walk by heading west to the source instead of east towards the Thames Barrier.  We took photos at the marker post and stone obelisk, and set off 'downstream' but the real source where you can actually see a small stream start to emerge is most of the way back to the main road!

Looking back at the source marker stone - and the first sign of the infant Thames

The path is very varied, crossing fields and through woods as it follows the growing steam. It was amazing to see how clear the water was and we were very pleased that there was only one really muddy bit, with notices from the landowner exhorting walkers to stick to the path! Needless to say no-one did including us.

A decaying water pump and the trickle that is the Thames

After about 6 miles the steam goes into Neigh Bridge County Park and a huge network of lakes begins. What we thought was the first of the many lakes turned out to be full of a crop with little blue flowers on - it certainly fooled us from a distance!  If you know what this crop is, do please let us know.

A field of something blue that fooled us from a distance and (inset) the crop close up

We had expected to see more of the lakes, but apart from a few places, for much of the time they are hidden behind hedges.  At first the path follows the Thames, going through, the lakes and Lower Mill estate, with it's award winning holiday homes and on to Ashton Keynes where we stopped for a very nice pub lunch at the White Hart.

Clockwise from top left - the approach into Ashton Keynes, a traffic hazard, and the White Hart 

 After lunch we wove our way through more of the of the lakes, hearing a powerboat engine in the distance.  Eventually we saw a ski boat and water skier through a gap in the trees. We also caught up with an Australian couple who are spending 8 days walking and are hoping to reach Windsor.  By contrast we are expecting to take 12 days!  The Thames however seemed to disappear and the path took us all over the place including through a field full of inquisitive young bulls.

One of many Cotswold Water Park lakes and the top end of Cricklade High St

Eventually Cricklade church came into view and we finally found the river again.  We walked thorough the meadows alongside the river, past a gauging station and a very messy farm until we reached our car which was parked in Cricklade High Street.