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.