Lechlade to Tadpole Bridge, with lunch at The Trout

Cooked breakfast was on offer at the New Inn. As usual when I have no faith in the quality of the sausages, I ordered a bacon sandwich. Rosie had an almost-full English, if only to prove that my judgement of the sausages was correct.  Once again, the best aspect of the hotel was the price.

We were under way in good time and headed back towards and across Ha'penny Bridge and onto the towpath.

We soon reached St John's Lock with its statue of Old Father Thames. This was originally at the Crystal Palace, then moved to the source and ended up here.

The river and towpath meandered a lot in this area and made good sport for some noisy pleasure boaters - to remind us that we were now in the navigable section.

We knew that Kelmscot Manor, William Morris' home for 25 years, was not open to the public, but thought we'd detour to take a look at the outside. Despite the high wall, we could tell that this is a place that's worth a visit for its own sake so we'll be back at some point.

There followed another winding section, by this time somewhat quieter, and we soon reached Radcot, site of one of the oldest bridges on the Thames, a sizeable marina and a nice looking camping and caravan site.

The Swan was close to our route, and we'd been walking quite quickly, so we decided to have a rest and a quick drink. It wasn't quite noon, and the pub wasn't obviously open, but the door was not locked so I went in. The landlord was near the bar who, when I asked him whether they were open yet, replied "The door's open isn't it". Nice to be welcome. However, the beer was good and so was the riverside deck.

Radcot Lock was shortly after the pub and was followed by a long quiet stretch that crossed the river a few times. We reached Tadpole Bridge, where we left the Thames Path and will resume another day.

We'd planned to eat at The Trout, which gets good reviews. The idea was that Rosie would stay at the pub while I walked the mile and half to Bampton to get the car before eating. However, it was around 13:15, and I found out when ordering drinks that they stopped serving food at 14:00. So I chose what I wanted to eat and dashed to the car. Rosie waited until 13:55 before ordering.  I managed to get back before the food was served and noticed that Jon Boden (of Bellowhead and Spiers & Boden) was at the next table with his family. Both my 'pork three ways' and Rosie's duck were very good. I had to drive home, so I can only vouch for one of the beers.

This was a super weekend, helped a lot by the sunny weather. I'd not worn a hat or used suntan lotion on the final day so I returned home to find my face and, especially, the top of my head had suffered. I was also more tanned on my right arm than my left after having walked Eastward for three days.

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Cricklade to Lechlade, with a picnic

It cost extra to have a cooked breakfast at The White Hart, and we hazarded a guess that it might not be of great quality, so we didn't hang around in Cricklade. However, as we expected to pass the only pub on the route at mid-morning, we did  visit the Tesco Express to pick up the wherewithal for a picnic. No local pork pies today!

The first section of the walk followed the widening river closely in typical meadows. It was a very quiet stretch, enlivened by a great deal of birdsong. A while ago, Rosie bought a birdsong CD and has got pretty good at identifying birds. However, we kept hearing a loud and persistent song that she couldn't identify. When we got home, the BBC web site led us to believe that we heard Reed Warblers.

As predicted, we got to the pub at Castle Eaton before 11:00 and used their bench while the locals were setting up their stalls for the 1940's recreation day.

The path wandered away from the river for most of the stretch between Castle Eaton and Upper Inglesham. However, there were nice glimpses of Kempton Church  across the river.

We had our picnic just off a wide path in a lonely stretch - or so we thought. I was resting my eyes after eating, only to be startled by a horse that had been startled to find two picnicers. I was pleased that the rider managed to clam the horse quickly.

The Thames Path managers have yet to negotiate a decent route between Upper Ingelsham and Inglesham, so the official route takes you up the A361. The guide book and lots of signs along the way warn you to geta  bus (on a Sunday - I don't think so!) or a taxi for this mile-long stretch. Although it's noisy and not pleasant, it's not dangerous because there's a path on a grass verge alongside the road. Health And Safety Gone Mad.

We took a  slight and worthwhile detour to the 13th century Ingelsham Church with its box pews, wall paintings and resident swallows, waiting
for the couple with the very large dog to depart before exploring fully.

Back on the riverbank after a while away, we quickly arrived at the junction with the Rover Coln and the Thames and the defunct Severn Canal. This is the point at which The Thames becomes much wider and navigable, and gains a towpath. As we approached Lechlade, we could hear the music festival in full flow, some country-rock to start with and then some indie. It sounded like an interesting day - with fantastic weather. The riverside park was busy with families and a lovely place.

Our expectations of our hotel were not high, so we decided not to hurry there, but to have a quick drink at the busy Riverside pub in the sunshine. The New Inn is on the main road through the town, very close to "Dolci di Lechlade" (I didn't make that up), offering sweets local ice cream. We checked in, dropped our bags and explored the town after picking up very good ice creams. It isn't run down like Cricklade, but it too feels like its in a 1950s time warp. We fancied a coffee, and spotted a tea shop. As it advertises itself  as a 'coffee grinders', it was surprising to be served cups of instant coffee! We upgraded to cafetiere coffee, but it was so tasteless that I think the coffee had been ground at the same time as Rosie's wine from yesterday was opened.

We ate dinner at Pino's Italian, also close to the hotel, and this was just fine, with very friendly service, and retired for an early night listening to the festival from a distance. As we were ready to sleep, the other residents were returning from the bar> The all seemed to take showers when they got back to their rooms. This was very  noisy, which was not surprising when we discovered that the pipes draining the showers ran in a conduit running under our bed. Well - it was cheap.

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Source of The Thames to Cricklade

Our 2012 project to walk the stretch of The Thames from the source to Windsor got carried over to 2013 because of poor weather. We were left with the stretch between the source and Wolvercote, just West of Oxford - over 50 miles. This was too far for even a three-day weekend, so we pulled together a plan to get as far as we could from the source.

Having left planning until we'd seen that the weather would be dry, the logistics were difficult to pull together. This meant having to park at Bampton Recreational Ground (over 1.5 miles North of the river) and get a taxi as close as we could to the source near Kemble. We were dropped at the Thames Head Inn at around 10:15 and had to negotiate a field of cows to get to the source, which was dry but marked with a stone, a signpost and some pebbles on the ground.

As we followed the route of the river, we encountered a few groups of walkers heading towards the source, presumably all having been on the same train to Kemble.  It wasn't long before we came across some water. We followed the river as it skirted Kemble (more cows) and then headed towards and then South of Ewen. We made good progress towards Somerfield Keynes, and decided that time was right for lunch, so diverted towards the Bakers Arms. passing some lovely Cotswold buildings.

What more could you want from a country pub than to have local Gloucestershire pork pie and a pint from a local brewery? Another pint from a different local brewery of course. Well, if I must.

The chips were excellent, but really not needed. More salad and a bit of bread would have been better, with pickle or mustard rather than the salsa-like chutney.

The route back to the path was not in our book, so we followed my nose and emerged very close to a sign for the path. Unfortunately, we didn't see it and headed  away from it for a while before realising our mistake.

The next stage was through a series of gravel pits. It was surprising that the river retained its identity through this area, typically running alongside a narrow path between two big lakes. This took us to the outskirts of Ashton Keynes, where there were signs of a shop. We hadn't brought any 'hiking chocolate' (traditionally Cadbury's Whole Nut), so diverted to pick some up. As it happened, the shop sold local ice cream, which we didn't resist.

More gravel pits followed, and it got sunnier and warmer. We had plenty of time, had had a good lunch and were getting a little tired, so a rest was in order. We found a spot on the edge of Manorbrook Lake, and had a short nap.

The route diverged from the river a little then rejoined it near North Meadow National Nature Reserve. Just before we got there, from one place we heard and then saw a small (wren-sized) and noisy bird that we could not identify. We thought it was a Tree Creeper, but decided against that after reviewing  the books on getting back. From the same spot, we also saw a  Water Vole swimming along the river.

We were soon at Cricklade with weary feet (and blisters in my case). Oh dear - the past few decades have not been kind to this town. The main street has a lot of buildings with peeling paintwork, a closed pub and a set of shops that seem to be in a 1950s time warp. I'd booked the White Hart as it was the only place with availability. It was part of that time warp - a once-handsome building housing a jaded pub with even more jaded rooms.

The outlook for dinner wasn't promising. Only Rosie was hungry, and she chose the Jicsaw Thai restaurant. This was a great choice - tasty food (and a small enough portion for me), at a very good price and with charming service. It's not often that the people in the kitchen call out to wish  you well as you leave.

As live music was advertised in the nearby Legends bar, we decided to have a drink there rather than spend too much time in our room. This was full of locals of all ages, most watching the Champions League final. I ordered a pint of Doombar and Rosie a glass of Pino Grigio. I think this was  2011 PG  - 2011 being the year the bottle was opened. My beer wasn't any better.  What a difference from lunchtime!

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Peak District day 2: The Manifold Valley and Dovedale

After Saturday's scones and jam, we had high expectations of breakfast and most ordered the full English.... We were not disappointed, except perhaps that we didn't all finish the large plates of locally-sourced food put in front of us. When we'd finished, Christine put the fruit salad we hadn't finished into a tupperware box for us and we were given a choice of cake for when we returned.

We headed off to Illam for to do the Dovedale walk I'd originally planned for Saturday. Ilam's an attractive village, but very busy. However, Illam Hall is a National Trust property (used as a Youth Hostel), so we were able to park there. After some consultation, other members of the party found the way to the river that I already knew because I had a new hi-tech device know as an O/S map.

There was a lovely wooded path along the River Manifold through Ilam Park that eventually emerged into more open countryside and climbed up the side of the Manifold valley, this was quite a long climb that eventually reached a large farmhouse. We could see some 4x4s around some rocky outcrops above the farm and assumed that this was a shooting party. As we got closer, it was clear that this was actually a gathering of 4x4s - they were taking turns to drive the steepest sections. There were marshalls (who were even friendly to us townies) and safety wardens and very many more vehicles than we originally saw.

We soon reached the escarpment along the top of the Manifold valley with a lovely views (that would have been improved for a little more sunshine). It was a super walk along here, that then turned into a gentle climb to the highest part of the walk, marked

by an isolated and deserted farmhouse (cue the quips about whether Ocado would deliver).

There was then a longish descent to Wetton where I'd planned a lunch stop at The Royal Oak. We walked into the car park as the church clock struck noon, and the latch of the pub was raised. The food looked great but, after the mammoth breakfast, none of us was hungry enough to eat, but we needed a rest. Some of us were obliged to sample local beers from the Wincle brewery while we listened to (and debated relative the merits of)  Abba's greatest hits.

The post-lunch stretch needed some tricky navigation, by the person who'd drunk most beer, through several fields with indistinct paths and little signage. However, we made it successfully to Stanhope and then soon to the head of Dovedale. By this time, the sun had come out and it would have made good place for a picnic. As expected, Dovedale got busier as we got further down the valley. It was easy to see why- this is a lovely place, with easy paths and with good connections. And it was a Bank Holiday Sunday. We stopped for fruit salad before it got too crowded.

We knew we'd reached non-hiker territory when we reached a rock covered in picnicers, some with pushchairs. Thorpe Cloud, a sizeable limestone hill, came into view after more crowded paths. The stepping stones at the base had a big queue and, at the other side, there was a ambulance. Civilisation had been reached. We soon got the the car park, which was completely full and had a long queue. This was clearly an afternoon to walk to Dovedale, not to drive.

The views back to Dovedale during our walk back to Ilam were spectacular, even with sheep or humans in the way.

We drove back to Bakewell in time to have tea and cake in the garden. A perfect end to a classic walk.

Dinner was a little quieter this evening - we chose Le Mistral based on the menu outside. As it happened, there was a 'two mains and a bottle of house wine' deal. Although the wine was served in smaller measures than the previous evening, fun and good conversation was had.

I wimped out of full breakfast on Monday and successfully assembled a good sausage and tomato sandwich, despite Christine's doubts about whether it was possible with the soft bread. After a stroll and a cup of coffee in the sunshine around Chatsworth, and a visit to their farm shop to buy a excellent chicken and ham pie, we set off home. My attempts to avoid the traffic at Matlock Bath resulted in  us spending an hour to queue to get through Ashbourne.

A super weekend. Where next year?

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Peak District day one: Lathkill Dale

Even though there was no Royal Wedding or Jubilee to avoid, we planned another long weekend away with Alison and David - this time to the Peak District, staying in Bakewell.

We made a 7am start, planning to stop for breakfast around 9. Despite the rain, we made such good progress that the place  I had in mind (where we joined the A38) before its opening time and so had to find somewhere else. There are plenty of places to eat when you don't need one. But not on the A38 apparently. We even pulled into a signposted Little Chef, only to find that it had closed down. In the end, we found a 'transport caff', without much expectation. It turned out to be pretty good and very cheap - my doorstep bacon sandwich was just fine. It even had a Italian-style coffee machine.

I'd planned to do a Dovedale walk, starting at Ilam. However, it had a significant amount of ascent and was around 10 miles, so I was persuaded to postpone that one and find a alternative. I had a Lathkill Dale walk up my sleeve, so the main challenge was refolding the large double-sided map in the back of the car.

We started on 'Long Rake' above Youlgreave, and headed downhill along the Limestone Way in overcast conditions with some drizzle. This cleared gradually, and it was bright by the time we reached Halls Dale. By this time, we'd passed a large number of teenagers, some carrying packs as large as themselves, on a DoE training weekend. We descended steeply into Halls Dale and, rather than turn along it towards Lathkill Dale, we climbed out the other side and through a  farm, then crossed a few fields to join Lathkill Dale at its start.

This stretch of the dale was narrow and enclosed, and seemed significantly warmer than the surrounding fields. There were plenty of Wood Anemones, and a very pleasant path amongst the limestone, but no sign of the river at this stage. This certainly felt like upland Britain.
The dale gradually widened and signs of the river emerged, eventually becoming wide enough to need a bridge. The river is crystal clear, shallow and quite fast flowing. No sooner had I mentioned that we should keep a lookout for Dippers, than we saw one on the opposite bank, along with some grey wagtails.There were lots of Butterbur on the banks too.

Having had a cooked breakfast, we decided to skip the detour to the pub at Over Haddon and press on in the hope of finding a tea shop (mostly for cake) in one of the villages. The botanical highlight of the walk was in the next stage - snakes head frittilaries.

The route crossed to the other bank, and a little further from the river, until we got to Alport, at the confluence of the Lathkill and the Bradford, only to be disappointed that it didn't have a tea shop. Never mind -  Youlgreave was only a short distance along Bradford Dale. It turned out that Youlgreave doesn't have a tea shop either. However, the first of its three pubs advertised afternoon tea, so we gave it a go. The coffee was apparently OK, but I choose beer, which was good. The 'cakes' were of the Happy Shopper brand, very cheap and of the quality you'd expect. Not what we had in mind.

The last stretch of the walk was up a long but well-graded 'quiet lane' (a road on which drivers should expect to encounter walkers and rider), regaining all the height we'd lost at the start of the walk.
It was a short drive from there to Castle Hill Farm House B&B, a charming small cottage run by Christine. Within minutes of arriving, Christine asked us if we'd like tea and scones. As the pope is indeed catholic, we said yes. These were served with jam and cream and were perfect.

Christine recommended The Peacock for dinner. This was lively and very busy. We shared the 'snug' with a couple from Newmarket. Although the drinks on our side of the room were slipping down pretty quickly, the half of the conversation coming from the other side of the room was getting animated and slurred, especially when they found out Rosie is a Norwich girl and we could have an 'accents' discussion. The food at The Peacock was just what we wanted - proper pub food. We all chose pie (three chicken and ham, one steak and ale). Excellent!

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