Oxford to Culham on the Thames Path, with a good deed

With a gig on Saturday night, and a forecast for a hot and humid weekend, an early start on Saturday was the best time for our walk. There are only two trains from Culham to Oxford on Saturday mornings - at 7:56 and 10:01 so we chose the earlier one to walk as much as we could before it got too hot. This meant we had to leave the house at around 7:00, but also meant that we were walking out of Oxford station at around 8:15.

As we got to The Thames, it became clear that an event was about to start - this initially seemed to be a 'bicycling with a megaphone' gathering, but turned out to be Oxford Royal Regatta. Even at this early time, the towpath was busy with runners and walkers as well as people wearing blazers connected to the regatta.

As we approached the finishing line of the regatta course, the towpath widened in front of one of the many boathouses. A teenage girl was cycling towards us when she suddenly flew over the handlebars as the bike stopped abruptly. We rushed over to help and untangled her from her bike. It was clear that the incident had happened because she had her handbag dangling from her handlebars, and it had caught in her front wheel.

She was clearly in a bad way, and  told us that her wrist hurt badly. We were soon joined by an official from the regatta who'd seen the incident from the balcony of the boathouse. We helped the girl into the shade while he summoned the regatta's first aid launch. As we waited for this to arrive, the girl (who we learned was called Myna) was getting more dazed, so Rosie sat with Myna's head on her shoulder and did a great job of comforting her as the official called an ambulance. Before long, she'd lost consciousness so we were relieved when the regatta nurse arrive and took over. There were a lot of people around by that time, so we didn't wait around for the the ambulance crew to arrive, even though that would have been quite a spectacle  because there is no road access to the boathouse, so a stretcher trolley would have been wheeled quite a distance along the towpath. We hope that Myna is recovering well, and doesn't dangle her handbag from her handlebars again.

There was a  short stretch more of 'city' river, but few views of the famous spires. The path remained busy until we got to Iffley lock - although this has a'portage' route for rowers, it was clear that few ventured downstream. The path as heading South  at this point, and it was warming up - certainly shorts, sun hat and sunglasses weather for me, with regular drinks stops.

We had a detour near Sandford Lock in order to avoid a bull that was taking a very close interest in the groups of cows on the main path. There were no further building on the river until Radley boathouse - a boater close to the house told us about a very welcome drinking-water fountain.

The path turned West towards Abingdon, with lovely scenery. Rather than following the river, we decided to head into Abingdon, and ended up eating out lunch in the park, where there were fountains for young children to play in, and a pool for the older ones. Both were probably having their busiest day of the year! We'd not been to Abingdon before, and we left with impressions of a pleasant market town.

It didn't take us long to do the few miles from Abingdon to Culham Lock, where we'd left the path on our previous visit. However, we were still 1.5 hot miles on the road from Culham Station. As it happened, we passed a pub so stopped for refreshments and a rest before the final slog along the busy road.

View Oxford To Culham in a larger map

Dorchester, Culham and Wittenham Clumps

We both had arranged not to be working this Friday so we would have the option to do a multi-day walk along The Thames. Although the weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday was poor, Friday's looked OK, with just some light showers. So Rosie quickly worked out a circular walk along The Thames from Dorchester to Abingdon, and then back via Wittenham Clumps.

We parked at the bridge in Dorchester and crossed to the South bank at Day's Lock, where we'd  left the path a couple of weeks ago. The first stretch was a big loop, alongside a typical water meadow, and opposite some very nice houses. There were hardly any other walkers around,  and we made very good progress and crossed to the North bank at Clifton Hampden too early to stop at the pub for lunch.

As we approached Culham, the path got very muddy and slippery, and sloped in random directions. We picked our way carefully as it passed through patches of nettles but, in my case, not carefully enough - I slipped over and ended on my bottom with my elbow in a nettle patch and my knee covered in mud.

Rosie realised when we got to Culham Lock that we'd walked around 7 miles already and her planned walk would be a lot longer than she'd thought, so she worked out an alternative route back, again via Wittenham Clumps. Google Maps showed three pubs in Sutton Courtenay, all with good reviews. Our route took us past The Fish, which is not a pub at all, but a small French restaurant that had a 'two courses for £13.50' menu. It didn't take long for us to change our dinner plans. Luckily they didn't mind my muddy knees or our boots.

Ordering was interesting. The staff were all French. Our waitress had almost no English (you'd think any waitress in England would understand 'we are ready to order our food').  Perhaps because the menu was in English, we didn't think to switch to French ourselves. It would certainly have been quicker. There was a notice asking that customers inform the staff if they were in a hurry. We weren't  and we didn't. The food was simple and lovely. We hope to return, probably better dressed.

The return leg started through a series of gravel pits, with a clear view of Didcot Power Station. The path then had an official diversion away from the gravel pits and along an unwelcome stretch of road to Appleford. At this point we were close to the river again, but headed Southish en route to Wittenham  Clumps, a couple of distinctively shaped small hills, topped by beech plantings. One of them was the site of an Iron Age hill fort. It was a steep climb to the top, but a great view when we got there. After having walked around 15 miles, we were both pleased that it was downhill all the way back to Dorchester. We were too late and too full to visit the super coffee shop on the main street.

View 14 Bridge End in a larger map

Foxton Locks

We'd arranged for Stuart and Martin to visit Alton Towers on Saturday as the first part of Stuart's birthday celebrations, and we were joining them in Nottingham for the second part on Sunday. As we were travelling up on Saturday, we found a walk in Leicestershire in a  old walk book.

The walk started and finished at Foxton Locks, a spectacular series of ten locks at a T-junction on the Leicester Arm of the Grand Union canal. It was a lovely sunny day, and it was great to see lots of people enjoying the industrial heritage. The locks were completed in 1814, and take about an hour to ascend or descend. There's also an Inclined Plane, on which counter-balanced boats were hauled in tanks between the two levels and was much quicker. This was built in 1900, but only operated until 1911 because it was not cost-effective.

After a sandwich and a drink  at the Foxton Locks Inn at the bottom of the locks and right on the T-junction, we headed off cross country to Gumley, which looked like a nice village and then to Saddington Reservoir that was built to support the canal. That part of route was on one of several 'gated roads' in the area. We passed a cricket pitch with a game in progress. One of the gated roads passed across the pitch, not far from the square. There was a sign asking drivers to wait for the umpire to signal the end of an over before crossing.

The instructions for the next section of the walk weren't very clear, and we didn't have an OS map, but we eventually found our way between a stream and the raised feeder channel for the canal to the wonderfully named Smeeton Westerby, another pleasant looking village. The route from there  to the Debdale Wharf canal was easy, but not as easy as following towpath back to the locks.

A lovely walk, and well worth the detour.

View Foxton Locks in a larger map

Summer at last - Goring to Dorchester on The Thames Path

Having done the Goring to Reading stretch of The Thames Path a couple of weeks ago, we were keen to have the weather to do another stretch. That weather duly arrived this weekend, so we packed a picnic, drove to Dorchester, left the car there and took a pre-arranged taxi to Goring.

There are established paths on both sides of the river North of Goring. We chose the West side because it skirted the river more.  Apart from a short detour onto the A329 around Moulsford, the path between Goring and Wallingford was mostly on typical Thameside meadows, looking out over some lovely properties on the other bank. Even though the schools had broken up, there were fewer boats than South of Goring, and fewer walkers.

We ate our picnic just South of Wallingford. I was pleased that we came across a pub in the town, but less pleased when I tasted the beer. I suggest real ale drinkers avoid The Boathouse.

The path crossed to the East bank at Benson lock for more meadows en route to Shillingford. After another short road stretch, Dorchester Abbey came into view. However, we and decided to walk to Day's Lock' so this meant a loop around the church back to the car.

The weather had been lovely - 25c or so. Having walked around 13 miles, we felt that an ice cream was in order, so we changed out of our boots and headed into the village. Having passed a couple of unpromising looking hotels, we'd almost given up. However, at the other end of the village is a lovely independent coffee shop that served great sundaes and proper coffee. Perfect. It's a shame that I didn't notice the name so I could recommend it properly.

View Thames Path - Goring to Dorchester in a larger map

Under Constable skies

We spent Saturday evening at a party at Fran and Martin's near Bury St Edmunds, and enjoyed the live music from Wytchazle in the marquee on the lawn. We stayed at the nearby Six Bells at Bardwell - this was comfy enough and passed my sausage test at breakfast.

As the forecast was fine, we'd dug out all the 'walking' supplements from the newspaper that we've saved over the years and never used before, and chose a walk in 'Constable Country' around the River Stour. However, we didn't have the relevant Ordnance Survey map, so stopped at two garages and a large Tescos and wandered around Dedham trying and failing to buy it. We therefore started our walk without a proper map and relied on the instructions from the supplement.

The first part of the walk was easy along a lovely stretch of the Stour, under just the type of sky that Constable captured in the famous paintings. We crossed the river at Flatford, visited the Constable exhibition in Bridge Cottage and then were able to buy the elusive map in the National Trust shop.

We'd left the camera at home, and my current phone was out of action, so I had my old Windows phone with me and used that for the compulsory photos of Flatford Mill and Wally Lot's Cottage. There was even a sheep shearing demonstration nearby demanding to be snapped.

The rest of the walk was harder to follow, so it was great to have a map. After a short exploration of the river towards Manningtree, we followed the Stour Valley Way and then  had to scale the great (for Suffolk) height of 100ft. We managed without oxygen. The route back to Dedham had lovely views over the valley.

As this might have been the full extent of the English summer, it seemed appropriate to have an ice cream at the cafe by the river.

View Dedham Vale in a larger map

The Thames Path: Goring to Reading

With no commitments this weekend, and a decent weather forecast, it seemed like a good time to decide upon and start our summer walking project. As we'd bought a guide to The Thames Path in around 1985, it was an obvious choice,especially as we were able to do the first stage using the train.

As Sunday had the better forecast, we got our chores done on Saturday (if making two batches of ice cream counts as a chore), and walked on Sunday. Saturday turned out to be a nice day, and I woke to a cloudless sky on Sunday. It was getting cloudier as we drove towards Reading, and that was to set the pattern for the walk.

We parked in the station multi-storey, took the train to Goring and, after an eventually-successful hunt for a ladies loo, set off along the river. The path followed the North bank closely for a few miles before rising slightly into Hartslock Wood and then heading away from the river towards the toll bridge at Whitchurch.


We'd had a few short showers that had caused us to don our cagoules, but it wasn't raining when we reached the benches at Pangbourne Meadows, so we stopped for an excellent, but pork pie free, picnic.

We were now on the South bank, and continued to Mapledurham lock for a tantalising glimpse of the watermill (site of several happy days when the boys were young). The next strecth was not very attractiive - the path turns inland to Purley and along the A329 for a short while before crossing under the railway just north of Tilehurst station to continue between the railway and the river.

Rosie was in need of a rest as we got into the outskirts of Reading, so we stopped at the first bench we came across. We didn't stop long after we noticed that that was 'can of strong cider and dog on a string' territory.

The final stretch was through the old Reading Festival site. There were fewer supermarket trolleys in the river than there would had been in those days.

View The Thames Path: Goring to Reading in a larger map

Holmer Green and Shardeloes

It seemed that Saturday morning would have the best weather of the weekend so, after a brief visit to the Ted Baker section in the House of Fraser, we set off for Little Missenden to start our walk.

Rosie's route took us through the village and up to Holmer Green and then generally eastwards. We had several options for the route down towards the Misbourne and, because we were making good progress, we took the longest. This took us down to Shardeloes Lake. The HS2 plans have a tunnel going under here and, apparently, there's a worry that this will the acquifer. The return route was along the Misbourne Valley.


As we'd parked outside The Crown, it as rather too convenient to pop in for a pint and a sandwich.

View Holmer Green and Shardeloes in a larger map