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.

View Lechlade To Bampton in a larger map

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.

View Cricklade To Lechlade in a larger map

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!

View Source of The Thames to Cricklade full in a larger map

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