thames path

ahhh.  part 20 of the thames path was a short one

i had the day off yesterday so we could go thames pathing with jane’s sister’s family whilst they were visiting.

we picked up where we left off last time at tescos in reading before
heading over a hideous bridge where some alcoholics were enjoying the
location where the kennet canal meets the river thames.

 if we’d turned off here we would have ended up in bath rather than london.

this swan was interested in jane’s dad’s photography technique (and creeped up on him whilst he was looking the other way, leading to some good expressions from the people he was photoing – a top tip i shall not be using myself)

then we passed reading’s glorious gasometers

of course there was the usual selection of geocaches to find and those over 5 years old did a slight detour to find one

there was another angry swan

which the youngsters made the most of

we soon got to sonning lock which was the end of the episode, but not before we stopped and watched a boat coming through the lock

we were incredibly lucky with the weather which made for a great walk.

this well dressed bald man suddenly stopped in front of me when i was taking my final thames path picture.  so i thought i’d include him anyway

due to the shortness of the walk and early start we didn’t end up at a pub (again) so instead we went back to our house where all 12 of us sat round our maximally extended table.  (the 12th person was in a high chair just out of shot plate-counters!)

it was back to the thames path yesteday for another glorious day of walking.  this stretch was a lot more urban than we’ve had previously and we saw a lot more ‘real life’

this is a pub under development, and the returned to the thames at the bottom of some steep steps which go over a train line.  this certainly wasn’t the quietest of stretches

much of the first bit was walking between the train line (high above) and the thames below

and we were quickly introduced to the fact we were heading to reading

we were attacked by ladybirds round about here

much of the walk went alongside the fields which are used for the Reading Festival, and it was funny seeing it tentless

there sign said it’s 58 miles to london which is encouraging

i can’t quite remember the order of these photos, but we passed some fantastic houses on the other side of the river

and walked along the delightfully named ‘thames side promenade’

it was good to know the thames path is a public footpath

more signage

we’ve got this glamorous gasometer to see next time

but for now we stopped at Tesco Extra with it’s convenient toilets

it was back to the thames path yesterday for the latest thrilling instalment of our Thames Path walk.  we did quite a long stretch which involved some steepish hill climbs for once.

there were some amazing riverside buildings, many with strange features like this airborne conservatory

there were also a lot more trains in the background as one of the UK’s main train lines goes whizzing parallel with the thames for a bit

at one point we climbed up a steep hill to find a geocache and had our picnic looking at this amazing view

the weather was quite amazing, and with the trees still in leaf we kept getting these fantastic windows through to the river

i think this was the view from whitchurch toll bridge

and here’s most of the team (except esther and me)

and although we didn’t end at a pub this time, we did have an icecream at the lock shop

so, can there really only be 78.5 miles to go to the end ?

the next bit of the path leaves the river for a bit and does a fair stretch on the road i think which is a bit of a shame.

so there you go.

things haven’t gone great with the upgrade, so lots of things aren’t working. oh well. i’ve spent 12 hours solid sitting in front of my computer trying to fix it, and it’s time for bed !
(apologies – still upgrading. things going particularly badly. things are gonna look weird for a while i think)

another day another thames path walk

more geocaching (three passed, three found)

more didcot power station

plenty more walking

even more didcot power station

more gorgeous scenery (this one spotted by kezia who asked me to take the photo

more pollution (and cheap boating gloves)

more lovely bridges

and more upmarket pill boxes

more pooh stick bridges (in fact this is home to an annual pooh stick competition which happens every year)

and plenty of lovely churches (although this didn’t have any decent hassocks)

back to work today. humph.

it’s a funkypancake 3d wobble landscape picture.

it’s half term week so i’ve taken two days off work so we can crack on with the thames path.

we picked up back where we started off in lower radley, this time heading for culham lock

i liked this stretch as there was lots of variety of countryside – woods, open farmland, a town (abbingdon shown above), posh houses on the side of river … and geocaching opportunities

it was also nice to see didcot power station on the horizon for much of the walk. i love it’s dramaticness and electricitynes.

usual signposts along the route so we didn’t get lost.

we were joined by Mike and BR this time too which made our party to 8. here are some signs.

kezia befriended some snails about half way round so carried them the rest of the way. she liked their wigglyness.

ooh. another sign.

we’re back to the path tomorrow to pick up where we left off.

after a few months off due to the bad weather (this sign warns of flooding making walking dangerous), we were back on the path. it was just me and the ladies this time as jane’s dad was ill, so i had no one to talk about computers to.

we picked up the walk where we left off in May back at iffley. a lovely little village south of Oxford.

a key feature of this section of the walk was the electricity pilons

and the fishermen


the main lock interest was Sandford Lock which has the greatest fall of water on the Thames (and an attractive pub, but alas we didn’t stop)

it was a fairly short, but worthy stretch. weather nice and warm, and no moaning from kezia

i’ve booked a couple of days off work in October to do some more thames path walking, so hopefully we’ll get the momentum going, although i think we’re over a quarter of the way along now.

back to the thames path for a very pleasant walk despite the weather forecast predicting a wetting.

starting as we left off last time back at the trout inn

this map is a good representation of our route. nice to know it’s a healthy thing to do.

we had a few months off the thames path over winter as we thought it was probably too wet and we risked dropping in (as the thames and the thames path merged). seems that might have been sensible.

the walk is now getting busier, especially as we went through oxford. we played the game of saying hello to everyone we passed to see whether we could get hellos back. our hit rate was quite low.

outside oxford there are loads of boat sheds

and there was some boating competition going on with some bangladeshy media interest.

here are a winning team bailing out

and roughly 10km from our start we ended up at iffley church where we’d parked our car.

we always have a nice game of pooh  sticks on our thames path walk.  this time it was even more fun as we had extra players, as BR and Mike (jane’s mum’s cousin and husband) joined us on the walk.

this is the lovely swinford bridge which is a toll bridge (cost 5pence and the owners don’t pay tax due to a deal with King George III !)
anyway, we were back to the thames path yesterday and this stretch was the 8 miles between bablock hythe to godstow. we came across this sign at the point where we thought we were halfway (but obviously weren’t!)

here are jane’s parents and the others behind

thames and associated path

here’s kezia and a popped dora the explorer balloon i found in a ditch (!)

here’s the A34 from underneath (not quite as attracted as swinford bridge)

and here’s the thames again

and this is where we ended up

it’s been a few months since we walked any of the thames path, mostly because of the madness of the wet winter meant it probably wouldn’t have been safe. on saturday we headed back to newbridge to pick up the path where we left it last October

usual suspects outside the pub (which we went back to at the end for cheesy chips)

here’s a footbridge over the thames where there used to be a weird

and here’s the thames looking nice

and here we are at the finish – ferryman’s point at Bablock Hythe

this was a relatively short stretch – about 4 miles – but kezia managed to walk all of it herself without being carried or dragged (or moaning)

we were meant to be going on a thames path walk yesterday but i was in my sick bed and the weather was rubbish (not that that’s stopped us before). i apologise to my fellow walkers for ruining the day with my malady.

(from the time before last)

it was back to the Thames Path yesterday for the next installment of the Thames Path walk.
We started back where we left off last time – at the fantastically named Tadpole Bridge.

It’s always adverse weather when we walk the thames path and this time there was flooding. this part of the path was inaccessible so we had to climb through a jungle (well, little wood).

But there were lots of bits of the walk where we slide sideways on slimey mud as much as we walked forward.

after a few hours we arrived at Newbridge. Despite its name, Newbridge is in fact 13th century.

yesterday we had a very successful walk along the Thames Path from kelmscott to tadpole bridge. it was probable around 7 or 8 miles i think and kezia managed to walk nearly all of it (and esther did it all). progress indeed.

Parts of the Radcot Bridge date back to the 12th century bridge making it the oldest bridge on the thames

Rushey Weir is a ‘rare example of an old Thames paddle-and-rymer weir

basically you ram these paddles down in to the weir to stop the water (and vice-versa)

tadpole bridge

our destination for the walk was an idilic looking pub at tadpole bridge, but it was shut when we got there. which left a bad taste in our mouths. or at least a dry taste.