Oxford to Henley: the week reviewed

Writing a blog on a smartphone after each day's walk was a bit of an innovation for me. It gives the blog a bit more more immediacy, but is also fiddly to do, so I've been back and made some edits to expand/improve on what I wrote at the time.

We have walked about fifty miles, and feel we have achieved something.

We were very lucky with the weather. Although prepared for all weathers, we managed to avoid any rain for the whole six days of walking. The rain began about two hours after we had arrived in Henley, and our train journey back on Friday was in heavy showers. Although I may have grumbled a bit some days, it was never too hot, either.

Most of the walk is by a quiet river, although in June sometimes the vegetation was so high we couldn't actually see it. We saw dragonflies and damselflies in their hundereds, and were bitten by horseflies. There were all sorts of water fowl, and the one surprise was the snake. We were disappointed not to see a kingfisher (where we had seen a few on our 2010 walk from the source to Oxford).

Looking back on the week suggests a few overall preferences:

Best day's walk: Goring to Reading, because of its variety

Best breakfast: Premier Inn

Best lunch:  Barely Mow, Clifton Hampden (good food and ale, and all in cosy and literary ambience)

Best evening meal: George, Dorchester

Best hotel room: George, Dorchester

And now, on to plan the walk down from Henley-on-Thames.

Reading to Henley-on-Thames

Last night we met friends for a meal then stayed at Rainbows Lodge, which met all basic requirements.

Setting off again this morning, we managed to pop into a supermarket on the Path, before it veers away from the built-up area. From now on, we heard less of the trains, although aircraft approaching Heathrow became more noticeable as the day went on.

At Sonning Lock, we found a tea garden not mentioned in our guide book. It is open 11 to 5, April to October, according to a sign outside. We were there as it opened, as were others; it is justifiably popular.

The walk to Shiplake is along the river bank, but tall vegetation meant we couldn't always see the Thames. At Shiplake we lunched at The Baskerville: a good menu and ales, and comfort sitting outside. Also a place to pick up a newspaper across the road.

The path disappointingly leaves the river for a bit here and the grand houses are no substitute. Wearying a little, we pressed on to Henley. We booked in at The Catherine Wheel, relishing the box of clean clothes we had sent on ahead.

This completes this week's expedition: worn out, it's a train back to our car tomorrow.

Goring to Reading

Today's walk had more variety. After a short start along the riverside (with Great Crested Grebe), the path gradually climbs the side of the Chilterns. Although never far away from the river, there's one little down-and-up bit which strayed from the idea of a gentle level walk. Fortunately, the very steepest slope has steps and a handrail installed.

We passed through Whitchurch-on-Thames, chatting to a local gentleman about local history and archaeology. Other places visited had made claims, but Whitchurch, he was confident, goes back even further in time. It turned out that the gentleman we were speaking to was also responsible for having the steps - those we had climbed on that steep slope - installed; they are now named The Hartley Steps in recognition.

Whitchurch Bridge has been taken away and a new one is being built: a substantial temporary footbridge took us across the Thames instead.

After coffee and cake at Food KICK in Pangbourne, we went back to meadow walking, along to Mapledurham Lock.

There is a cafe at the lock, 'Tea on the Thames', which the guide book had said was open 'often' but we weren't sure what that meant, and hadn't been able to find out more - so we hadn't banked on a stop. It really seems to be open pretty much full-time now. We just had an ice cream.

The path then took a wierd winding way round some residential roads, before taking us back to the river. The railway line was never far away all day, and seemed to have a train every few minutes,  but at this point we were immediately below the line for half a mile. Later, the river and path curved away, and we were again back to sounds of nature. This took us on to Reading.

The little villages we have visited had claims to fame. All, it seemed, had featured in Midsomer Murders at some time. and they all had competing claims as to which had the longest history. Reading had no such pretensions: a go-ahead industrial town with much evidence of rebuilding all around.

Dorchester to Goring

Last night, at the George, we had a very good meal, with saute potatoes, in perfect little cubes. I wondered where all the curved edges went. The answer was provided at breakfast: fried potatoes. The place was full, and breakfast was slow. We set off again on an initially overcast, but muggy, morning.

On the way to Wallingford, three or four red kites flow over us, one low enough to see its feathers in detail. Later, we saw common terns, which surprised me this far inland.

There is currently a diversion to the path, between Benson and Wallingford. We knew this from the path website, consulted before we had left home, but even if we hadn't, the diversion was well signposted. Unfortunately, it meant a bit more road walking, a contrast from the riparian peace.

We stopped for a sandwich at The Dolphin in Wallingford, and they decided - as many places do - that we needed chips and a salad with that.

After a longer haul from Wallingford to Moulsford, with the sun now having emerged and actually getting quite warm, we stopped for another little break at The Beetle and Wedge. The river had some lovely views on the way to Streetley and Goring. We were a bit hot and bothered arriving at The John Barleycorn, where are booked to stay.

Abingdon to Dorchester

We had stayed at the Premier Inn in Abingdon: a bit on the wrong side of town for the Thames Path. However, it lived up to the promise of its adverts, and also delivered a cooked-to-order breakfast, very good for a budget hotel chain.

Leaving Abingdon gives a good view of its St Helen's church and river trade district.





The Didcot power station was the elephant in the room today, but I was told yesterday that the cooling towers and largest chimney will come down this July. We ignored it as much as we could while following dragonflies and damselflies, thankfully more numerous than the horseflies.

I'm reading Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat on this walk, so we had to stop for lunch at The Barley Mow in Clifton Hampden, mentioned in - or made famous by - the book. The pub is very nearly on the path, although on a nasty bend in the road, with no footways.

The afternoon was warmer and there was nowhere to hide from the sun as we continued. A snake slithered from view too quickly to be identified as we approached Days Lock.

Dorchester has a small museum which apparently has featured in 'Midsomer Murders' - and claims to be an older settlement than Abingdon! The Abbey is very impressive. We are staying at The George Inn, one of a number of old coaching inns here.

Sandford-on-Thames to Abingdon

We are starting gradually - six miles on the path only for the first full day (but add another two or three to get from and to hotels).

Once we got back to the path at Sandford-on-Thames, traffic noise dissipated, replaced by birdsong - including distant cuckoo calls. The path here is very rural, narrow in places, and hardly a building on the path between Sandford and Abingdon.

Unfortunately, a significant and ugly complex of industrial-style buildings are Radley College Boathouse with ancillary structures which, sadly, spoil the scene for some way around.

By the side of the river approaching Abingdon along here we observed bivalve shells - subsequently though to be of freshwater pearl mussels - deposited here, eaten out by birds or animals.

We arrived at Abingdon in time for Sunday lunch at the Nag's Head on the Thames: a nice roast which came quickly and helped to reinvigorate us.

Abingdon claims to be the longest-occupied town in UK (or maybe just England) and has a historic look and feel. I didn't know that it had been the county town of Berkshire until 1869. The County Hall Museum has just had a big makever, and is a splendid example of what a town museum should be, with - in chronological order - an icthyosaur, a medieval map, a 1600 gallon, and a complete MG Roadster. Also a view all over the town from its roof. There is not as much to see of the Abbey, but apparently a lot of evidence of what was there.

Oxford

We very nearly didn't make it - train problems had us driving instead to Shrewsbury but we managed to get to Oxford as planned, at the time we had meant to arrive.

So then we restarted the walk exactly where we had left off four years ago, welcomed by an outdoor jazz band: a 'Jazz on the Towpath' event run by the local Osney Island community. Once we had passed that, and despite being in the middle of Oxford, the path was quickly quiet.

It was a warm midsummer's day, and after walking past Oxford colleges' boathouses (don't like new University College one), we stopped at the Isis Farmhouse, a riverside pub, for some refreshment.

We left the river at Sandford-on-Thames as we had arranged to stay at the Holiday Inn Express. The walk to the hotel gets abruptly less scenic, and felt longer than we had expected.

The football-stadium-oasis which includes the Holiday Inn Express doesn't allow much choice of eateries. And Frankie and Benny's wasn't designed with the Thames Path walking clientele in mind (it was full of noisy young people), but it provided a reviving meal all the same. The Holiday Inn Express was like all others of the same name.

Getting ready to go again

Starting again from Oxford on Saturday - just testing I can post here from the mobile.

Update

The 2010 walk didn't entirely achieve its objective of getting us leaner and fitter. The food and drink at all the riverside pubs and restaurants was so inviting that - despite the exercise - I probably put on weight over the week! 

Also, David Walliams has put us to shame by swimming the entire river in about the same time as it took us to walk to Oxford.

So, we are going to resume this next month, but perhaps a little more stretching. No rest days, and also try to plan for attractions we want to visit a bit better.

What we did in 2010

As we are now getting ready to continue this walk, here is a long-overdue account of our walk from the source to Oxford in August 2010. It is, necessarily, rather summarised, as we are only now catching up.

We arrived by train at Kemble. Day 1 was a chance to wander up the path (against our policy) to see the source of the Thames. 

The river was totally dry all the way that day. Fortunately the Thames Head Inn was not. We had arranged to stay overnight at the Fleece in Cirencester, and saw the Corinium Museum.

Day 2: Kemble to Cricklade

From Circencester we took a taxi back to the Thames at Kemble and began the walk proper. Gradually, as we walked on, the river bed began to look damp, then a few puddles, and eventually it was flowing water. We lunched at the White Hart in Ashton Keynes, which was lovely - and very quiet that day.

By mid-afternoon, we arrived at our destination, Cricklade, with time enough to look around the village and churchyard. We stayed overnight at the Red Lion, in a very comfortable room just off the courtyard behind the pub.

Day 3: Cricklade to Lechlade

The day started off well enough, but we had planned to stop for lunch at the Red Lion at Castle Eaton and found that we arrived too early for their opening. We decided to press on: it wasn't worth hanging around, especially as it was starting to rain.

As we carried on the rain got worse. It didn't help that the path later just went along the A361, so we were stumping along the grass verges, single file into oncoming traffic and oncoming rain. (The newer version of the guide, published in 2012, advises taking a taxi or bus at this point, but we didn't have that at the time.) As we approached Lechlade, a chap approaching us showed us his catch of crayfish, which cheered us up a little bit.

Our night's accommodation, the New Inn, didn't particularly cheer us up, even after a bath and trying to dry off our wet clothing. We ate out.

Day 4: Lechlade to Kelmscott

This was a relatively short walk, but we had wanted to stay at Kelmscott. This stretch of the Thames is interesting for the frequent second world war pillboxes at regular intervals.

We stayed at the Plough, which we had stayed at once before. They gave us our usual room, the one with the huge four-poster bed. The food was good, and they were also rather wonderful in offering to wash and dry our dirty clothes before we carried on with the walk. We patronised the second-hand book stall at the Inn and admired William Morris's distinctive gravestone. Unfortunately, Kelmscott Manor wasn't open at the time, or we would have gone there.

  

Day 5: Kelmscott to Tadpole Bridge

We had to pause our walk towards Radcot as a family of eleven swans made their way to the water. They then continued alongside us all the way. We stopped to admire the medieval bridge, which underneath looks like a cathedral, and to have lunch at the Swan.

Then it was onwards to Tadpole Bridge to stay at the Trout.

Day 6: "Rest Day"

We had booked for two nights at the Trout, thinking that by now we would need a rest from walking. The trouble was, although the Trout was very nice indeed, there wasn't a great deal to do, it was far from anywhere, and we had no transport. We ended up walking into Bampton for a look around, so it wasn't much of a rest day after all.

Day 7: Tadpole Bridge to Bablock Hythe

Resuming the walk, we observed that day the Oxfordshire had invested in a number of huge, wheelchair-friendly kissing gates. good idea - except that the path between them, in places, was so constrained by vegetation, that you wouldn't fit a chair on the path itself.

We sheltered from a brief shower, but otherwise the weather was fine as we continued to Newbridge. There, the Rose Revived was busy, and didn't seem especially keen on walkers when we stopped to enquire about food.  The Maybush, on the other side of the river, was most welcoming and served us excellent food and beer.

At Bablock Hythe we stayed at the Ferryman. While the food and accommodation was wholly satisfactory, we felt that here, too, walkers were a just a little out of place.

Day 8: Bablock Hythe to Oxford

The last day of this section of the walk was a splendid walk on a sunny day: we were getting used to it now. We did a good long walk in the morning and stopped for lunch at the Perch in Binsey, on the outskirts of Oxford.

Arriving in Oxford, we had booked to stay in greater luxury at the Randolph. As we had been carrying everything with us, we were travelling light but by now a little grubby. We had sensibly arranged to forward a pack of our better and cleaner clothes to await our arrival, and were able to emerge refreshed for dinner.