The Thames Path: day 13

Day 13

Castle Eaton - the Source

27.85km / 17.31 miles (including a few small getting lost diversions, not including campsite to path or Source to Kemble)

6:08:54

1,609 calories 

Total distance: 300.36km / 186.65 miles

Ow. 

Everything hurts. I have finished and I think euphoria and pride will follow, but for now, mostly everything hurts.

It rained heavily overnight and the tree next to my tent sent loud drops on to it throughout the night, so I didn't sleep amazingly well. I was up promptly, knowing I had a long way to go and wanting an early start. It's a shame the campsite doesn't have a little footbridge over the river, because I walked 30 minutes and was basically back where I started only on the other bank! 

Because it had rained, and the path was fairly overgrown with grass, my boots were soon wet and it soaked through eventually to my socks, which may not have helped blisters later. However it was a lovely morning now the rain had stopped, and it was nice walking by the river - still just wide enough for a kayak to paddle, but only just.

I was in Cricklade before I knew it. Cricklade was pretty, although largely closed, so I grabbed some lunch from Tesco and carried on. In fact I felt so good that I kept going until I'd done 15k, over halfway for the day. 

At one point the signage got confusing and I went straight on instead of right; luckily I met a couple with an OS map (also lost) and that combined with GPS location on my phone helped work out that I had to go back. 

Later there was a missing sign and I spent five minutes trying to work out where to go, but after that all was great for a while as the path headed through the Cotswold Water Park, a massive area of lakes and reservoirs that are used for recreation as far as I can see.

The playing fields near Ashton Keynes had some convenient picnic benches, so I stopped, ate and assessed progress. I knew there was a train at 3.47pm which I could conceivably have caught if I'd kept up the morning's pace, but it would have been a struggle. Instead I decided not to rush, and slowed down a bit.

Just as well, because increasingly tired legs and a couple more route deviations meant I ultimately didn't reach the Source until 4! The path followed the river for some time, through a lovely shaded woody bit. Then there was a bit by a road, and more water park, before returning to fields. Just before Ewen the river ran out and became a gravelly, empty bed.

Seeing the sign that said it was only 1 1/4 miles to the Source was great, but those last couple of kilometres hurt most. It was tough going through fields, and badly signposted. Luckily Google maps came to the rescue and eventually there I was, at a fairly non-descript stone in a field. 

I did the selfie thing then hobbled back to Kemble, with time for a beer before the train currently whisking me home in under two hours. 

It's been epic.

Everything hurts.