The Thames Path: day 7

Day 7
Reading - Streatley
18.93km / 11.76 miles (including small detour into Pangbourne)
4:07:49
1,082 calories
Cumulative total: 166.73km / 103.64 miles

 
I knew today was a short day and I decided to be kind to myself, not pushing the pace and stopping a couple of times en route. Even so, with setting off at about 9.45am I was in my hotel by 3.30pm, so plenty of time to put my feet up for three longer days ahead.

I'm now definitely through halfway and also through 100 miles, which seems like quite a lot. According to my planning I have about 145km or 90 miles to go, with six days left, averaging 24km a day more or less. I think this is doable so long as I continue to pace myself!

Today began with a walk up the Reading Amateur Regatta course. Everyone likes Reading Regatta. It's a week before Henley Women's and is a "proper" side-by-side, old-fashioned town regatta with nice medals in nice boxes, decent competition, and good cakes. I've cycled along the towpath yelling at crews a few times and have raced the course even more times, including on one memorable day in 2011 back-to-back. My 'senior' 8 raced our club's 'elite' 8 in the final of two different categories, with the races about 30 minutes apart, so we raced once, beat them, then we both turned around and went back to the start to do it all again with the same result. I also nearly steered our quad into a barge in another, rather less successful year.

I'd been thinking that the path was remarkably litter-free but there were a couple of sad patches of rubbish left lying by the river today near Reading. I should have brought a bag or something to pick odds and ends up: here, there was too much to carry without the knowledge of a bin nearby.

The path took a diversion away from the river at Purley, and then through a quiet residential area, involving a hill. I almost thought I'd missed a sign before a cheerful chap reminded me to look for signs on lampposts and reassured me I was still on the right track. After a bit I was back on a path rather than pavement, and took a short break at Mapledurham Lock - with more boats going through to keep the lock-keeper busy.

A barge at Whitchurch Lock

Pangbourne wasn't too far. I try and get food from independent places if I can, but Costa was the first option in Pangbourne so I had lunch there (sitting INSIDE, my first inside-café experience for four months). Afterwards, I crossed the river again at Whitchurch Bridge, which is a toll bridge originally opened in 1792 (the current bridge is from 1902, renovated in 2014). It costs 60p to drive your car across!

Then the path meandered briefly through the pretty churchyard and up a hill through pretty Whitchurch village, before heading off down a bridleway. At the turning I passed a chap with a rucksack and walking shoes who looked like a seasoned hiker; he caught me up about a kilometre on and we had a nice chat for a bit. He was walking the Seven Shires Way in sections. I've never heard of this walk but it sounds really nice; it's a 234-mile circuit around the border of Oxfordshire. He'd done lots of long-distance walks, usually in sections, so we exchanged thoughts on those until he paused and I carried on. Unforgiveably I failed to get his name, though he asked if I was blogging and I reeled off the blog address. Fellow walker, if you read this, it was lovely to meet you!

The bridleway went up and then finally down to once again meet the river for another mile or so into Goring. My original plan had been to stay at the YHA in Streatley, but it's only opening next week and then only on an exclusive hire basis. So then I tried to book an AirBNB in Goring, but that wasn't successful either. So I tried to book the pub in Streatley, and thought I had done so, until they rang and said they weren't open yet either.

Goring Lock

So after looking for campsites in the vicinity with no luck - there's one in Wallingford, but it's not opening its shower and toilets for another week - I just decided to splash out on the Swan at Streatley. This is a beautiful hotel right on the river, they've ticked all the Covid boxes and the welcome was warm. It's so nice I'm going to splash out further and have a meal in their restaurant (!!!) with its view over Goring Lock for dinner. That should give me the required energy for the six days to come.

The Swan at Streatley

The Thames Path: day 6

Day 6
Hurley - Reading
24.97km / 15.52 miles
5:27:19
1,600 calories
Cumulative total: 147.8km / 91.88 miles

Am I halfway? It feels like I might be. It depends on whether you believe the sign at the start of the trail which says 180 miles, or the bit on the website which says 184 miles. In any case, I'm definitely going to smash through halfway tomorrow, which will also be halfway timewise through the walk. It's downhill from here (although technically it's a very gradual uphill).

I was pretty achy last night and woke up a few times to roll over, but was still less achy this morning. After faffing gently to give my tent time to dry from the condensation it had picked up in the night, I was walking again by about 9.30am. It was a glorious morning in Hurley, the river calm and the skies blue and the path fairly quiet save for a few early dogwalkers. The path hugged the river and then meandered away from it to avoid a conservation area, instead going through a private estate with deer and a gorgeous red brick manor house that must have incredible views.

Yet another amazing house by the river

 It seemed to take no time at all to get to the next landmark I recognised, the Flowerpot Inn in Aston, just downstream of Henley. I've cycled past the Flowerpot a few times and running past it is a good loop when camping for Henley Royal Regatta.

Then it was past Hambleden Lock, where there was some sort of problem as the people in the lock were wondering aloud why they were going up when they should have been going down. All the locks today were busy, with queues of pleasure cruisers and barges waiting to go through them on what was a perfect day for chugging up and down the Thames.

The next 3km or so is a stretch I know well - the Henley Regatta course, and the warm-up area downstream of it. I cycled over to Henley in mid-June on a drizzly Friday that should have been the Friday of Henley Women's Regatta, and it was weird then to see the course lacking the white wooden booms that normally mark the outer edges of the straight 2,112m which takes rowers from the bottom of Temple Island to the Royal Regatta finish near town.

It was still weird today - yesterday and Friday ought to have been Henley Masters Regatta, and in a few weeks it's usually the delightful Henley Town & Visitors' Regatta which is the last you see of any of the Regatta infrastructure before it's removed until the following spring. Instead, the fenced-off grass along the course is bare and glowing green as nobody has walked on it for months.

In Henley I caught up with rowing friends Laura and Jon and their two little girls. We had a snack in the park and the girls fed the ducks before we said goodbye, wishing we could exchange hugs and instead waving before I trudged onwards. Henley was busy with people using the green space towards Marsh Lock, but once over what is a remarkably pretty lock it thinned out again.

 

The path goes away from the river again through Lower Shiplake, a village of large and lovely houses, before rejoining the bank for most of the rest of the day. Between Shiplake and Sonning Lock East there were lots of families enjoying the water, but soon after that it calmed down again and the path was nicely shaded for the most part. Just as well, as I discovered when I stopped for a sit down at Sonning Lock that my water bladder was empty, and there wasn't any way of filling it up again. I ate some Jelly Babies for the sugar rush instead and carried on.

Near Reading there's a large grassy area which was packed with people - more inflatable kayaks and SUPs - and, hallelujah, an ice-cream van, although he didn't have the lollies I craved. I made do with a Flake.

My day on the path ended just shy of 25km at Reading Bridge, and the 1km or so to my hotel felt like forever. There aren't any campsites round here (though one chap asked where I was staying, and I pointed out the lack of the campsites, and he said "not officially", so there must be spots somewhere to successfully wild camp. However, I'd rather not, in a built-up area).

The plus side of a hotel is a bath, so I made use of it, and washed a few clothes, and did a takeaway order from Wagamama, and also discovered I did pack the Deep Heat, which should help along with the two shorter days ahead of me. I am somewhat achy but I think it's all manageable; the sign I saw on the path in Henley today saying "No Going Back" is the mantra. I've come this far!

The Thames Path: day 5

Day 5
Windsor - Hurley
28.68km / 17.82 miles
5:55:57
1,652 calories
Cumulative total: 122.83km / 76.36 miles

So today wasn't quite as far as I thought it was going to be - I must have made a mistake in my route calculation originally. Nevertheless, it was a long old way with my bag at its heaviest: possibly too heavy, although the only luxuries I'm carrying are my tablet computer and a power pack for it in case something work-related comes up over the next week, and for the rowing club AGM on Wednesday. Neither are really that heavy and most of the weight is really food!

However, it was a lovely walk today, with very few boring bits and lots of gorgeous scenery. The river upstream of Windsor is green and blue, running gently down towards London in between the locks where it speeds up. There are plenty of locks and there was plenty of traffic going through the locks today, and plenty of traffic on the bank too on a sunny summer's Saturday. At times, almost too many people, especially between Cookham and Marlow where the banks were busy with walkers and people picnicking, swimming or kayaking. Inflatable stand-up paddleboards and kayaks are definitely the must-have accessory this year.

I made good time to Maidenhead, through the 'Sounding Arch' of the town's railway bridge built by Brunel. Apparently it's a unique bridge due to the width and shape of the arches. I stopped for an hour to have a coffee and catch-up at the home of some rowing friends, Karon and Peter, which was lovely. A mere 4km down the road I got lunch in the gorgeous little village of Cookham and ate it after passing through the old churchyard in the village.

Cookham church

Then it was on along with the hordes to Bourne End, crossing the railway bridge, and along the north bank to Marlow, where I grabbed an ice-cream and checked how far it was to go. I knew the shop in Hurley closed at 5pm and wanted a few extra dinner supplies!

Bourne End

Hurley Lock was the last landmark - originally one of the places I wanted to stay, but closed currently. The non-camping areas were nevertheless packed with people. It would have been a nice place to stay I think.

Instead, I'm at a huge campsite which is almost full. There's lots of space between pitches and people seem to be good about social distancing. That's something that's been varied on the path. A few have gone to exaggerated lengths to squeeze into the vegetation to leave a massive gap between us. Others clearly don't care. One lady was wearing a mask under her nose: literally pointless.

Anyway, my supper is on the stove and then I'm going to have a shower and collapse. Tomorrow it's on to Reading.

The Thames Path: day 4

Day 4
Laleham - Windsor
18.36km / 11.41 miles
3:49:12
1,036 calories
Cumulative total: 94.19km / 58.54 miles

When I originally started planning this walk, today was going to be my long day. However Covid-19 stuck its ugly head in the spokes and derailed things, due to the campsites based at the locks along the river all being closed, and the commercial campsite nearest Windsor also being closed due to M4 widening works on their land (I know, right?).

Instead, today was my shortest day of the walk and rather than staying in a campsite or hotel I'm back at home in Putney. Simply, it was cheaper and simpler to get the 45 minute train home from Windsor than find somewhere to stay in the campsite desert that currently exists in this bit of the walk. In some ways it's good: I have a social thing tonight it'll be nice to go to and it's meant I could wash my clothes and repack my bag a bit,  but it does feel a tad weird.

Anyway, I slept pretty well last night. My genius idea of using my empty bag as a pillow/head support worked wonders and I only woke up a few times in the night for a matter of minutes each time, which for a first night camping for me is excellent. Normally I can't get to sleep and then spend half the night lying awake. When I woke up properly it was raining, so I lay in bed for a bit until it stopped around 8am, and then started getting up.

Packing up camp when the grass and your flysheet is wet is a bit of a faff but I got there in the end, secure in the knowledge I could at least dry my tent this afternoon at home. I was on the path again by about 9.30am, and it was a nice sunny morning. It was a lot less muggy today now the rain has passed over, and occasionally in the breeze I was even slightly chilly.

Another lovely lock house

It was a nice 5km to Staines, and then the path crossed the river and moved back to the south bank. The section to Runnymede was a nice bit of path; it's a shame about the motorway noise which gets louder and louder as you approach the motorway bridges and then dissipates again. After that, there was a lovely section around the corner to Runnymede with gorgeous flat water and green green grass. I paused to look at the statue of Queen Elizabeth II at the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta site.

Unfortunately the next bit is somewhat spoiled by the road running between Old Windsor and Staines, which I've cycled numerous times. It's pretty close to the path and it's busy, so the traffic just kept roaring past. Nevertheless I crossed over to have a look at 'The Jurors', a sculpture of 12 bronze chairs by Hew Locke which stands in the meadow at Runnymede. It's an effective piece of art - each chair represents a key moment in the fight for freedom, apparently. I liked it.

Past Runnymede the path cuts away from the road and along a really nice stretch with some of the nicest houses so far. There was one stunning place in particular, raised up, with several boats moored in front, that I coveted. There were also plenty of dog walkers, and a couple on a barge having a discussion about whether they could step off the barge and on to the bank. The man thought this was possible. The woman disagreed (I was with her, it was a big step).

At Old Windsor Lock I'd done 12km so stopped for a sit down and to watch a beautiful barge go through the lock. When I stood up again everything hurt, which was a touch concerning, although it all loosened up once more after a short while. My main achy bits are actually my hips, as I can't seem to get the waist straps of my rucksack sitting quite right and despite the padding they're digging in a bit. I'm going to fiddle again with it before tomorrow.

You can't walk along the bank on the right, but it looks nice!

Near Datchet you have to cross the river once more, because Windsor Home Park is closed to the public. This bit was my least favourite bit of the day, with a stretch on the pavement by the road and no sight of the river for a couple of kilometres. It was nice when the path became a path once more, and then crossed back across the river with a lovely view of Windsor Castle. I stopped my watch on the bridge to Eton, where I'll start it again in the morning. Tomorrow is the longest day of the walk, with a campsite in Hurley my destination, but hopefully a good sleep in my own bed and the bath I had when I got home will give me the required energy!

The Thames Path: day 3

Day 3
Kingston - Laleham

20.72km / 12.88 miles

4:11:57

1,177 calories

Cumulative total: 75.83km / 47.13 miles

It took a while to get going on day 3. I didn't sleep well for some reason and had a sluggish sort of morning, but finally left home at 11am to get the train back to Kingston and start walking again.

It was another grey day but warm, and I shed my jacket early on. After 30 minutes I had to stop to replace the preventative blister plaster on my right heel; turns out an ordinary plaster held much better through the day.

Much of today was spent having house envy. There are loads of gorgeous houses by the river, with gardens running down to the water and boats moored outside. I could live in all of them! Towards the end of the day I passed Pharaoh's Island, where residents need a boat to get to the mainland. Bliss!

I lunched a little downstream of Molesey and then meandered on, picking a few early blackberries as I walked. There was no consistency with ripeness: some bushes had lots of ripe fruit and others were only just flowering. The ones I tried were a touch sour but still juicy. 

In Walton I paused for a coffee and brownie and it rained reasonably heavily, but it didn't last long and again any rain today has mostly been light drizzle.

At Walton Bridge I crossed to the north bank for the detour through Shepperton. There's a pedestrian ferry which runs from Weybridge, upstream of Walton, and where the path picks up again at Shepperton Lock but when I called this morning to check it was running there was a recorded message telling me it wasn't. When I got to the lock the associated café was actually open and there was a guy hanging around in a life jacket, so maybe my detour wasn't required. However it would have been deeply annoying to have got to the Weybridge side of the ferry to find it not running, so I can live with the decision. 

After that it was a few kilometres more through Chertsey and under the M3 motorway bridge to the Laleham Camping Club, home for the night. My tent was easy to pitch, my stove worked and it's a fairly quiet site apart from the rumble of motorway traffic in the background. Hopefully that will dissipate as the evening draws on.

There's also now some blue sky appearing as I write so I'm optimistic of a nice day tomorrow!

The Thames Path: day 2

Day 2
Putney - Kingston
20.85km / 12.96 miles
4:07:04
1,158 calories 
Cumulative total: 55.11km / 34.25 miles

I was still a bit stiff and creaky when I woke up this morning but day 2 awaited and I hoped that walking would loosen everything up. Luckily, that seemed to be the case and while there's still some stiffness at the end of the day it's not too bad.

For today's walk I was joined by two ladies from the Adventure Queens community - a group established by experienced adventurers Anna McNuff and Emma Frampton to get women outdoors. Maya and Jane are both part of the London section of the AQs; Maya and I have been attending regular virtual book and film club sessions throughout lockdown and it was good to chat in person! Jane met us in Richmond with her friendly labrador Blondie. The company helped make a very familiar bit of river fly by!

Chiswick Bridge

We started off in Putney, past the boathouses and the stretch of the Tideway I know so well. It was lowish tide and calm and there were plenty of scullers enjoying the flat water. It drizzled on and off as we kept on upstream, past Kew Bridge and Kew Gardens. I'd forgotten how long Syon Reach is - the long straight betweeen Brentford and the corner where the Pink Lodge stands. The Pink Lodge is the furthest you would normally ever row from Putney, about 11km upstream, and it's a little pink house right on the bank.

Around the corner stands Richmond Lock, and then Richmond. Every time I go to Richmond I wonder why I don't go there more often, it's such a pretty town (and my favoured place for a Sunday roast in normal times). Today, it was quiet in the mizzle and Maya and I stopped under a tree to have our lunch and wait for Jane.

With two new companions the 8km to Kingston positively flew by as we talked adventure and fitness, Life, the Universe and Everything. Before we knew it Jane was turning around to go back to her car, and Maya and I walked the last little bit to Kingston bridge and then parted at the station.

My feet are a bit blistered but no worse today than yesterday and judicious application of tape and plasters should get me through these first days while they toughen up (I hope). Tomorrow, I'm carrying my big bag and my camping stuff and giving my new tent its first outing. My main concern is getting my camping stove lit as the lighter I bought doesn't seem to want to light very easily. Ho hum. Wish me luck!

At the end of the day!

Walking the Thames Path: day 1

Day 1
Woolwich Arsenal - Putney
34.26km / 21.29 miles
6:28:43
1,556 calories

 

The river Thames has been a key part of my life for over 20 years now - since I went to university and first stepped into a rowing boat, on the Thames in Oxford. In Oxford the Thames is known as the Isis, derived from the old name for England's longest river, Tamesis.

Over my university years I got to know the Isis, and the Thames at Wallingford where we also trained, well. When I moved to London I joined Thames Rowing Club in Putney, and since then the stretch from Putney to Chiswick is my stomping ground, part of the tidal Thames known as the Tideway.

I can tell you where every shoal is on that seven-kilometre stretch, can warn you about the trees that overhang the bank at high tide, where the stream is fastest, and how to safely navigate in a rowing boat. And I've walked or run the banks of the Thames between about Tower Bridge and Richmond quite a bit.

But I don't know much of the rest of the river, and for a while now I've been wanting to walk the Thames Path. The official national trail runs 184 miles along the banks of the river, between the source in Gloucestershire and the Thames Barrier. Obviously you can do it in chunks, but I thought it would be nice to do it in one sustained go, if possible. This year, the stars have aligned: I have neither much work nor much rowing tying me down, and after a bit of admin I managed to find campsites and accommodation post-lockdown to make this work.

The view from Woolwich Arsenal Pier

So today, I set off. I used a cycle hire bike to get to Battersea Power Station, where I picked up the Thames Clipper riverboat service all the way to Woolwich Arsenal, actually a couple of km downstream of the official trail start. It was a lovely sunny morning, perfect for sitting on the back of the boat, but it clouded over somewhat as I started walking back towards Putney.

At the Thames Barrier there's a tunnel with the river profile engraved on the wall. The river climbs less than 100 metres in total, so at least this is going to be a flat walk!

Thames Barrier

I was quite glad I'd chosen to walk upstream rather than downstream; much of the first stretch is industrial and a bit dusty and grubby. However it was still interesting looking at the types of industry going on. Did you know there's a British Awning Company, dedicated to making awning? Towards Greenwich there's a really attractive residential area, and then the path goes around the O2 arena and past the Naval College. Greenwich at this time of year should be buzzing with tourists and it was a bit weird to see it relatively quiet.

I thought about stopping for a coffee but decided to forge on towards Deptford, where the path temporarily leaves the river for a bit. Throughout this whole section Canary Wharf looms on the other bank - the bends in the river mean you see it from all angles for a long, long time.

Panorama from Deptford Strand

On 'Deptford Strand' I stopped for lunch and put a blister plaster on my left heel, before setting off again. This bit of the path starts to become less industrial and more scenic. It passes over a couple of locks - in use, and not - and the little marina at Greenland Dock where some guys were fishing. Curving round the Rotherhithe peninsula there are plenty of reminders of the history of the path, such as a statue to the pilgrims who left aboard the Mayflower for America from Rotherhithe (via Plymouth). I passed the Mayflower pub, where friends and I had had an excellent Sunday lunch before Christmas, and was well through halfway and on to territory I'd walked before.

Like Greenwich, the whole section of the path from Tower Bridge to the Southbank is usually heaving in July (and quite unpleasant, to be honest, with just too many people). Today, it was easy walking with plenty of space to distance and for cyclists to pass.

At Borough Market there were loos (hurrah), excellent coffee from Monmouth Coffee, and an excellent doughnut from Bread Ahead. Not all the stalls were open but quite a few were. At Monmouth, a man was having a lively argument with the manager over the fact he only had cash to pay with; like most other shops at the moment they weren't taking cash. I'm not sure how they were going to resolve the issue.

DOUGHNUT

The sugar rush gave me a temporary spring which took me down the Southbank and my favourite view of the City (seriously, it never gets old). At Lambeth Bridge I crossed to the north bank, because if you stay on the south side of the river you have to cut away to get around the M16 building and then Battersea Power Station later on. At Vauxhall, a guy sitting outside a cafe asked if I was walking the Thames Path - apparently I looked like a rambler! He recommended doing the Capital Ring, which is a 78 mile / 126km route around the city - one I would quite fancy at some point to be honest.

On I went, my feet and legs getting steadily more tired and, it turned out, a blister developing on one of my right toes. I passed through Battersea Park, busy with joggers and people looking at the pagoda in the middle, and past Albert Bridge, which always reminds me of a wedding cake in its pale pink paint.

Battersea Park: nearly there. Sort of.

I'm not sure if it helped knowing how far there was to go, or not, but it was good to see Wandsworth Bridge appear in the distance and then see the 1 mile to Putney Bridge sign. I stopped my watch at 34.3km, with barely any battery left.

It was a long day and my legs are tired, but I've only got one more day as long ahead of me so the other days should be easier. Tomorrow is Putney to Kingston, another bit of river I know well, and then I start heading into less familiar territory!