Thames Path 3.5

Our group expands – lunch at an hostelry – clear skies – our group contracts – homeward

Our third jaunt along the Thames Path ended at Newbridge, less than 5 miles from home. I had been thinking for a while that it would be nice to involve more members of the family in one of our expeditions, and the “home” stretch seemed an obvious choice. However, some of those family members being quite small, it seemed best not to plan a very long walk and so we decided to take various partners, siblings and children with us for the 3.7 mile walk from Newbridge round to Bablock Hythe.

It was a clear, sunny December day, and although we did hit some serious muddy patches the path was mostly firm through fields along the riverbank.

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By the half way point, at Northmoor Lock, the kids were quickly flagging so we summoned a lift from JTA and left them in Dan’s care. This turned out to be not-straightforward – the road to Northmoor belongs to a campsite and is kept locked in the off-season, so Dan ended up having to wrangle two tired children up a hill to a place where they could actually meet their ride.

Robin and I, accompanied by our brother Owen, carried on as the daylight waned, eventually reaching Bablock Hythe around sunset. At this point JTA was still trying to find a way to reach the other half of our group on the other side of the river, and it seemed churlish to add another pickup to his schedule so we decided to walk the extra two miles or so back to the house.

As it turns out the Thames Path turns inland for a short while at Bablock and comes almost into the village of Stanton Harcourt, adjoining our home in Sutton, so in fact we were able to cover more of the path as we made our way back through the twilight, eventually leaving it behind and turning up Steady’s Lane and back onto familiar ground. Christmas lights were up all over the village, adding an extra twinkly welcome as we made our way home in the dark.

Locations	Newbridge -> Bablock Hythe (and Sutton)
Time	4 hours
Distance	4.1 miles (+ 2 miles)
Cumulative Distance	43.5 miles