After 18 months, I finally took the hint that my walking partner has moved on (I’m not bitter) and replaced him. With somebody reliable, who will walk with me whenever I want and enjoy it too.
A visit from my Dad, who looks down on almost everything I enjoy doing except walking, seemed like a good time to resume my Thames Path adventure.
So on a Sunday in late August 2024 I took Tom, his partner Judith, my partner Dan and my new best walking pal Demmy to resume where I’d left off in 2022, at Sandford Lock. We took the opportunity to swing by Proof Social, a brilliant new bakery which has opened in Kennington, to grab some giant but delicious pastries. It was worth the queues, although Demmy didn’t think so (she didn’t get a pastry).
For the first stretch of the walk, the bank was so overgrown with late summer foliage that we couldn’t actually see the river. It was very pleasant anyway though.
We were only a few miles from Oxford, in the more easily navigable direction, and we saw quite a few boats on this stretch on this last bank holiday weekend of the summer. Big plastic boats full of upper-crusters sipping fizz, solid narrowboats chugging placidly along, flocks of kayaks fighting the headwind, and one 2-person trip boat with about 10 drunken lads hanging off the outside playing loud music. The river is for everyone!
As we approached Radley, we emerged from the tunnel of greenery into open meadows and the view I’d become familiar with from higher up the river. This side of Oxford the Thames is noticeably wider, though, and would be quite intimidating to tackle without a bridge. It’s no huge surprise that round here almost every bridge turns into a large settlement – after Oxford, there are no more crossings until Abingdon1Well, ok, there’s one non-pedestrian rail bridge but I don’t think that disproves my point….
The next noticeable milestone is Radley College Boathouse. As befits a giant public school that owns loads of land hereabouts, it’s not exactly discreet.
We were glad of the benches though – Tom and Judith and I sat and ate our pastries, while Dan wandered about taking pictures of benches (another of his esoteric hobbies). The inmates weren’t back from the summer yet so it was a reasonably peaceful spot, the only person we saw who seemed to be related to the school was a man with a hose unenthusiastically cleaning the inside of the shed.
After this the remaining path to Abingdon was mostly punctuated by disappointments.
Firstly, a flaw in my otherwise perfect new walking partner presented itself – it was not a blazingly hot day but it was still a bit too warm for a Frenchie, a breed not suited to the combination of heating and exertion. We had to stop and put her in a shallow bit of the river for a bit until she cooled down.
Secondly, I had been really looking forward to seeing the Carfax Conduit, a totally mad structure which used to stand in central Oxford in the 17th century and distribute water around the town (on special occasions it apparently ran with wine instead). But I should have paid more attention to the fact it was re-sited in the Harcourt Arboretum and prepared myself for the fact that it might be behind some trees.
Finally, I was also excited to walk past the Radley Lakes, a very pretty nature reserve on the last stretch of the river before Abingdon. But it turns out they’re also not really visible from the Thames Path – you can take a short diversion to explore them, but we were scheduled to meet the rest of the family for a picnic lunch and didn’t have time to wander off.
There was plenty of good stuff to see, though, as always walking along the river provided the opportunity to really experience the landscapes we were passing through and get a feel for rich history of this area.
All too soon we reached Abbey Meadows, where the kids and the hubby were waiting with a picnic. It was a delightful walk, the weather was congenial and although the river was busier than I’ve sometimes seen it people were friendly and cheerful.
| Locations | Sandford-on-Thames -> Abingdon |
| Time | 2.5 hours |
| Distance | 5.1 miles |
| Cumulative Distance | 62 miles |
One reply on “Thames Path 6”
In my defence, some the geocaches – like the one that had me climb a tree – were very cool.
For anybody who’s interested, the bench-photography activity I’m doing is contributing to Open Benches, an effort to geotag all memorial benches in the UK (and further afield).