Author: neil.baldwin

Thames Path 2 – Day 5 Iffley Lock to Shillingford

Day 5 on the Thames path today i would be doing from Iffley lock just outside Oxford to Shillingford. I phoned the kingfisher pub the night before to ask if I could park my car in the car park and a very kindly agreed. I got up at about 06:30 and after some breakfast and some driving I arrived at Shillingford in time to get the 08:28 bus to the edge of Oxford near Iffley Lock. The Kingfisher landlord popped out to say hello and even offered me the use of the pub toilets before I set out. Apparently people often park with asking, so he was quite chuffed that I had taken the effort to ask, and I was very grateful.

I started walking at about 0900, it took only 10 minutes to get to Iffley Lock, but not before a visit to Tesco express to grab a Danish. There were lots of activity going on on the Thames as I headed out of Oxford, rowers and joggers mainly. The path was clear but the edges were quite overgrown with spring plants. The weather looking was good with a blue sky and cumulus clouds, albeit a tad hot when the sun was out. The cuckoos were out in force and I heard three before I stopped for a rest at Radley College boat house, where a group of oldish people were launching preparing their wooden Thames rowing boats for a trip along the river.

The path sticks to the right hand side of the river in the direction of flow until a I was just outside Abingdon, where you cross the river. There were quite a few people around I guess because it was a lovely day and it was a bank holiday weekend. In Abingdon I stopped at the Nags head pub where I ordered a veggie burger and chips which went down nicely. The break was perfect timing as I was a third of the way to Shillingford. Whilst eating my burger the landlord asked two youths who worked there to clear the weeds out of the borders, and to be careful with the stinging nettles, one of them explained that she could not because she was slightly allergic to them they give her a rash!

Around Appleford on Thames I got talking to a couple who were walking the Thames path this weekend. They weren’t doing it weekend after weekend like me or all in one go but had spent some time over the years doing stretches. This weekend they would be doing the last 20 miles on the Saturday 10 miles from Abingdon to Shillingford, and then 10 on the Sunday to wherever that is. The path crosses the river at Clifton Hampden, and a bit further on I sat and watched the people in their gardens mowing the lawn on there sit on mowers. Very grand houses with very long lawns leading down to the river’s edge the type of lawn that would need a sit on mower.

A few miles later nearing the end of the day I caught up with the couple I had met earlier. Earlier in the day when we had passed I had promised them a lift to Didcot if we arrived at Shillingford at the same time. They were very grateful for the lift and even sent me an email a few days later. We keep in touch every so often by email.

Thames path 2 – Day 4 Newbridge to Iffley Lock

An early start but not rushed one got me to Iffley near rosehill Oxford by 8:30. I used a royal Cabs taxi app to get a taxi, however the GPS was not quite locked in so the taxi went to the wrong address. It took me 5 minutes to hunt them down and get them to right place. My driver was very friendly and got me to the Rose Revived pub for around 0930.

About two miles in I caught up with a group of walkers who were just a little bit slower than me. I was crossing a field of sheep and baby lambs who kept clear of me, but one mother didn’t seem to want to get or move away from me then I heard a cry from the riverbank. I couldn’t see the lamb but there clearly was something hidden by the bank. On closer inspection there was a lamb in the water up to it’s neck and it was shivering. I took off my camera and rucksack so by laying on the riverbank was able to reach down to grab the lamb. Unlike cats and dogs there’s not a lot of slack in the skin around a lamb’s neck however I was able to grab enough to hoik the little one out of the river.

I got to Pinkhill lock and took some time out for a rest and some sustenance. I took a timelapse while a few boats went through the lock, I helped them with the lock gates. The group I had passed earlier caught up, I had a chat with some of the ladies. They were also dong the Thames path they came from st. Albans. They had transport challenges as well and as a group they had started hiring minibuses to help them get from A2B.

At the trout Inn I had seared sea bass for lunch. A female Mallard was being harassed by males who in turn were harassing the dinners. Suitably amused and refreshed I talked the final stretch, south past Oxford. I passed Port Meadow and massive flat green flood meadow. The path was busy clearly popular with Oxford people for a walk. To the south west of Oxford I went wrong passing under a railway bridge when I should not have, but I saw the remnants of what would have been a train turntable. I guess it was being preserved for prosperity but it was unloved and rusting away.

I passed the Head of the River pub where a wedding party was boarding a river boat. I was tired at that point so was keen to plod on. When I got to Iffley at the academic boat house I saw a group of people putting their boat away. We had been crossing paths all day. The wedding party was being dropped off at Isis Farmhouse, a pub I want to visit one day.

I soon got to Iffley lock and headed up hill and away from the river to find my car. It had been a long day 15 miles in total.

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Thames path 2 – Day 3 Buscot to Newbridge

The taxi arrived on time to pick me up from the rose revived public house who had kindly let me park my car in the car park for the day. The taxi journey took about 20 to 25 minutes and dtrop me off at the national trust car park near Buscot Weir.

The river bends and twists quite a lot up at this end but it’s an approximately 15 to 20m wide most of the time. I saw a few pill boxes as I started out on the walk and I made a note to try and find out why there are so many this side of the country.

The weather was sunny and promised to be in 21 degrees during the heat of the day so I erred on the side of caution taking less clothing than I actually needed early in the morning. There was still a bit of chill in the air but the sun was warming me up.

The day’s walk would be 15 miles and would include two pubs en route and one at the end. as I approached the first pub Ye Olde Swan I noticed in the field what I thought might be hares ears but on closer inspection they turned out to be clumps of snakehead fritillaries. I pulled in at the pub for a glass of orange juice and soda water and polished off a couple of packets of crisps. Over the river and next to the thames path were a bunch of wigwams which seems to be very well equipped including log burners inside.

Wildlife was out in force on the next stretch to pub number two I could hear Curlews around calling and surprisingly I heard a ruddy duck and then a bit further on her the cuckoo which I did managed to track down and got great views of. I thought I could also hear warblers in some of the reeds and rushes.

When I reached the Trout Inn at Radcot I continued on I wasn’t ready to stop, I figured I would stop somewhere in the Chimney nature reserve. I got close up views of another Cuckoo about halfway through the Nature reserve. I eventually stopped at Shifford lock, where the lock keeper roped me into holding the painter of a barge with only one person onboard. I rested after the exertion and eat my sandwiches, taking my time because I had made good progress.

I got to the Rose Revived about 1600, but did not stop for a drink, I headed straight back.

Thames path 2 – Day 2 Cricklade to Buscot

This next step of the thames path with prove a transport challenge. The number of buses between Buscot and Cricklade are pretty few and require a change and take about 2 hours . My solution was to order a taxi life is to short to worry about things like that.

I had an early start at 6 left the house at just after 7 that got me to Buscot village at about 8:30. It took me 10 minutes to get sorted get my boots on and by the time I had walked to the village shop and the taxi arrived more less as I got there. Perfect timing!

The taxi dropped me off at the centre of Cricklade, in fact, exactly where I am parked the car the previous week so I didn’t miss a single foot step of the path. The river meanders quite a lot at this stage of the 10th and so the path is not no direct so although I would be walking 13 miles, as the crow flies it was considerably shorter.

The weather was 5 degrees so freezing I set off at a fairly good pace to get the blood circulating and warm me up. By about 10:30 the sun was starting to show through which made a big difference.

I passed through Castle Eaton which I remember from the first time I walked the Thames. The Jehovah witnesses were knocking on doors as I walked through the village. I avoided eye contact as I was on a mission to get some miles done. I did find time to look at the church of St Mary’s which is 8th Century.

Towards Kempsford the path goes along a main road for about 2km which is not fun. I chose to leave the path and take a longer route via the edge or RAF Fairford. It was a good decision as I witnessed 3 B52s taking off. When I got to the perimeter fence there were lots of, mainly men, on step ladders taking pictures.

The road into Welford, then took me into a private housing scheme around a gravel pit. The houses looked very modern and had open plan living all with a water view, and all identical.

At Lechlade i stopped for a coffee at Lynwood & Co they do a great coffee and great pistachio coconut and carrot cake. There were only a few miles left to Buscot Weir where the days journey finished.

Thames Path 2 – Day 1 Cirencester (source) to Cricklade

I enjoyed walking the Thames path a couple of years ago and decided that I would walk it again this year. The weatherman was promising good weather for Saturday and Helen was away so it seemed like the right day to start. I was not wrong.

Thams path day 1 Cirencester to Cricklade

The Thames Path is a National Trail following the River Thames from its source near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Thames Barrier at Charlton, south east London. It is about 184 miles (296 km) long. A path was first proposed in 1948 but it only opened in 1996. The Thames Path’s entire length can be walked, and a few parts can be cycled. Some parts of the Thames Path, particularly west of Oxford, are subject to flooding during the winter. The river is also tidal downstream from Teddington Lock and parts of the path may be under water if there is a particularly high tide, although the Thames Barrier protects London from catastrophic flooding. The Thames Path uses the river towpath between Inglesham and Putney and available path elsewhere. Historically, towpath traffic crossed the river using many ferries. but crossings in these places do not all exist now and some diversion from the towpath is necessary.

The far end of the Thames is 1:40 drive from home, so I managed to get an early night and left the house at 05:45. Unfortunately I just missed the 07:30 bus from Cricklade, where I parked the car, to Cirencester. I then had to wait till 08:12 which was the one I had planned to get. It was cold at the bus stop. Google maps was tellin me that there was a 51a bus at 08:12 but the notice on the bus stop said otherwise. I toyed with Uber but then ended up downloading the StageCoach app, which confirmed the 08:12 was a thing.

The bus sort of followed the route would be walking, it was quite foggy in places but the sun was out and burning it away pretty quickly. I got off the bus at Chesterton Cemetery then walked through the grounds of the Royal Agricultural College where there was lots of jogging going on. There was not much jogging happening when I was at college! I soon left the grounds and into the countryside. There were a few small hills to cross, the only ones of the day, before I got to the source of the Thames. I had been up for 4 and walking for one hours by that time, so I sat on the rock that denotes the source, ate my sandwiches cheese pickle sandwiches and regretted not having a flask of coffee with me.

Thams path day 1 Cirencester to Cricklade
The monument

A couple arrived and we got talking one of them was doing the last stretch, but in the wrong direction. They kindly took my picture while I stood in front of the stone monument and sign point past the source it self, a pile of rocks. There was no water in sight. I headed off on my way just a tad to fast as it would result in blisters towards the end of the day. It is about a mile or so of walking before you get to a riverbed with water in it, but an friendly old boy walking his dog assured me that a month ago the field around were flooded.

The far end of the river is very clear, in the bright sun I could see the clak gravel bottom of bright green under water plants. I could see a swans head as it reached down in the the depths to graze on the weed. The path is very easy to follow just keep the river on one side and if crossed keep it on the other. For lunch I stopped at the White Hart in Ashton Keynes, where a pint of orange juice and soda water and a fish finger really hit the spot. They kindly refilled my water bottle.

Near the start of the Thames for real

I then entered the stretch that would take me through loads of gravel pits. I guess they are there from building the M40. From a walking point of view they are a bit tedious, I prefer meadows. Quite a few of them are private and some have houses or holiday house clones encircling them. I was not in the best of moods as that point because my quick pace had now resulted in blisters on both feet. I had had a similar thing happen a few times before, you would have thought I had learnt my lesson by now.

The last couple of miles took me back on to meadows again and my spirit rose gain. I stopped and took a timelapse with my new DJI Osmo Pocket camera. Then headed towards Cricklade where I grabbed a coffee and a cake before finding my car and heading home. It got home almost exactly 12 hours after I left a long day, but it was great to be back walking the Thames Path.

Tyneham deserted village

I noticed whilst doing some googling that in the local army firing range that there is a village that was abandoned during the war. According to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyneham] wikipedia : “Tyneham is a ghost village and former civil parish, now in the civil parish of Steeple with Tyneham, in south Dorset, England, near Lulworth on the Isle of Purbeck. In 2001 the civil parish had a population of 0. The civil parish was abolished on 1 April 2014 and merged with Steeple to form Steeple with Tyneham.” At Christmas 1943 the army requisitioned the village and moved the villagers out.

The village is only open at the weekends so we decided that we should go and have a look while we could. The road to the village is quite remote and narrow, but there are plenty of passing places, which are needed.

We parked up and and paid the voluntary £2 donation. The Purbeck marathon was passing through, it seems like quite a tough one as the hills are very steep in the area, Tyneham was at mile 15. We looked around the abandoned buildings which were mainly centered around a farm. Most of them have lost their roofs, but there are information boards explaining the buildings and the people that lived and used the buildings.

We then took a walk down to a Warbarrow Bay, where I climbed up the pointy hill call Warbarrow Tout and got a good view of Cow Corner. They have some great names for landscape feature in these parts.

Back in in Swanage town we watched the runners finishing the marathon. I had an ice cream and we had a look around the slot machine arcade. They are not what they used to be like.

Roughtor, Brown Willie (snigger) and other Tors

Helen wanted a day pottering around at the local beach so I took the opportunity to go for a long walk. The other day when we passed Camelford I notice a high pointy hill, it turns out it was either Brown Willy or Roughtor the two highest peaks in Cornwall. Bodmin Moor upon which both are, is a granite moorland, and a fair chunk of it is open access land, meaning that you can walk where ever you like, although they prefer you to keep to the waymarked paths.

There is a car park at the end of a lane fairly close to the bottom of Roughtor, so the start was a rude awakening, after a very short down hill the path heading directly up towards the summit. I overtook a few people on the way, my regular walking in the Chilterns paying off. At a saddle in the hill I took a left turn and checked out Showery Tor my first of the day. The path to Roughtor was relatively flat from the lower Tor, but then kicked up towards the summit. There were some natural standing stones at the top , and a cairn but no trig point that was reserved for Brown Willie.

I chatted to a guy having a coffee break and asked a bout the route to Brown Willie, his route would have had me retracing my steps. I could see a path up the highest tour in the bottom of the valley, so I headed down off piste. I found a path at the bottom an a steep path heading up. So far I had climbed 120m to get up Roughtor then descended 110m to get the the bottom of Brown Willie, I now had another 120m to the top of the highest peak. The hill was taking its toll on my leg muscles.

At the summit of Brown Willie there is again standing stones, and a cairn, but there is also a trig point. In the hole in the middle of the trig point I found a metal cross on some string. It took some effort to fish it out because the hole was smaller than my hand. After some research I found out it was an Icelandic Wolf Cross. I put it back where it came from and put a rock in the hole to cover it.

The next (and longest part) of the walk had me heading south west to Butter’s Tor then West to Garrow Tor. I passed an enclosure called King Arthurs Hall then the hamlet of Candra and about a half mile later I turned North East to take in Alex Tor. Down from this last Tor I picked up a track heading East for a couple of miles which I then left to head north round the base of Rough Tor, for anther mile and a bit back to the car park.

By the time I had finished I was knackered, but it was not the distance it was the ascent and descent that had tired me out. It was well worth the effort as I had spent most of the day not seeing a soul in the wide and open landscape, very different to where I normally get to walk.

National Trust tour

It was raining when we got up, in fact drizzle had refused visibility to only a couple of hundred yards. Our first stop would be Lanhydrock a fine property. We were there just 5 minutes before the house opened. The Americans described the volunteer the other side of the closed door a pit bull as no one would be allowed in before 1100 on the dot. I could not find my yellow token and was almost ejected by her until a third search of my pockets uncovered the golden ticket to freedom of the house.

I made the most of my 360 camera whilst walking around the rooms. One technique to avoid being in the picture was to hold the stick out into the room round a door way. We headed to the exit and I had a great pasta and pesto salad. Next stop was a chandler’s at Par, to get some bits to make a new swivel bit for my camera strap. I got two bits that would help make something up.

Trerice is down some very narrow lanes but we made it with too many giving way events. The house is quite small so and we had been there before so we did not stay that long. The return journey to the main road, was a bit tedious as there were lots of cars coming the other way it took about 5 minutes of waiting before we got there. We stopped off at some promising shops on the way back for some supplies but they were all a bit disappointing, compared to the pictures available on google maps.

When we got back I went for a run which was a bit of an effort because unlike the  map I planned it on it had a couple of very steep hills.

Treyarnon back to Trevone via Constantine and Harlyn

Helen’s foot was not playing g up, so we decided to have another day walking. The plan: dump the car at Treyarnon bay car park then walk back round the coat to Trevone. Then layer I would walk or run back to get the car using the direct route. The raids were very narrow most of the way there even more so as we left Trevone and approached Treyarnon. We had to give way for a couple of cars, o hate to think what it might that be like high season.

The beach at Treyarnon is very popular I think partly because there is a youth hostel. The car park cost £4 for the day which seems reasonable. We headed out on the coastal path and examined the many benches on the shoreline some of them recent some dating back to the 70’s, some made of standard wood others steel, and some built of Cornish slate.

We noticed a lot more birds than we had the day before, first we saw the ever present Oystercatchers, then when Helen and I took different routs, me across the beach and up the rocks and Helen round the path, I spotted a seal and Helen three Wheatear. On another beach three Turnstone landed on a rock just ahead of me, they called alarmingly when a dog started to chase them.

At the end of Trevose Head is the Trevose Lighthouse, which was looking very white perhaps it had had a lick of paint recently. As we approached Harlyn bay we sat and watched while a couple in an inflatable, tried t start their outboard, and use paddles to get back to shore. They made very slow progress. Eventually Helen thought we should tell the RNLI on the beach, but by the time we got down there they had finally made it to the shore. We passed the guy carrying the broken down outboard on his shoulder and passed the time of day., he seemed quite nonchalant about the whole adventure.

As we left the beach Helen heard a frantic dog whistle and we spied a couple calling for their dog as it paddled out to sea, eventually the man stripped down to his trunks and went in after the dog. I’m guessing it is not such an unusual event because the man had his trunks on and after the rescue he continued to chuck the ball in the sea for the very obedient dog.

We stopped for 7up and chips at the beach car park burger van. Then we did the final mile and a bit back to Trevone. We rested for a bit then I tried to run the direct route back the the car.. I managed to do the 3.3 miles in under 12 minute miles speed which I was happy with, and it was my first time out on the road, up until then I had been using a treadmill.

Trevone loop via Stepper Point, Padstow and Thressilic

We were up fairly early as a result of a Aprilia bed and hanging on to bed early tonight before. rather than using the car we decided a walk around the Peninsula to Padstow and then take the short route back over the hills or have the option to get the taxi or bus back would be a good idea for the first day. I put on an extra layer but once we got two things that were in the sun it proved unnecessary.

Once we left Trevone bay the path flattened,. Out and apart from one drop and climb. The sun continued to shine as we stopped for a rest at Stepper Point, while looking for seals, but didn’t spot any. We waved at the coast watchers in thier hut as we walked past. I resisted the opportunity to drop in a chat about radios. We dropped down then stopped off at the Rest A While tea room for a welcome coffee.

As soon as we could get to the beach we did then walked along the beach until we got to the low tide ferry drop off. Apparently the tide was unusually low, there was definitely lots of sand exposed some of it had green sea weed growing in it. Padstow was Sergio Ramos but we found a wood fired pizza place called embers ( yes it trendily used no caps to spell its name). We shared a pizza and had some slaw and green salad to go with it. Whilst eating Dave from DPD delivered my software defined radio, (more about that later).

Helen decided that a taxi would be the best way back to the hut. I decided to walk back and meet her at the beach. I chose the beach shortcut and just about timed it right, then Idropped into the coast watch hut and had a chat with the volunteer. Helen had been paddling on the beach when I arrived back.

I was planning on going for a run but I had done enough exercise for the day I had managed 12 miles. We had D nber at the hut.