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Teesdale Way - Barnard Castle to Darlington (★★★★☆)

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Today we are out completing another stretch of the Teesdale Way - and the final stretch that I plan to walk (with the final stretch from Middlesbrough to South Gare being very industrial, and unlikely to be very enjoyable). This means that at the end of this walk I will have completed the length of the trail from Dufton to the Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough - and for me this is significant, as this walk holds additional importance compared to the other walks I have been doing. In 2012 I had graduated from University with a good degree to my name, but also with no one being particularly interested in hiring me, due to the misdeeds of some reckless bankers in the years before.  After struggling with the recruitment process for some time, I eventually came up with the idea of filtering jobs based upon which had the fewest number of applicants - and ended up being the fourth member of a small company based in the North East of England. After moving up from the south of England, t...
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Thames Path - Lechlade to Kemble (★★★☆☆)

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Today we are heading out to complete the very last section of the  Thames Path .  I originally started walking bits of the River Thames as a way to make my trips between the north (where I live) and the south (where I have family) a bit more interesting, and from there I have worked my way through various stretches of the trail - and so this trail has been done over quite a long period of time (about two years). Some of the walks I have done along this trail have been fairly long, but the  Thames Path  is one of the very easiest to do in sections, with endless transport links along much of the trail - and so there have also been a lot of shorter stages. That said, things do get more complex at the western end of the trail - as here we do generally lose access from the railway network - but here buses do still allow us to complete the trail in fairly manageable stages (going as far each day as you really want to go). And today we are heading out from Swindon on the 64...
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Thames Path - Newbridge to Lechlade (★★★★☆)

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Today is the second of two days spent walking the Thames Path , having walked from Newbridge to Oxford on the previous day. By this point we are now deep into the most rural stretch of the River Thames - and by the end of the day we will have almost walked the full navigable stretch of the river. The day begins with the same bus journey as on the previous day - catching the X15 bus to Newbridge, where we hop off and cross over the river - ready to begin our days walk. Heading out along the Thames As we head out, we pass Standlake Common Nature Reserve- which along with Rushy Common Nature Reserve forms part of the Lower Windrush Valley Project. This was a project that sought to create two nature reserves from former gravel workings - and whilst access to these nature reserves is limited, we do pass close by as we continue to head up the  Thames Path . Passing one of the bird hides at Standlake  Common  Nature Reserve From here we continue on to Shifford Lock - and then h...
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