Thames Path - Goring to Abingdon (★★★☆☆)

After a shorter previous day (as I continue a five day walk along the Thames Path), today I am walking a longer distance - with the plan to walk from Goring to Abingdon. 

That will leave one final day's walking tomorrow - on my fifth and final day walking from Weybridge to Oxford along the Thames Path. On the previous day I had walked from Reading to Goring.

Goring itself is a pretty little village, and at Goring we are about mid way through a cut between the Chilterns and the Berkshire Downs (part of the North Wessex Downs) - and Goring marks the closest meet point of these two sets of hills at the 'Goring Gap'.

Heading out from the train station at Goring in the direction of the river, it is a pleasant walk through the older parts of town - and I pass one of the many churches in Goring on the way.

St Thomas of Canterbury Church

Back alongside the Thames

After this stroll through the village, I head over Goring & Streatley Bridge - which once again includes a double crossing (once onto the island in the river, and then again across to the far side).

From here I continue on up the road very briefly, but then turn right and head down towards St Mary's Church, as I pass through the outer edge of Streatley.

St  Mary's Chruch

And after a fairly short - and fairly pleasant - wiggle around the buildings, I find myself back alongside the river, and generally heading northwards.

Heading along the river

Here everything settles down once again, now that we are back along the tow path. By this point we are a long way from London - and it feels like we are now getting into the more rural stretch of the river.

And so there is a fairly pleasant mix of countryside as we head on, and as we pass between Moulsford and South Stoke, we get more signs of the hills that the Thames has cut between.

The Berkshire Downs (part of the North Wessex Downs)

The stretch along the river coming into Moulsford

Upon reaching Moulsford, the path cuts up through a rather nicely finished hotel to head up to a road - which we must follow - as we are forced to navigate around the river side homes. 

This means a stretch of road walking, but it is not too bad as the roads are not particularly busy, and we do at least get a pavement along the way.

Eventually though, the path cuts back down towards the river - and then heads under the railway line, along a stretch that is heavily fenced, and not quite so lovely as the prior stretches.

But having made it through, the next section is very reminiscent of almost every river side walk in England. This doesn't give a particularly magical or unusual stretch of river side walking, but there is certainly nothing wrong with this section.

And then, it is only really as we start to close in on Wallingford that we start to move from your 'usual river side walk' to a walk that has a bit more about it.

And indeed, Wallingford is a historic town of note in it's own right.

Although William won the Battle of Hastings back in 1066, it was not until the then archbishop of Canterbury (a key nobleman by the name of Stigand) surrendered at Wallingford that William's conquest was truly completed.

And the town of Wallingford crops up again throughout history - but whilst it was an important town in medieval times, today it remains a fairly small market town.

St Leonard's Church

The river crossing at Wallingford

But whilst the walk ahead looks very enticing, we have another diversion to deal with here - and whilst the Thames Path should continue up along the river bank (you can see the inviting path in the distance in the above photo), it is time to cross over the bridge, and make friends with the local roads.

The diversion isn't too bad as there are pavements on the busier roads and the rest are more minor roads, but very easily forgettable, and a bit of a shame to have to do. But hopefully by the time you walk the same section, the bridge to Benson will be operational again.

Having returned to the river, and the official route of the Thames Path, they do at least seem to be making a lot of progress with the repairs - and whilst diversions have plagued this walk along the Thames, it does look as if each of the issues are getting well on their way to being resolved. 

By this point there is a bit a storm rolling through, so it is pretty windy in this exposed spot - but heading on up the Thames again, the slightly increased shelter calms everything down somewhat.

And after a fairly low key exit from Benson, the scenery improves along this stretch, as I head on towards Shillingford and Shillingford Bridge.

On the way to Shillingford

Shillingford Bridge

Here the Thames Path cuts up through Shillingford along pleasant footpaths - and it is nice to see the older parts of Shillingford. 

But next up is a walk along a busy road - and whilst there is a pavement on the far side, it does take a bit of waiting in order to get across safely on both of the road crossings. There is a pedestrian crossing available back up the road for the first crossing (although it is a bit of a trek in the wrong direction), but nothing to help on the second crossing back over.

But with both road crossings complete, I am able to drop down to the Thames again - and this section is now heading along the very flat meadows that surround Dorchester.

Dorchester is a very pretty and historic town, but with the river along this stretch clearly being prone to flooding, and with the area around the river being marshy, the Thames Path passes some distance away from Dorchester itself - which does not sit very close to the banks of the Thames. 

And so, any visit to that town will require taking on a bit of additional walking walk (probably best done just after the River Thame has joined up with the River Thames).

And upon reaching this confluence point with the River Thame, the River Thames now gains a second name - as it is also called the River Isis from this point onwards (for clarity the river is not affiliated with the terrorist group that operates in the Middle East, or with the dog in Downton Abbey). 

The run past Dorchester continues on through open meadows, and there's a Kent Marshes vibe to the landscape, although with this vibe softened in this landscape. 

With this feel continuing on, the river bends west we pass by Buroot on the far side of the bank, to spot some sort of civilisation once again.

Passing by Buroot

Signs of the water catchment

From here it is a short run heading west towards Clifton Hampden - where it is time to head over the bridge and continue my journey on the opposite side of the Thames.

Clifton Hampden Bridge

From here we soon find ourselves at Clifton Lock - where I decide to take a bit of a rest - and one of the great things about a walk along the Thames is that you always know that you can get a bench at any of the locks along the Thames. 

And indeed not just any bench, but also a bench overlooking one of the pretty gardens that surround each of the lock houses.

This gives some confidence to your plans of where to stop along the way, as whilst benches are never shown on maps (in my opinion they should be), the locks with these benches are clearly shown.

But returning to my onward journey, here the path continues along the narrow Clifton Cut, before passing by Appleford, as the path heads under the railway line.

The cows at Clifton Cut

Then, having reached Culham, the final run into Abingdon begins - heading along Culham Cut, before changing direction and heading north towards Abingdon itself.

Here the path gets much busier with townsfolk out for a short walk, but before long we find ourselves arriving at Abingdon Bridge, and heading into town.

The top end of Caldecott (which merges into Abingdon)

Some of the older parts of Abingdon

Today's walk hasn't quite had the drama or interest of some of the London end of the Thames (Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Westminster, etc do set a high bar after all), but this day does help give that alternate feel of a more rural stretch of the Thames and for this it gains a lot of credit in it's favor.

At times this has meant walking through quite open and quiet countryside, but that does highlight the contrast between the busier stretches downstream, and there has been enough interest to make it an enjoyable enough day of walking.

Total Distance: 21.4 miles (19.9 miles on the Thames Path)

Total Ascent: 311 feet (292 feet on the Thames Path)

Note that these distances assume no diversions in the hope that they will soon get resolved.

Enjoyment Rating : ⭐⭐⭐ ★ ★ / 5

Click for a writeup of the next day's walking - heading on up the Thames Path from Abingdon to Oxford.

Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 164, 174 and 175 OS Landranger maps - while there is also a Thames Path guidebook which includes OS mapping (links redirect to Amazon). The route is in general well way-marked.