Thames Path
OVERVIEW
Heading towards London from the Thames Barrier, the walk starts off with a fairly rough and industrial feel to it - and whilst you get good views of the City of London, the section heading round the Millennium Dome is not that exciting either.
From Waterloo the Thames Path heads past the London Eye and then past Westminster (and here it is best to walk on the opposite side to the Houses of Parliament).
From Battersea the river initially retains a central London vibe, which starts to fade upon reaching Wandsworth. Here you pass rowing boathouses and the London Wetland Centre as the path heads out across more open countryside.
From Richmond the past heads past Ham House, along a very well walked stretch of river, and then passes Eel Pie Island on it's way to Teddington Lock.
From Hampton Court, the path heads past Molesey Lock and on along the edge of Hurst Park, before winding on past a number of reservoirs to Sunbury Lock.
From Weybridge the first task of the day is to cross over on the Ferry. From here the path heads past Shepperton Lock and round to Chertsey.
From Maidenhead the route heads out along a road, but this section remains an enjoyable walk, and it is also not too long before you find yourself walking through fields.
Following a long section from Maidenhead to Goring, this is a shorter section - heading west out of Reading to Purley on Thames.
From Goring you cross over the Thames and head up to Moulsford, where you cut in to join the main road for a short stretch.
From Abingdon it is a very muddy walk initially in all but the very best weather, but soon you are heading across pretty countryside towards Radley.
The River Thames is arguably the most important river in England - and the walk along the tow path is the only riverside National Trail.
Since it follows a river, the trail is exceptionally flat - but can obviously be muddy and waterlogged during periods of bad weather.
But the Thames is actually much longer than you would expect, and the total walk amounts to 185 miles of walking - starting in the Cotswolds and then meandering down to London.
The highlights along the way come at Oxford, Runneymede (site of the Magna Carta), Maidstone, Hampton Court, Richmond and the historic section of London around Tower Bridge.
You can walk the whole thing in one go, but whilst the area around the source is more easily done in one walk - the central and western end of the trail are very easily done in smaller day walks.
PRACTICALITIES
The section between the source and Oxford is the most challenging section to complete - as it heads through a section of countryside where transport and accommodation options are fairly limited. I am yet to do this section, but when I do I plan to make use of the Trout Inn (at Tadpole), and then stay at Cricklade, and Cirencester - before heading home via Kemble.
The trail itself ends a few miles past Kemble - and it is an option to travel straight home from this finishing point, but I figure it will be easier to instead walk slightly further into Cirencester for any overnight and then have a full day to get back to Kemble and head home.
From Oxford down to London though, the trail is incredibly straight-forward for both transport and accommodation.
After Oxford the trail passes a train station at Radley, then reaches the town of Abingdon (bus links), then passing Dorchester (bus links), Benson, Wallingford, Goring (train link), Pangbourne (train link), Purley (train link at Tilehurst) and Reading (train link).
From Reading you have Shiplake (train link), Henley (train link), Marlow (train link), Bourne End (train link), Cookham (train link), Maidenhead (train link), Windsor (train link), Staines (train link), Weybridge (train link) and Byfleet (train link - easiest is West Byfleet on the Basingstoke Canal).
Then there is a bit of a gap to Hampton (train link), Surbiton (train link), Kingston (train link), Teddington (train link), Richmond (train link), Brentford (train link) - and from here you have a continuous provision of transport links through London.
The London sections are the easiest to work out - but it is worth allowing extra time to explore the sights in the area around the Thames through London - for instance St Paul's or Greenwich Park lie slightly off the trail.
USEFUL LINKS
National Trails Website : Thames Path - National Trails
STAGES
Thames Barrier to Waterloo (★★★★★)
However - having made it round the Dome you soon meet up with the Old Royal Naval College - and here I turned off to go through Greenwich Park and up to the Royal Observatory (site of Greenwich Prime Meridian). This is a very worthwhile diversion - and once back along the river you soon pass the Cutty Sark near Greenwich Pier.
The next section is not particularly noteworthy, except for a few old docks (and newer developments) - but eventually you make it round to Tower Bridge, and here you hit the old part of London. Crossing over you pass Tower Bridge and I crossed back over on Suthwark Bridge and went past the Globe Theatre.
I next crossed back over at Millennium Bridge - which walked south to north leads you straight towards St Paul's Cathedral as you head over the bridge.
This section totaled 15.3 miles, although only 11.0 miles were on the Thames Path - ascent exceeded five hundred feet, but mostly because I went up to the Observatory at Greenwich Park.
Waterloo to Battersea (★★★★★)
From here you enjoy a nice stretch along the Thames before diverting in at Vauxhall - and then return to the river in a quaint section passing Nine Elms.
Next you have to cut in at Battersea, but can compensated as you head through Battersea Park - and here I continued on through Battersea to finish at Clapham Junction.
This section totaled 7.9 miles (although only 5.4 miles were on the Thames Path), with a couple hundred feet of ascent.
Battersea to Richmond (★★★☆☆)
From here the path heads past Hammersmith and on past Barnes Bridge to Mortlake, which has a lovely historic feel to it. From here the path continues on along a tree-lined section to Kew Bridge - after which it passes Kew Gardens, but with very little to see as you head past (this section is heavily wooded).
On the far side you meet up with the edge of Old Deer Park and head into Richmond via Richmond Lock.
This section totaled 11.2 miles of walking (10.2 miles on the Thames Path) and a couple hundred feet of ascent.
Richmond to Hampton Court (★★★☆☆)
From here it heads on past Teddington, before passing through Canbury Gardens, on it's way into Kingston - where we cross over Kingston Bridge.
From here we pass along the edge of Hampton Court Park until we eventually bend round and reach Hampton Court Palace itself.
This section totaled 7.9 miles (7.4 miles on the Thames Path) and about a hundred feet of ascent.
Hampton Court to Weybridge (★★★☆☆)
From here the route passes the houses lining the river at Walton-on-Thames and then heads under Walton Bridge and up Desborough Cut.
From here it is a short walk to Hambaugh Island, where the Wey meets the Thames - and here I continued up the Wey on my walk, but the Thames Path instead crosses over via a ferry.
This section of the Thames Path totals 6.0 miles - although this doesn't include onward travel at Weybridge (you can get a bus to the train station from the High Street). The ascent was a little over a hundred feet.
Weybridge to Maidenhead (★★★★☆)
From here we head under the M3 and on through the pretty village of Lahlham to Staines, where we cross over Staines Bridge .
Here I had a diversion, rejoining at Runnymede Bridge, but in either case the path heads across the meadows leading into Runnymede (which was site of the Magna Carta agreement).
The stretch from Runnymede is a pretty one, but then we head along a slightly less pretty cut that splits off Ham Island, before we come to the edge of Windsor Park. here we cross over to avoid the private parts of Home Park and head to Datchet - and then on to the join between Windsor and Eton.
From here it is a quiet section across the meadows and past Dorney Lake to Maidenhead, and the end of this section.
This section of the Thames Path was 21.7 miles (20.2 on the Thames Path) with a few hundred feet of ascent.
Maidenhead to Reading (★★★★☆)
From here you head north and then cut west into Cookham, and up to rejoin the river. Then you follow the river, before crossing over to Bourne End, and then head round to Marlow.
Here there was a diversion, but the section after Marlow is a lovely section to Hurley (crossing at Temple Footbridge once fixed). From here you follow the river, before cutting across the grounds of Culham House (which have White Fallow Deer grazing) on the way to Aston.
From Aston you rejoin the river and head on round to Henley - and from here there is another really nice section on down to Shiplake. Then there is a quiet rural stretch on to Sonning, before you head on into Reading.
This section totaled 26.5 miles (24.9 miles on the Thames Path) with a few hundred feet of ascent (mostly at Culham House).
Reading to Goring (★★★☆☆)
From here the Thames cuts between the North Wessex Downs and The Chilterns, passing Pangbourne, and then crossing over the river to Whitchurch.
From here the path heads on past Lower Basildon, and on round to Goring - although I once again had a diversion at Goring.
I opted to stay in Reading after this day of walking, and used the train to get between Goring at the end of this section, and the start of the following day.
This section totaled 12.2 miles (11.0 miles on the Thames Path), with a bit under half a thousand feet of ascent.
Goring to Abingdon (★★★☆☆)
From here you head back to the river, and then up past Cholsey to Wallingford. Here I got diverted onto roads, but you should hopefully soon be able to continue up the river and then cross over to Benson.
From here you head through Shillingford, and on past Dorchester - and then across marshy meadows past Clifton Hampden and Culham to Abingdon.
This section totaled 21.4 miles (of which 19.9 miles were on the Thames Path), with ascent of a few hundred feet.
Abingdon to Oxford (★★★☆☆)
From here the path continues up to Sandford Lock, which is the highlight of this section of walking - although here I had to divert off to get around a damaged footbridge.
Heading north the path gets increasingly busy on the way up to the outskirts of Oxford, but as the river reaches the edge of the historic part of Oxford it turns to the west, and had a very rural finish to this stage - as the river becomes a bit of a backward after the turn off for the Oxford Canal.
This section totaled 10.7 miles of walking (of which 9.5 miles were on the Thames Path), with about a hundred feet of ascent (it was very flat).
Oxford to Tadpole
Planned to be walked in the future...
Tadpole to Crickdale
Planned to be walked in the future...
Crickdale to Source
Planned to be walked in the future...
Comments
Post a Comment