Day 14: Goring - Shillingford

A beautiful morning for a walk through the Oxfordshire countryside along the Thames and today the Thames Path felt the most rural of all the 14 days walked so far. Not only was it because the path was, in parts, relatively remote from any form of settlement, but it was also a walk where we met very few people en route.

The walk began with a stroll across the long wide bridge that links Goring with Streatley. Then we turn done a small lane fronted by cottages with the church at the end. The path skirts around the churchyard and eventually leads into the fields bordering the river. From here it is a short walk through fields and woods to Cleeve Lock with a few sheep and their lambs relaxing in the grass. The path ahead is in the wide open through a riverside field. Approaching the next village of Moulsford we walk past the bottom of various gardens of large house. However, one of these houses is a little different to the others and to any I’ve seen so far on the Thames. The house is themed around Egyptian architecture, but has the air of a 1980s leisure centre. At first I thought this was in fact built in the 1980s, but further investigations on the web have revealed it to be built in the last few years.

Then the path has to divert away from the river and we are led through the yard of The Beetle & Wedge pub, up Ferry Lane, and onto the main road through Moulsford itself. Eventually we come to edge of the village and carry on along the main road. Down to the right in the valley we can see the river and the next bridge, another of Brunel’s brick railway bridges. Then the path is directed down a track opposite a bard conversion. The path leads down to the bridge and crosses over an elevated stage under the bridge itself. Then its back to a riverside walk through fields, in one case passing a field of bright yellow oil-seed rape. Then we come to a broad road that leads straight into the river and it is here we divert from the path for lunch, and head up, past some of the redundant buildings of Fair Mile Hospital, to the nearby pub. Its OK, but nowt special.

Back to the river and a walk through a local nature reserve followed by more idyllic riverside walking. Then suddenly the peace is broken by a rowing eight passing with their coach blasting instructions down a megaphone. After walking past a small stand of pines, we see the first evidence of Oxford upstream as we pass Oxford Brookes University’s boathouse. Later on the on the opposite bank the half-timbered boathouse of Carmel College stands proudly on a small promontory, but it has seen better days and is on the verge of collapsing into the river.

the riverbank Then we catch glimpse of a concrete road bridge, hinting that we are closing in on Wallingford. This is the by-pass bridge over the river and then soon after a new building which almost incorporates the path. Again it’s a university boathouse, but this is a far grander affair and shows some money has been spent on it and it belongs to the bigger, richer Oxford University Boat Club.

Then we’re into the built up area of Wallingford and we are walking past more houses, this time literally walking though people’s back garden – the path isn’t fenced off. Then the path hits the lanes of Wallingford, past St Leonard’s church and through alleyways between small cottages. Then the street opens out into a area dominated by the stunning spire of St Peter’s Church. Beyond this is the High Street, which we cross and drop back down to the river by Wallingford Bridge. The path continues northwards and is quickly back into the Oxfordshire fields. To the left are the ruins of Wallingford Castle, and a great silhouetted view of St Peter’s is behind us.

The path then leads to Benson lock where we cross the walkway by the weir. A short stop is then made at the well place tea rooms by the marina at Benson (they do very good homemade cakes and traybakes by the way!). Then its just a short walk to Shillingford where our car is waiting in the hotel car park.

Day 13: Reading - Goring

A day of contrasts today, beginning with the weather. The nature of every one of these legs along the Thames Path has been you have to arrange the means of transit to and from the start and end points. Today I decided to drive and park at Goring and get the train back to Reading to start the walk. Early morning at Goring it was misty, damp and decidedly cool. By the time I arrived in Reading the skies were blue, the temperature much higher and the sun was out. And bar the odd bit of cloud during the day, this was the weather I took with me on what was a great Easter weekend.

The walk was also one of contrasts particularly with the environment on opposite banks of the river. It began on the southern bank next to Clearwater Court, the headquarters of Thames Water. This is the building where the windows were being washed during the hosepipe ban last summer. The path between Reading and Caversham Bridges passes further offices and riverside houses and flats. After Caversham Bridge the land by the riverside opens up, passing Reading Rowing Club’s buildings we are on the Promenade with parkland on the Berkshire side of the river. Across the water the houses of The Warren form the river frontage. So on one side of the river are the large Thameside houses that have already become familiar. On the other the municipal park with the Rivermead leisure centre at its centre, plus to odd drunk slung over he benches.

After the leisure centre is passes the path passes the land where the Reading Festival is held and where the WOMAD Festival was also held, up until last year. Soon the houses on the Caversham bank end and give way to fields. Meanwhile on bank where I’m walking, the path approaches Tilehurst and the railway line. The path is squeeze on a strip of land between river and railway with little to see other than the fields on the opposite bank. Some of this stretch reminds me of the walk past the reservoirs in West London, but the graffiti is more amusing (“FREE STONHENGE ’85” “NO DOGGING”).

Then at the Roebuck pub, and at the point where the path arrives in West Berkshire, the path heads away from the river up some steep steps and over a railway footbridge onto the main Oxford Road. The reasons for this diversion is a recalcitrant Purley landowner in the 18th century who refused access to his land for the towpath, leading to huge delays for river traffic of the time. The office path now weaves its way through suburbia then finally hits the road to Mapledurham Lock. Sadly Mapledurham is one of the locks that is being worked on this winter and access is not possible. Instead we are diverted onto the meadows immediately upstream of the lock, missing the view of Mapledurham House and Mill.

The river now follows a huge arc en route to Pangbourne. This is a popular stretch on his sunny bank holiday with people walking in both directions. This stretch provides good views of Hardwick House and its impressive stable block that forms the stud farm here. At Pangbourne there are plenty of people having picnics on the riverbank, but I must continue over the bridge and onto the north bank. The bridge at Pangbourne is still a toll bridge charging 20p for each car. This is a private bridge run by the Whitchurch Bridge Company.

Whitchurch, the village on the northern bank begins a stretch of the walk that becomes a stroll through the rolling Chiltern countryside. The path follows the main road through the village then turns off along the farm track to Hartslock Farm. It also serves further houses, and also passes a doggy playground. We then follow a footpath down some steep steps and immediately up again and then winds its way through the riverside woods, back down to the river.

Out of the woods and up against the river once more, we arrive at Gatehampton Manor and then shortly afterwards pass under one of Brunel’s brick railway bridges, an impressive construction sat in this part of the Oxfordshire countryside. Then its just a short walk up to Goring Bridge and the village itself.