Henley on Thames to Reading

It was mild and there was fine sunshine for this nine-and-a-half mile post Christmas expedition, With the possible exception of the Kingston to Shepperton stretch, it was also the longest section walked so far. Mainly through rural Oxfordshire, but Reading brought the most urban scenes we had come across since Staines.

Marsh Lock was designed by Humphrey Gainsborough (1727-76) the brother of well-known portrait artists Thomas Gainsborough. He produced the most precise sundial ever made which was accurate to the nearest second.

Rushing waters at Marsh Lock

Upstream of Shiplake Lock

Hanging on....

Raja and trees in Shiplake meadows

The nine arches of Sonning Bridge were completed in 1780 and form one of the most beautiful bridges on the Thames. We crossed over the bridge from Oxfordshire to Berkshire and had lunch in the Bull Inn.

Gas cylinders on the approach to Reading

"Can't you guys find something more interesting to say, this stuff is just territorial pissing," comments a disappointed graffiti critic on the bridge over the river Kennett. There is a footpath along this river which leads to Bristol via the Kennett and Avon Canal.

Marlow to Henley on Thames

Raja, Ray and Chris joined me for this stretch walked on December 15th on a dry cloudy winter day. There was heavy mud at the beginning of the walk on the Buckinghamshire bank, but conditions were better on the Berkshire side. There were thin sheets of ice on the marshlands on either side of the river.

Temple footbridge, which links the Buckinghamshire and Berkshire banks mile upstream from Bisham Abbey, is 88 yards across and is the longest hardwood bridge in Britain

At Hurley this muddy lama came running down the hill at high speed

The river near Medmenham

Beech trees near Medmenham

We found a pink furry Buddha in a skip north of Culham House, along samples of carpet, an old lawnmower and a box of video cassettes.

Sheep in the distance at Middle Culham Farm

River at Hambelden Place

Winter trees on Rememham Hill

Bullets and cartridges in The Flower Inn at Aston. The walls of this pub were covered in cases of very large stuffed fish and dear and fox heads. There was also a stuffed fox curled up on a seat in the corner next to a curled up unstuffed dog. Raja in the FlowerPot Inn Approaching Temple Island the starting post of the Henley Regatta course Riverside house at Rememham Chain fence along the Thames Path on the approach to Henley

Taplow to Marlow

A very muddy winter walk walked by Toby, Raja, Ray, Chris and Amanda. In between Cookham and Marlow we were walking between flooded meadows and a very fast flowing and high water level Thames.

Cottage belonging the Cliveden estate associated with the Profumo sex scandal of 1963 that brought down the Conservative government of the early 1960s.

Ray in the Bel and Dragon in Cookham

Amanda Amanda tiptoes around a large puddle at Bourne End narrowly avoiding falling in the river Chris and the Ice cream of the future...

"The wet dawn inks are doing their blue dissolve.

On their blotter of fog the trees

Seem a botanical drawing."

Winter Trees by Sylvia Plath (1962) Waterlogged kissing gate

Windsor to Taplow

Returned to the Thames walk after a weekend of walking in Norfolk with Urban75 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73518&l=5ca23&id=906345340

First sight of the Thames at Windsor was a bevy of swans. And that apparently (along with the alternative of wedge) is the correct collective noun for swans.

Raja at Windsor

Defunct meander at Eton

Detail from milepost Boveney Church looked after by the Friends of Friendless Churches The Ticket Collector for Bath Road Piscatorial Society is a hated man After the M3 and the M25 the M4 is the third motorway to cross the river

Maidenhead Railway Bridge built by Sir Isambard Brunel in 1839 is a much older crossing of the river. It is still the widest and fattest brick arch in the world. It is also sometimes called Echo Bridge. We tested the echo.......

Five years after it was built the bridge was famously portrayed by J W Turner in his painting Rain, Steam and Speed

A cluster of road signs near Taplow

Staines to Windsor

This section of the walk walked on November 17th, took us past the meadows of Runnymede and Magna Carta island. It was also the darkest walk in terms of light and with daylight becoming shorter each week, we finished the final stretch of the walk entering Windsor in darkness. At the beginning of the walk we were so busy reading the paper and talking on the train that we missed our stop and had to wait for a train back from Wraysbury into Staines.

Raja and Ray are reflected in a mirrored swan in front of Staines Town Hall

Fountains in front of Staines Town Hall

The end of London. A coal post in Staines marks the point at which boats carrying coal and wine entering London had a pay a tax under the London Coal and Wine Duties Continuance Act of 1861. The tax, which dates back to the reign of King James I, was finally abolished in 1889. Directly opposite this post is the London Stone which marks the limit of control of the Corporation of the City of London over the river.

Another half a mile upstream we pass another psychogeographical marker at the edge of London the M25.

Huge mast on this sailing barge

Yew tree in Old Windsor churchyard

Home of Dr Julius Grant on Friday Island the inventor of Marmite

Albert Bridge

Datchet Level Crossing at Dusk

Darkness falls on the final stretch to Windsor

Shepperton to Staines

This walk began at the most southerly point of the Thames between Shepperton and Weybridge where the river goes through a series of the most extreme meanders. The navigation channel here has been simplified by channels and locks cutting through the meanders creating four islands in the middle of the river. The picture of the left shows pollarded willows in Dumsey Meadow just downstream of Chertsey Bridge. In 1824 James Snelling and Dolby Haines were convicted at the Old Bailey of stealing swans from near Dumsey Meadow and sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia.

Pastry served with crisps and cucumbers (!) at Shepperton Bakery

Blues Brother statue on balcony overlooking Pharaoh's Island

Sinking houseboat opposite Chertsey Meads Spiral Ball

Windmills

Birdcote at Chertsey Meads

The M3 crossing the Thames

Penton Hook meander just beyond Laleham is the most extreme of the Thames' meanders. The neck of land seperating the upstream and downstream parts of the meander was eroded so badly that flood waters broke through in the early 19th century. A lock wasl also built at the same point so that two channels cut through the peninsula. The map of the meander now looks like a big fat exclamation mark! The island was used as a mass burial ground during the great plague of 1664.

Towpath approaching Staines