Culham to Radley

The twentieth Thames walk was a ten mile trek around a very large meander of the river at Abingdon. Apparently walking along the meanders of a river is supposed to be roughly 3.14 times the distance the crow flies. But with the distance from Culham to Radley along the railway track being only two miles this week's walk's meander ratio was about five.

Tree spirit

George Orwell's grave in Sutton Courtenay churchyard

House at Culham

Trees on the horizon at Warren Farm upstream from Abingdon

Didcot to Culham

Another beautiful day for the third of the February walks up the Thames. The walk explored the area upstream from Dorchester where last week's walk end, but because of the vagaries of rural bus services we decided to begin the walk from Didcot Parkway (a couple of miles south of the Thames) and walk across the fields to approach the river round the back of Wittenham Clumps. There was also a short stretch at the end of the walk away from the Thames to get to the nearest convenient railway station north of the Thames. So the Thames of this walk could more accurately be described as from Dorchester to Appleford. Didcot power station built at the end of the the modernist decade (1958-1968) was visible for the entire walk. This was partly because it stands up so high from the Thames flood plain horizon and also partly because the walk was a very strange shape this week like an elongated and northeasterly-slanted 'n' with the Thames forming the curved part of the shape. Greenpeace reckons Didcot to be the second most polluting power station in the British Isles after Drax in Yorkshire. Didcot had the highest life expectancy of any town in the UK in 2001 with those living in the town expected to reach the ripe old age of 86 - 31 years longer than the 55 years of life that could be expected in the worst parts of Middlesborough. But is a long life a good life? Didcot was also ranked as the 20th worst place to live in the UK in the 2003 book Crap Towns with "no cultural facilties" and an "awful town centre"!

After walking through the northern suburbs of Didcot for a kilometre and crossing the A4130 we suddenly found ourselves in open fields lit by bright winter sunshine, but with a slight morning mist lingering.

We arrived in Little Wittenham and noticed this intriguing tunnel box maze through a gate on the road.

We decided to explore....

And emerged in a tennis court surrounded by huge box hedges

The shady side of the bridge at Clifton Hampden

...and the sunny side. The bridge was built by the prolific Victorian architect George Gilbert Scott in 1864, the year before he designed St Pancras Station. He was also responsible for the Royal Albert Hall and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Ray, CB, Chris and Raja outside the Plough in Clifton Hampden where we had lunch

CB on Clifton Hampden Bridge

The final kilometre of the walk was made more interesting because of a classic map-reading error. What I thought was a footpath turned out to be a parish boundary. We ended up walking across a couple of ploughed fields, crashing through a few hedges and climbing an embankment before reaching Culman station and finding that we had just missed a train and had an hour-and-a-half wait before the next one. We had a drink and a game of pool in the Railway Tavern at Culham station which doubled up as an Indian restaurant.

Wallingford to Dorchester-upon-Thames

The origin of the word Thames is at least 2,500 years old and is shrouded in mystery but one of the most credible theories is that it derives from the Sanskrit word 'tamasa' meaning 'dark river' or 'dark water'. The name was brought to Britain by the Celts. Another story is that the Thames is actually a contraction of Tamesis - a name formed from the names of the two rivers which run into each other at Dorchester on Thames - the Thame and the Isis. According to this the Thames above Dorchester should actually be called the river Isis and only becomes the Thames after it has joined with the river Thame (no 's') at Dorchester. The two rivers are not of equal size with the Thame pictured here being like a small stream flowing into the much larger Isis. Peter Ackroyd makes much of the Isis theory in his book Thames - Sacred River and believes that the story has mythological resonance. Isis, which is the name of an Egyptian Godess of memories, rivers and fertility, the protectress of agriculture and the arts of healing, is apt because the parallels he draws between the Thames and the Nile. He also points out that three Roman effigies of Horus the son of Isis have been found in the Thames by London Bridge. The Thames and Isis names are also interesting because they represent both male and female aspects of the river. Isis as the river goddess and the Thames which is often referred to as Old Father Thames. The meeting point of the Thame and Isis where Birinus (a Bishop sent by Pope Honorius I, succeeded in converting King Cynegils of Wessex to Christianity in 634.

Isis Goddess of the Thames. There was once a temple to Isis on the banks of the river at Southwark

Raja slipped and fell in the mud again

Marcin A vine with a trunk as thick as a tree on cottages in Shillingford The sky was full of contrails from aircraft flying out of nearby RAF Benson.

Ribbons of reflection in a field by the river Thames

The light on the river was intense

Wittenham Clumps hillside Radiohead made a video of Faust Arp in 2007 here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt8K-5fMA2I The 2,000MW Didcot Power Station is in the distance. It was built between 1964 and 1968. Greenpeace describe it as Britain's second worst polluting station after Drax in Yorkshire. It was voted Britain's third worst eyesore in 2003 by Country Life readers. They voted windfarms the worst eyesore!

View from Wittenham Clumps looking northeast towards Wittenham village and Day's Lock on the Thames.

Castle Hill: site of the Sinodun fortress.

Detail from the Poem tree on Castle Hill carved into the bark by Joseph Tubb in 1844-45. "As up the hilll with labr'ing steps we tread. Where the twin Clumps their sheltering branches spread. The summit gain'd at ease reclining lay. And all around that the land befell. Where the low bank the country wide surrounds. That ancient earthwork form'd old Mercia's bounds. In misty distance see the barrow heave. There lies forgotten lonely Cwichelm's grave. Around this hill the ruthless Danes intrenched. And these fair plains with gory slaughter drench'd. While at our feed where stands that stately tower. In days gone by up rose the Roman power. And yonder, there where Thames smooth waters glide. In later days appeared monastic pride. Within that field where lies the grazing herd. Huge walls were found, some coffins disinter'd. Such is the course of time the wreck which fate and awful doom award the earthly great.

Ray with Brightwell Barrow in the background

New Moon over Wallingford marketplace

Cholsey railway station at dusk

Alice dances at Cholsey Station

Goring to Wallingford

For the first time since Hammersmith there appeared to be a choice for the entire route of the this stretch of the walk over which side of the river to walk on. Because of reasons which later turned out to be spurious we chose to walk on the west bank/north bank. This path was actually part of the Ridgeway walk (which connects Grimes Graves in Norfolk with Avebury in Wiltshire) rather than the official Thames path. One unintended result was that the walk this week did follow the river as closely as we usually track it. The river was in sight for only about half of the walk and we walked beside it for only about a two mile stretch. One impressive sight along the way was this kite which soared in and amongst the trees and telegraph wires just north of Goring. It appeared to have a large chunk bitten out of one of its wings.

Alfie, Ray, Natasha, Chris, Louise and Raja came on this the eighteenth stage of the Thames walk.

An eight passes through the double arches of Moulsford Viaduct. The older part of the bridge dates from 1838 and is another bridge built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The first two we passed were at Maidenhead and at Gatehampton near Goring.

Louise became the seventeenth Thames Walker

Workmen's tools left on the ground at North Stoke. Michael Caine lived at the Rectory Farm House in North Stoke, while Ian Gillan, formerly of Deep Purple used to live in a large house here and did the rock star thing by building a guitar-shaped swimming pool.

After arriving in Wallingford we ended up getting a taxi back to Goring to eat at the Miller of Mansfield. The pub was trying much too hard (and hilariously) to be an edgy urban hangout in a completely rural Oxfordshire village. Here Alfie is chillin to the vibe and just "Being"

Greenwich to Tower Bridge (North Bank)

After nearly being washed away by the floods in Oxfordshire last week, we decided to return to a more urban route until the path upstream dries up again. The Greenwich to Tower Bridge section of the path is a rare bit of walking on the north bank of the Thames in central London which is not primarily a road walk. It was a walk through the most moneyed part of redeveloped docklands with small patches of older social housing in North Greenwich (old definition before that tag crossed over to the south bank of the Thames and became used to describe the area around the dome) and also in Millwall. In the background for most of the walk were the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf. The second part of the walk was along the waterfront of the most densely and claustrophobically built-up part of the old docklands in Limehouse and Wapping - an area which is primarily up-market residential rather than offices. Just before Tower Bridge we reached the originator of docklands redevelopment St Katherine's Dock which began transforming itself into luxury hotels and a marina 40 years ago in 1968. Picture above shows the entrance to Greenwich foot-tunnel with Canary Wharf in the background.

Greenwich Foot Tunnel

Ian and Raja on Island Gardens beach, Greenwich Power Station in the background

Climbing plants on wall in Island Gardens

A spectacular leap between two Millwall skycrapers

Traffic light tree at Heron Quay contains 75 working traffic lights

Broken Umbrella on riverside at Wapping

The tower of the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station which in 1977 became last hydraulic power station in the world to close

The gallows outside The Prospect of Whitby where we had lunch. It is the oldest surviving Thameside pub dating from 1520. The gallows commemorates the fact that it was the favourite drinking spot of Hanging Judge Jeffries who was responsible for convicting 300 people to be hung following the suppression of the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685.

Execution Dock where prisoners who had been hung were washed over by three tides and where the famous pirate Captain Kidd was hung is slightly further along the road at Wapping Old Stairs by the Town of Ramsgate pub.

Umbrella tree outside Wapping Hydraulic Power Station

Sailing ship at Bermondsey

Tower Bridge from Wapping

Tower Bridge roadway at dusk

Sunset sky behind London City Hall above Tower Bridge

Pangbourne to Goring

We returned to the Thames at Pangbourne after last week's estuary walk to find meadows where we had walked two weeks before under several feet of water.

The path was difficult with very heavy mud and at one point we had to turn back when it disappeared under the swollen river. Detail from bodice made of maps in a Whitchurch gallery

The path veered away from the river into the Oxfordshire Chilterns

Natasha on the edge of of Hartslock Wood

The path was cut into a steep wooded slope and was high enough up to keep us out of the floods for a while.

Looking down into the valley the flooding was such that it was hard to see where the dry season Thames course lay.

The birds were also confused...

Fallen tree with moss and autumn leaves... Gatehampton Railway Bridge built by Brunel in 1839 Natasha in the John Barleycorn Inn in Goring where we had lunch and had a go at Bar Billiards without knowing the rules