Lechlade to Tadpole Bridge, 10 miles

With the hope of an early afternoon finish, we rose early so as to be first in for breakfast when the restaurant opened at seven. Ha! Four tables had already placed their order. I was thankful that our meal was already paid for as I slightly more than raised an eyebrow at the prospect of paying one pound fifty for two slices of indifferent toast. That said, the Full English was excellent.

The two of us were away sharpish after eating and were soon walking toward the uppermost lock to be found on the Thames where the statue of Old Father Thames is to be found, languidly gazing down at the boats below him. It was already pretty warm and the sun beat down from a sky occasionally loudly punctuated by military aircraft on some form of manoeuvres. Eventually those, as well as Lechlade were left behind and we saw very few people for the remainder of the days walk as this is a lonely section of trail.

The River Thames had quickly transformed over just a couple of days from shallow stream to a working almost mature river but I still found it slightly astonishing that Lechlade used to be a busy port for London. Various goods- over 3000 tons of cheese annually, salt from Cheshire and golden coloured Taynton stone for buildings such as St. Paul’s Cathedral and Windsor Castle, were landed at the upper Thames wharves. All that trade is long gone, at least by river. The water table has dropped considerably over the years but quite a few narrow boats and smaller cruisers are not only making it this far, but were also at residential moorings.

I much preferred today’s walk over yesterday’s. Flower stuffed meadows bordered a river that meandered through tight loops. Our towpath closely followed the bank which increased the mileage and it was only later in the day that paths would cut across some curves. There were a lot of WWII pill boxes along the trail, we explored a couple, but once you have seen the inside of one, they are pretty much the same…

Other than five minute breaks at the five locks passed today, we also broke from the trail at Radcot Bridge to visit the Swan Hotel for mugs of tea, sitting on their veranda and cooling off. It was peaceful, apart from the tractors pulling laden trailers over the two bridges crossing the Thames and its side-channel. Centuries before this was the site of violent skirmishes.

We crossed Tadpole Bridge to The Trout on the far side. This was where we had to wait for our transport to the Lamb Inn in the Oxfordshire village of Buckland. The Trout was a pricey gastropub but excellent and for the hour or so until our driver arrived we sat in the garden rehydrating with pints of OJ and Lemon, and equally refreshing pints of Abingdon Bridge and Gunners Gold from the Loose Cannon brewery.

Once at our accommodation, a lazy afternoon beckoned. The days sweat and grime was removed, then resting, napping, reading and journalling sufficed until the evening and the arduous task of reducing a good menu to two choices. Local stream caught Trout for Mission Control and Faggots for me (yes, really), all together rounding off a good day.

• The Thames Path- National Trail
  • The Thames Path
  • The Thames Path: Kemble to Cricklade
  • The Thames Path: Cricklade to Lechlade
  • The Thames Path: Lechlade to Tadpole Bridge
  • The Thames Path: Tadpole Bridge to Bablock Hythe
  • The Thames Path: Bablock Hythe to Osney Bridge, Oxford
  • The Thames Path: Osney Bridge, Oxford to Abingdon
  • The Thames Path: Abingdon to Shillingford/Warborough
  • The Thames Path: Shillingford/Warborough to Goring
  • The Thames Path: Goring to Sonning
  • The Thames Path: Sonning to Marlow
  • The Thames Path: Marlow to Windsor
  • The Thames Path: Windsor to Chertsey
  • The Thames Path: Chertsey to Hampton Wick/Kingston-on-Thames
  • The Thames Path: Hampton Wick/Kingston-on-Thames to Putney
  • The Thames Path: Putney to Tower Bridge
  • The Thames Path: Tower Bridge to Woolwich Foot Tunnel