Thursday 25 August 2022
We started our walk slightly later in the day due to us finally having some rain and it was due to peter out by late morning.
Back to Radley Boat House via the A34, in the distance you can see Nuneham House, which has great stories to tell. It's a house, park and village of 1,200 acres. Bought by the Lord High Chancellor of England Viscount Harcourt in 1710, one of George III's courtier, he lived down the road 20 miles away in Stanton Harcourt but preferred this spot. 50 years later, he had decided it was a bit small and wasn't too keen on the views, so he had it knocked down and replaced with today's larger and grander mansion.
But he also decided to demolish the old village of Nuneham as it too was spoiling his view, so he moved it and bought the villagers a new church, as he kept their old one!
Moving through the years, during World War 2 the house was requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence and became RAF Nuneham Park its main role of being a photographic reconaissance interpretation unit.
Photographs taken by aircraft from RAF Benson and other airfields over enemy territory were examined here by RAF officers. The RAF station continued after the war in the same role until the mid-1950s, when the added buildings and roadways were demolished and the estate handed back to the Harcourt family, who sold it to Oxford University.
JMW Turner painted Nuneham House when he was about 11 or 12 in 1787.
It was very peaceful along the riverbanks, not many people around probably due to the rain.
But the rain decided it just wanted to continue so out came the waterproofs and we made our way along the sludgy pathway with our boots and trousers getting wetter and wetter.
We were then on the long straight through Barton Fields, where we picked some elderberries to take home to magic into syrup.
We saw (and heard) lots of geese flying past and finally some swans in the water, apart from them the wildlife was very quiet on this walk.
We arrived at Abingdon Lock just before the town itself, I took a photo of the flood marks at the Lock Keepers house, the highest being in 1894.
The plan was to stop at Abingdon after 4 miles (11,000 steps) to get some picnic food and carry on to Culham Lock to eat it, but as we arrived into Abingdon we could smell food, lethal, and were so wet and weary we just climbed on to the bridge and into the very first pub The Nags Head!
It was busy, great menu, we were damp and quite muddy so kept ourselves in a little corner and had a really good lunch, so good I forgot to take a photo, that's a first!
Today marked the first time on our walk that the pubs have started to advertise their Christmas Menus .....
It continued to rain so we didn't make it into town, but here are a few snippets about Abingdon.
It's an ancient market town that claims to be the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the country, there is evidence of settlement through Iron Age, Roman and Saxon times.
A Benedictine monastery was here from 695 until 1538.
In the 13th and 14th centuries the town was an agricultural centre with an extensive trade in wool, alongside weaving and the manufacture of clothing.
It was Berkshire's county town, and since 1974 has been administered by the Vale of White Horse District in Oxfordshire.
Morland Brewery was formed here in 1711 and over a million MG Cars were made here from 1929 until 1980.
There are some beautiful historical buildings in the town, I've included a link if you want to find out more about Abingdon HERE
Having rested and eaten, we decided to cut our walk short for the day and carry on a further 2.2 miles to Culham Lock where we would end today's slow muddy walk.
Back onto the busy bridge, down the steps, under the bridge and on our way.
Above is the pub from the other side of the bridge.
We loved the Captain of this boat!
Some beautiful Alms Houses, with very tall chimneys
These ducks provided the noisiest part of the day, they were taking part in some huge Abingdon waters committee meeting!
And below is as busy as rush hour got
Susan found herself a lovely soggy spaniel
And calmness resumed, the rain had finally stopped for the day.
We made it to Culham Lock, known as the deepest and coldest lock, (not counting Teddington).
There is a small car park here, useful for dropping off or pick ups along the Thames Path, also a few benches to sit, rest and watch the world go by.
We finished our walk at 4:30pm and had managed a total of 6.5 miles (17,000 steps)
Home to make Elderberry Syrup
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