Thursday 6 October 2022
A beautiful golden autumnal day for a walk, we loved it.
All 11.1 miles of it
It got off to a great start outside St Peter's Church where we found loads of fresh conkers, no school nearby so they hadn't been picked by loads of children.
Em was very happy with her stash!
Past the church to the start of the Thames Path at Days Lock at 10:30am, Susan started in a jumper today, but it was soon discarded and we enjoyed the sunny warmth all day.
We welcomed Autumn at every turn
The last of the summer flowers around, these are Asters
We were so busy marvelling at everything this morning, we missed our first diversion off the path to visit Dorchester, whoops, there's somewhere to add to our 'must-do return list', we were recommended going to see The Abbey there.
There were so many more boats today and fishermen too, everyone happy to wave.
It was all going so well until we reached a dead-end! Far too busy chatting today obviously. We could no longer follow the river, so out came the book & map and apparently we were supposed to walk up towards the main road for a small section to the village of Shillingford.
We walked back through the field, looking for a gap to reach the main road.
And here is the signpost we blindly walked past, we realised we had been too busy waving at boats and taking photographs, it certainly kept us alert for the rest of the day. Don't take it for granted that you just always follow the river!
This boat was the culprit
Up and onto the main road, thankfully there was a pavement as there were some fast and heavy vehicles passing us.
Crossing the main road into Wharf Road, we saw this beautiful house hidden by a giant wisteria, I bet it looks amazing in May/June before the greenery takes over.
There were some very pretty houses and gardens along this stretch
At the bottom of the lane, there is a stunning corner of the Thames with a small green and a bench, which is looked after by the local council, it makes a great spot for a rest and a picnic.
Next to the green this building has a stone that shows the water level on 27 January 1809, incredible!
We were taken down some dingly dells today, always popping out somewhere interesting.
In this case we found ourselves by the beautiful gates of Shillingford Court
The house was built in 1898 by Frederick William Mortimer who was the tailor to the Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII. It has been said that the house was used for illicit meetings between the Prince and his mistress Lillie Langtry. The house has now been split into 3, and the link above takes you to the sales particulars of one of the apartments, Tailors.
Around the corner we arrived by Shilingford Bridge, this marks the halfway point on the River Thames between Oxford and Reading, it has 3 lovely arches and carries the A329 over it. Originally the south side was in Berkshire, but it was transferred to Oxfordshire in 1974. From 1379 to 1767 crossings here were made by ferry until a timber bridge was built. The present stone bridge was built in 1827 and has been Grade II listed since 1952.
The painting below hangs in the Tate Gallery London, by Alfred William Rich 1911
We were back on the Thames Path by the river heading towards Benson.
We arrived at Benson Waterfront, there was so much going on, plenty of people enjoying the sunshine, their lodges, their boats and the popular and well known The Waterfront Cafe
Susan below, working out which boat to take on a boating holiday
We didn't stop at the lovely cafe, but carried on towards Wallingford, as this is where we had planned to stop for lunch.
But first we had to cross Benson Weir; a mill and weir were recorded here back in the late 1300s.
It was lovely to hear the sound of powerful rushing water
There were quite a few red kites flying above us today, and this one above the lock was circling for some time.
On the opposite side of the river we saw someone had a Pill Box that had been painted with Dame Vera Lynn, red poppies and a spitfire.
There is a link below to hear the owner speak about it on local radio
And below a photograph of how it originally looked
It was around here that we were on the look out for Graham's old offices, a lovely spot to be, on the Howbery Business Park. We could just make it out on the other side of the river through the trees. Thank goodness he retired and is now on hand as our Thames Walk Chauffeur!
I knew this meant we were about to reach Wallingford .... and lunch! We'd walked about 5.5 miles at this point, so we were getting hungry.
King Alfred the Great built Wallingford in the 9th century as a defence against the Vikings. William the Conqueror famously crossed over the river in Wallingford, at the same spot where the town’s 300-metre bridge stands today.
The bridge has 19 arches and is 900ft long
In the 1600s, Wallingford was used as a stronghold for King Charles and was the last of his garrisons to fall. Then in 1652, Oliver Cromwell demolished the Castle of Wallingford in order to use the stone and timber to build part of Windsor Castle.
One of the most famous visitors to Wallingford Oxfordshire over the years was the highwayman Dick Turpin. He frequently visited the town as a stopover on his travels.
The town of Wallingford is famed as being the location for a handful of fictional murders in the much-loved classic Midsomer Murders and is also the former home of Agatha Christie.
We made the most of the sunshine and sat outside to eat at The Old Post Office near to this church tower of St Mary's and the market square.
We enjoyed some brunch specials and an amazing sugar frenzy of a vegan dessert.
We had to head back to Thames Street to return to the Thames Path, we stopped by this stunning church, St Peter's Church, it had it's last service in 29 June 1969, was declared redundant and it now belongs to the Churches Conservation Trust. It was designed in 1763 after the previous medieval church that stood here was destroyed in the Civil War.
The tomb of Sir William Blackstone can be found here in the nave. He was the author of the legal 'Commentaries' which bear his name and have been on the reading list for solicitors since. He served as Judge and Record of Wallingford for 31 years until his death in 1780. His 'Commentaries on the Laws of England' inspired the American Declaration of Independence and formed the basis of the US Constitution.
It's amazing what we are walking past on our walks and what we're learning as we go along or look back on our travels.
At this point on our walk we hadn't spotted a Heron, not like Susan! But instead we spotted this gorgeous front door with an etched Heron. Late night scrolling on Rightmove resulted in Susan finding out that is is currently for sale!
It's a beauty! Click HERE to see the particulars.
I adore this photo, this really shows that's it Autumn! 💙🧡
Past another Church, this one, St Leonards is the oldest church in Wallingford.
It was good to be back on the river, from here we were walking through the bottom of some lovely riverfront gardens towards Cholsey. Cholsey is the final resting place of Agatha Christie.
Here is a 6 mile circular trail put together all related to Agatha Christie and the area.
Cholsey was once connected to Wallingford by a railway branch line known as 'The Bunk'. The line was closed in 1959 to passengers and then to goods in 1965, but it continues as a preserved line now, and runs occasional diesel and steam trains.
The boat above coming towards us is The African Queen you can climb aboard for short holidays along this stretch of The Thames.
We passed Oxford University's Boat House and Oxford Brookes's Boat House along this stretch, there were quite a few rowers out on the water.
And finally ... there was our Heron! It's not a Thames Path walk without a Heron.
Whereas Susan spots the herons first, I tend to spot the fresher looking cow pats first! Which I usually keep to myself before we spot the cows. But these ones weren't too bothered by us today, nor were they blocking our gate.
This was our final bridge for the day, underneath the train lines.
Here's a little image of today's walk with our little blip in the earlier part of the day!
We had covered 26,032 steps today and enjoyed every single one, it was a really beautiful and varied walk today with a bit of everything.
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