Wednesday 21 September 2022
Well it's been nearly a month since our last walk on The Thames Path, Emily in Cornwall, Susan with builders and a deluge of rain and more rain keeping us away.
We were limited for time today, so once Susan had let the decorator in off we whizzed back to Culham Lock. (There's a really useful car park just by the bridge).
We knew we needed to move quicker than normal to meet Graham at Day's Lock by 2pm, so no dilly dallying. Although within the first 2 minutes I nearly went flying over a hidden root along the path, and we were blown away by the beautiful morning view of the golden river, so we had to stop and capture it with a photo or two.
We could hear this boat chugging along before we saw it.
As we looked back on this section we saw the spire of Appleford Church which we must have missed walking past through the trees. It dates back to the 12th Century.
In ye olden days near here was Culham College
'founded in 1852 as a practical training school for men who wished to become teachers. There was an emphasis on gardening, handiwork and rural sciences and later the college became known for teaching courses in special education'.
It opened in January 1853 with the headmaster earning £300 per year and closed in 1979.
The hedgerows were looking quite laden today, we didn't think the blackberries along here have had a particularly bountiful year, they seem to have stopped mid-growth and don't look fat and juicy at all. These sloes above were so vibrant. I'm still regularly shaking the sloe gin I made last year, Susan will finally be able to get her hands on it this Christmas! (and Aunty SusieSue in London you'll probably be needing a top up?!)
Very pleased to see these cows on the other side of the river.
We didn't pass a soul along this section, it was so quiet and peaceful.
We arrived at Clifton Lock, which must be one of the prettiest with it's flowers and in particular it's dahlias at this time of year.
Clifton Lock - or Clifton Hampden Lock as it's also known - was first discussed in 1793 and these discussions continued until 1811. But it wasn't until 1822 that the Lock was finally constructed. Originally, the River Thames flowed in a loop towards Long Wittenham village but it was decided to dig a new, more direct cut to by-pass the longer route. Today's lock is a hydraulic pound type operated electrically, it looks very much like it did when it was built nearly 200 years ago, but without the heavy oak beams used to operate the lock manually.
This is a great spot if you have a picnic or need a little rest, the lock keeper also had ice creams, lollies and drinks for sale. We passed on our appreciation of the flowers and colour to the chap with the wheelbarrow!
This amazing bridge below was a sign that we were coming into Clifton Hampden.
Once owned by the Hampden family, the village actually owes it's look of pretty thatched cottages and the bridge to Lord Aldenham, Governor of the Bank of England, who inherited the village in 1842.
Architect Sir George Gilbert Scott designed the bridge that replaced the ferry in 1864 and restored the church which sits on bit of raised land by the river.
It's a beautiful brick bridge. Definitely one of our favourites since we started our walk.
Apparently the water used to be so shallow here that cattle were driven across the ferry point and in 1826 the Lord Mayor's barge became stuck as it returned from Oxford. When they built the upstream lock in 1835 this raised the water level and the ferry (which was run by Oxford Exeter's College since 1493) continued to run until the bridge was built.
Apparently Gilbert Scott designed the bridge with a sketched plan on his starched shirt cuff!
Bridge tolls were collected in person by the two nieces of Lord Aldenham until 1946.
Below is the church, next to it was a beautifully hidden Manor House, which we couldn't quite see, but I have since discovered that it belongs to Kate Bush who bought it in 2017
- Clifton Hampden's pretty church and it's reflection in the River Thames -
At this point we really felt that this was our first Thames walk of Autumn, lots of trees changing colour around here, the Thames is really wide along this stretch and is lovely.
We arrived at the Barley Mow pub after about 1 hour 25 minutes, 3.39 miles from Culham Lock. Useful for loos, snack and drink, the menu looked good but it was terribly short staffed and bookings limited, with people (walkers) being turned away.
The pub is one of the most famous on the River Thames and dates from 1352 and was built using the traditional 'cruck' construction (a pair of curved timbers that meet at the top and create an arch). It is mentioned in Jerome's Three Men in a Boat as 'the quaintest, most old-word inn up the river"
After a brief rest having walked 8,574 steps we continued on our way.
So peaceful and so quiet, a huge open expanse of fields, just over 2.5 miles of countryside. We saw sheep, geese and bravely walked past the cows with just a small string fence between us. The map shows a long sweeping curve heading eastwards around the edge of these meadows.
This was a very tense moment as it was just then that Jason phoned from Norway to speak to Susan, enquiring as to where she was, she whispered "I can't speak loudly I'm on walk with Emily and there's a piece of string between us and some cows' ...
We made it through ...
A signpost below at a nearby Nature Reserve shows an Otter, we've STILL not seen one.
But hello, I spy a Heron, well I didn't, Susan did, as usual! Quite hard to spot this one on the edge of the water.
Ooh, this is where we could see houses coming up on the other side of the river ...
This area is Burcot, in about 1800 the area began to attract attention and became a desirable Thames-side residential area, and it's character still remains.
There used to be a hotel here called Croft House Hotel which then became Riverside Hotel, there is also Riverside House which has become apartments and further along a care home, with a great garden and view down to the river.
Below is Riverside Hotel in about the 1940s, on the right is the boathouse to Riverside House.
There is alot of history along the river bank in those buildings, but then along comes modern architecture ....
A stunning boat house with it's canoe beneath and another house on a lovely wide plot, lots of wood with scandi and teletubby vibes!
Finally we made it to the area of Day's Lock found beneath Little Wittenham, a small hamlet, the footbridge here is where the World Pooh Stick Championships have been held since 1984, we are going to battle it out on our return!
Watching over us on our right hand side we could spot two small hills, their correct name is the Sinodun Hills, but more popularly known as Wittenham Clumps, or as I saw in a book known locally as 'Mother Daunch's Buttocks' after Oliver Crowell's aunt who lived at the Manor House next to the church. The Clumps name comes from the 'clumps' of beech trees which crown both hills, apparently 'the oldest beech tree plantings in England, dating to the 1740s".
A great photo of them from www.english-walks.co.uk
From this angle you can just make out one of the clumps. Apparently there is an amazing view from the top of them. I think we will head back there one day to reminisce our walking days with tea and cake!
The view from up there (300ft) comprises of the Vale of the White Horse on the West and the long undulating plains towards the Chilterns, Thame and Aylesbury on the East.
There's even a Sinodun Hills Cheese, made locally
Many artists over the years have captured the hills, and the artist Paul Nash painted the picture below which hung in the Queen Mother's bedroom. He first drew it in 1912, and his later version in oils titled Landscape of the Vernal Equinox entered the Royal Collection.
I enjoyed reading about Paul Nash, his art and exhibition at The Tate in 2016 on a blog I found via google.
We came off the Thames Path at Days Lock to walk to our collection point, aiming for St Peter's Church of Little Wittenham. The church was once a sister church of Abingdon Abbey.
(If it wasn't for the lock keeper we would in fact have headed towards another church in the opposite direction as it had a signpost saying tea, cakes and lunches. But no, he told us we needed the other church in the other direction ... with no cakes featuring ...)
Apparently it has a lovely display of aconites in winter but today in September we found conkers!
We had managed a quicker pace today to get back home in time for work and painters. It had been a really pleasant 18 degree temperature, we're still in shirt sleeves.
We walked 6.2 miles and finished the walk in 15,654 steps.
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