Thames Path Walk - photos

Rather nice photos Terry .......... looked like you had good weather for the
trip, although the sky looked rather menacing on the photo approaching
Swinford bridge.

--
sandy saunders @ www.thewalkzone.co.uk

'Mountains or Mole Hills ... summiting still
brings the same excitement'

sandy saunders said:

Rather nice photos Terry .......... looked like you had good weather for the
trip, although the sky looked rather menacing on the photo approaching
Swinford bridge.

Thanks, Sandy. Yes, it was the dramatic skyscape that prompted that
particular photo. But serious rain veered away. The only real soaking
I got was late afternoon on the second day, between Abingdon and
Culham.

BTW, I'd be interested if anyone has any theories about all those
apparently pointless stiles?

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

In article <[email hidden]>, Anth
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Hey, who's nicked the small cairn my brother & I built next to the
Thames Head plaque? You b**gers, that took us ages!

Good on them I say. What possessed you to build a cairn there???

--

Dominic Sexton

Anth said:

Cheers for the piccies, keep going (if you keep going as far down the
Thames as Erith in East London, you can carry straight on into the
London LOOP next!)

Or the Saxon Shore which leads into the North Downs Way.

--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

(Anth) said:

Glad to see someone else doing the south-eastern LDP's, they tend to
get forgotten about a bit. Are you going to carry on & do the rest
soon Terry? I'd be interested to see more photos. I've been doing
occassional bits of the TP as Sunday afternoon walks with my wife, to
try to get her into walking as much as me - it must be pretty good
walking the whole thing in one go so you see the Thames gradually
grow! I'll get round to writing them up on our website one day...!

My favourite bits so far are the Source, plus the whole Henley to
Marlow stretch. What are your faves so far Terry (so I can get my
wife more into it with the "best bits"!)

Don't worry about the stiles, you're past the worst - there's not too
many round my local bit (between Reading & Maidenhead).

Cheers for the piccies, keep going (if you keep going as far down the
Thames as Erith in East London, you can carry straight on into the
London LOOP next!)

Anth
http://www.wheresthepath.com/

Thanks, Anth. My intention was certainly to do the whole path. My only
reservation arose yesterday when I was looking at some pics of the
London stretch, which looked pretty grim. And a fair bit of it through
the back streets by the sound of it. Such a contrast with the upstream
western stretches, that it might be depressing! But it would be untidy
to leave it unfinished...

Anyway, sometime this summer I'll certainly be setting off downstream
from Reading, and walking for between 3 and 6 days. Duration depends
on how long my wife goes off on her equivalent solo holiday. Last two
years it was opera in Verona, but this year I've been pressed into one
night at the opera at the end of our walking fortnight in the
Dolomites/Lake Garda, so some other excuse for must be found <g>.

As for favourite stretches, that's a difficult one. I honestly enjoyed
most of it so far, both 2003 and 2004. I was lucky with the weather,
which makes all the difference. One particularly enjoyable stretch was
from Streatley to MapleDurham Lock, where I relaxed in warm sunshine
with a pot of tea and cakes.

Those stiles remain an unanswered puzzle! I suppose maybe there might
have been a ferry or something there at some stage, attracting high
volume walking traffic?

I'm also considering another radical change. For the last two years I
found my own accommodation each night, and carried an uncomfortably
heavy rucksack. But I'm getting wimpish, so considering
traveling lighter this year. And avoiding the hassle of finding
places. I nearly ended up sleeping in a ditch or something in
Cricklade in 2003; B&Bs were elusive, and both hotels were full.

So I'm going to look around for one of these companies that 'forward'
your luggage. The only service I'd want is to be able to hand them a
suitcase at Reading station, and then retrieve it at a decent en-suite
B&B or small hotel nightly, plus simple directions how to find each
one. If anyone knows of such an outfit, I'd appreciate a pointer
please. I've emailed one, called In Step Walking Holidays, at
http://www.instephols.co.uk/ but no reply yet.

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

Dominic Sexton <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Anth
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Hey, who's nicked the small cairn my brother & I built next to the
Thames Head plaque? You b**gers, that took us ages!

Good on them I say. What possessed you to build a cairn there???

Um... there were rocks... it was the highest point of the Thames
Path... cairns have a certain rustic charm and add character to any
landscape...?

What have you got against cairns anyway? They're lovely! I'm going
to go back, build another one & name it "Rocky".

Anth

Quoted message said:

What have you got against cairns anyway? They're lovely! I'm going
to go back, build another one & name it "Rocky".

Careful .. That may not be a cairn .. It may be a Person With Cobbles.

Richard Webb

(RJ Webb) said:

Quoted message said:

What have you got against cairns anyway? They're lovely! I'm going
to go back, build another one & name it "Rocky".

Careful .. That may not be a cairn .. It may be a Person With Cobbles.

Hee! Hee!

Judith
(Just about to sit down with a beer in front of BBC2)

Terry Pinnell said:

I finally got around today to finishing my web page for my second
Thames Path walk (last August). Here are links to both of them:

Aug 2003:
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/terrypin/Walks/TP03/Photos03.htm

You might want to take a look at hese with a *bit* of water at the
source.

http://www.p-t-cook.freeserve.co.uk/thames/thameshead.htm

Phil Cook said:

Terry Pinnell said:

I finally got around today to finishing my web page for my second
Thames Path walk (last August). Here are links to both of them:

Aug 2003:
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/terrypin/Walks/TP03/Photos03.htm

You might want to take a look at hese with a *bit* of water at the
source.

http://www.p-t-cook.freeserve.co.uk/thames/thameshead.htm

Those are beautiful

Katherine

Phil Cook said:

Terry Pinnell said:

I finally got around today to finishing my web page for my second
Thames Path walk (last August). Here are links to both of them:

Aug 2003:
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/terrypin/Walks/TP03/Photos03.htm

You might want to take a look at hese with a *bit* of water at the
source.

http://www.p-t-cook.freeserve.co.uk/thames/thameshead.htm

Very nice, Phil. As per my post here 24th Aug 2003, just after my
first leg, the contrast is astonishing!

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

In article <[email hidden]>, Anth
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Dominic Sexton <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Anth
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Hey, who's nicked the small cairn my brother & I built next to the
Thames Head plaque? You b**gers, that took us ages!

Good on them I say. What possessed you to build a cairn there???

Um... there were rocks... it was the highest point of the Thames
Path... cairns have a certain rustic charm and add character to any
landscape...?

Ancient cairns yes but Tom, [censored] and Harry's recent efforts have no
charm. Why is it people feel the need to "build" things in attractive
places? To me it is similar to people carving their initials, or worse,
in tree bark or into rocks.

Quoted message said:

What have you got against cairns anyway?

There are too many of them, they serve no purpose and I enjoy seeing the
rocks laying about rather than piled up.

Quoted message said:

They're lovely! I'm going
to go back, build another one & name it "Rocky".

I hope Rocky meets the same end as the previous effort...

--

Dominic Sexton