Temple Bridge at Hurley is a beautiful wooden footbridge crossing the river. It was specifically built for walkers in 1989 and was one of the final pieces of the jigsaw needed to create the Thames Path National Trail. The bridge is a crossing point for walkers wishing to get from Marlow to Henley & vice versa. In May 2023 the Environment Agency closed the bridge on safety grounds, citing structural issues with its wooden structure & walkways. A detour was put in place to avoid the bridge. The detour takes you down lanes and the streets of Temple and Bisham. It adds ½ mile to the walk and part of it is along an unlit road with no pavements and a double bend for good measure. If walking to Marlow it brings you out at the Compleat Angler on the south side of the river at Marlow Bridge.
There are currently a number of detours in place along the Thames Path due to bridge closures & if you’re walking from Henley to Marlow, this detour detracts from the pleasure of finishing a walk. In search of a new walk, I did some research into how I could possibly avoid this detour by maybe walking from Hambleden Lock to Marlow entirely along the north side of the river.
There is a walk on the National Trails website called the Hambleden & Medmenham Circular Walk, a 5½ mile walk between the villages of Hambleden & Medmenham. About 1½ miles of this walk between Mill End and Medmenham is right by the side of the north bank of the river so this was a promising foundation of a route. From Medmenham there is a public footpath that eventually brings you out right by Temple Lock and crucially, beyond Temple Bridge. From there you follow the existing Thames Path into Marlow. On the Ordnance Survey map this looked like a solution to the Temple Bridge to Marlow detour, so I was excited to see if the theory translated into a practical and enjoyable walk.
So, bright and early on a Sunday morning I got the first of what should have been 4 trains between Huntingdon & Henley. The journey is more convoluted on a Sunday but connections generally work OK. The final train is from Twyford along the single track branch line to Henley. On reaching Twyford I was most upset to discover my train to Henley was cancelled due to a fallen tree on the line. On a single track line this is a bit of a showstopper. As time was precious to me, I decided immediately I would need a cab because there are no buses on Sundays from Twyford. As luck would have it there was one at the front of the station. We agreed a fare and he drove me to Henley. I wasn’t aware until the next day that in circumstances like this GWR sometimes lays on a replacement cab service – never mind.
Henley looking downstream was looking great in the sunshine; lots of rowers on the river and plenty of people taking a Sunday walk. Work was already underway in erecting stands and marquees for the Henley Regatta which this year takes place between July 2nd and 7th. The Henley Women's Regatta takes place between 21st and 23rd June.
I set off towards Hambleden Lock, my favourite Thames lock. At the lock I crossed the weir to the sound of the water crashing through the sluice gates – magnificent! I passed some people on the weir who knew the lock very well but had never walked over the weir prior to today – unforgivable!! The walkway over the weir emerges by the busy A4155 which is the main road between Reading and Bourne End. From here I turned right & walked carefully (no pavement) for about 300 yards to Ferry Lane where I turned right again. Ferry Lane is a very peaceful road with just a small handful of properties. At the end just before it took a 90 degree bend to the right I passed through a kissing gate into a meadow and turned right in the direction of the river.
I was fully expecting the meadow by the river bank to be like a quagmire but I was very pleasantly surprised to find it wasn’t even muddy. Gosh, I’ve struck lucky here. A couple of fellow walkers were approaching in the opposite direction and I took the opportunity to ask where they’d walked from. I was hoping they would say ‘Marlow’ to give me hope that my planned route wasn’t ridiculous. Thankfully they did say ‘Marlow’ but pointed out that a small half mile section in Medmenham was currently flooded but there was an easy way around this. Wasn’t I lucky to have met them. For the next 1½ miles I was walking right alongside the north bank of the river, getting a fresh perspective of the landscape. The most obvious ‘bonus’ view was of Culham Court. On the Thames Path you get side glimpses of it but on this side of the river you see a lot more of it. There were a number of benches alongside the river and I chose to stop at one to take a break and eat my sandwich.
At Medmenham, just before privately owned Medmenham Abbey I was forced to leave the river and turn left up another Ferry Lane in the direction of the village. Up until the end of the 2nd World War a ferry used to cross the river here, hence the name of the lane. Medmenham Ferry Memorial stands here and commemorates Lord Devonport's successful 1899 defence of the public right-of-way over the ferry. There are some seriously large and attractive houses in Ferry Lane. About half way up the lane, was a sign to the right for the public footpath I would be following all the way to Temple Lock. This was the turning that the couple I’d met early advised me to ignore and instead carry on up to the main road and then rejoin the path on dry land. At the main road (the A4155 again), the Hambleden & Medmenham Circular Walk turned left and I turned right. There was a narrow path for me to walk along and after about 700 yards I rejoined the public footpath heading in the direction of the river.
The path narrowed very considerably and I had the high fencing of Danesfield House Hotel to my left and the river to my right. At Hurley Weir there were kayakers enjoying the conditions. The narrow path took a sharp 90 degree turn left uphill and it felt reminiscent of the Hartley Steps you encounter in Hartslock Woods near Goring. The path was certainly as steep and the climb continued for longer before entering a brick tunnel with a concrete roof. The tunnel had a great echo!
Shortly after the tunnel the signs took me to the right in the direction of Harleyford Golf Club, part of the Harleyford Estate. At the golf club I couldn’t help but notice lots of sculpted wooden animals and birds dotted around close to the clubhouse.  I read that these were all made from driftwood and stainless steel by James Doran-Webb. They were very impressive I have to say.
I was now reaching the final mile of this new walk to Temple Lock. Between the public footpath and the river was more of the Harleyford Estate including riverside holiday homes and a marina. It looked pretty private to me, so not wishing to get told off for trespassing, I was good and stuck to the public footpath.
Eventually, I emerged down a path I’ve noticed before that joined the Thames Path opposite Temple Mill Island on the other side of the river. My theory had worked and very successfully too. I was now on familiar ground again and headed towards Marlow for a well deserved coffee and cake.
After my break I continued to Bourne End. My aim had been to reach Maidenhead but a combination of taking in the sights of this new walk, my 3½ hour train journey back to Huntingdon and a train to Maidenhead due in 5 minutes meant that I’d done enough walking today.
Hambleden Lock to the church in Marlow High Street on the north side of the river was 7.15 miles. The same walk along the Thames Path and taking the official detour through Temple, Bisham and over Marlow Bridge is 6.71 miles, so not a great deal in it. I missed the deer park at Culham Court and Hurley Lock but that’s about it. I’ll definitely be repeating this walk in the future.
