After a 3 day break from living the high life in Premier Inns and Travelodges, it was time to continue my challenge, this time from home. I drove to the Seacourt Park & Ride in Oxford and parked up for the day for £2. Bus E1 stopped directly opposite the P&R and dropped me off at Swinford Bridge 15 minutes later. At 9:15 I was on my way in the direction of Oxford. A very short diversion right at the start caused by a collapsed river bank soon brought me out at Eynsham Lock.
For the first 2.5 miles between Eynsham and King's Lock, the path passed through meadows that of course were bursting with buttercups.
I soon came to King's Lock. The lock gates between St John's Lock at Lechlade and King's Lock Oxford are all manually operated, unlike all the other locks that are hydraulically operated.
Another mile towards Oxford and the path passed under the A34 and shortly after that it was necessary to cross the road at Godstow Bridge. Next came the remains of Godstow Abbey and Godstow Lock, a perfect excuse to get the drone in the air again.
Needless to say, being a sunny Saturday morning, from this point on there were loads of people out walking, cycling, rowing, swimming & picnicking. It was great to see so many people enjoying the path and the river.
Despite all the roadworks going on at Osney Bridge in the centre of Oxford, the celebrity heron - Twitter Osney Bird Instagram Osney Bird - was in his usual position patiently looking out for his next snack on the small weir stream. As I was in no hurry today I watched him for a few minutes and was rewarded by seeing him expertly catch 2 fish. What a star he is.
Continuing along the path I reached Osney Lock Hydro and Osney Lock. The gates to the hydro were open for the first time since I've been walking past it. It was possible to see the Archimedean screw in action, albeit behind thick glass. Osney Lock Hydro was the first community-owned hydro scheme owned by local residents. It can generate sufficient electricity to power about 50 households.
After the lock, the river meandered gracefully towards Folly Bridge. Before getting there however was Grandpont Bridge AKA Gasworks Pipe Bridge. Somewhere as nice as Oxford doesn't deserve this bridge. In my opinion it is the ugliest bridge across the Thames. Thankfully it has been closed since March 2021 for safety concerns. Unfortunately, work is about to start to repair it. If only they'd just remove it and replace it with something more pleasing to the eye.
Folly Bridge and Island came next, along with Folly Bridge Tower.
This is as much of Oxford city centre that the river passes and from now on the path would carry on towards Abingdon. As I continued, the path passed a number of boat houses on the opposite side of the river belonging to individual Oxford colleges. They were all very busy today. I asked one of the numerous people sporting hi-vis vests what was going on. I was told there were inter-college races going on that afternoon. A bit of Googling and I discovered that Eights Week AKA Summer Eights was taking place between 24th & 27th May and that today's races were for colleges to try to get themselves up the batting order. It sounded to me like this was a mini Henley Regatta. I hung around to watch the first race. You can learn all about Eights Week here - Eights Week
Continuing towards Abingdon I passed the Isis River Farmhouse. In this neck of the woods River Thames is often referred to as the River Isis. It derives from the ancient name for the Thames, Tamesis, which in the Middle Ages was believed to be a combination of "Thame" and "Isis". History lesson over. The Isis River Farmhouse is not only a pub right by the river but it's also a wedding venue with its own private meadow & moorings! The venue is right by Iffley Lock which provides a great location for wedding photos.
Iffley Lock is unbelievably photogenic so it was time to launch the drone again.
Continuing past Iffley I passed under the Oxford Eastern Bypass bridge where the graffiti digging at the directors of Thames Water can be found.
Next I came to Sandford Lock. I was a bit early this year for its display of roses.
The final 5 miles from Sandford Lock to Abingdon are not enjoyable and have no real highlights. However, today I was excited to have a hedgehog cross in front of me and I learned all about crimson clover. However, to top both of these I saw engineers working on the repairs to the Nuneham Railway Bridge AKA Nuneham Viaduct, after it was closed in April 2023 on concerns it was sinking into the river! The closure of the bridge has stopped through trains running between Oxford and Didcot Parkway and has resulted in a lot of very frustrated and cross train travellers. The good news is that it is due to reopen again on June 10th!
After what seemed like to be forever I finally reached Abingdon Lock. My spirits were raised by the noise of the weir and the humour of presumably(?) the Environment Agency and the signs within the lock.
Official distance walked today was 15.6 miles. I've now completed 62.5 miles of the Thames Path. I walked to a bus stop in the middle of Abingdon and caught bus 33 that took me back to my car in Seacourt P&R.
