The path begins, as the river does, in a meadow in the Cotswolds;
its upper reaches lonely and wild. As the waters deepen the settlements
along its banks begin to grow in both size and grandeur and, reaching Oxford,
the solitude of the river slowly subsides and the trail becomes as much
about historic towns, churches, abbeys and castles as it does the
river.
Lechlade, Abingdon, Wallingford, Henley ... they all
owe their location to the Thames, and different eras, when the river
was a life source, a place of conflict, a boundary, a mode of transport
and the provider of leisure, which, thankfully – for us, at least – it
remains to this day.
Squeezing through the ancient Goring Gap, loomed over by the Chiltern Hills, you pass Runnymede, the site of the signing of Magna Carta, and Windsor Castle. Passing by so many ancient sites, this is as much a walk through history as an easy ramble along a river bank.
The route through London – particularly along the
south bank – remains relatively countrified, at least as far as Putney,
from which the approaching sights of Westminster and Tower Bridge offer
vistas as impressive as any others along the river’s green and scenic
upper reaches.
Leaving central London, the regenerated dockland areas of East London lure you to your journey’s end at the Thames Barrier and the conclusion of a most enjoyable and magnificently-varied riparian ramble, quite unlike any other in Britain.