Culham to Oxford on the Thames Path

You who are regular readers will know that the East End Girls (EEG) have been walking the Thames Path National Trail - http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/Thamespath/

We tend to walk it during the longer days as it takes us a while to get to our starting point so we've decided, having got to Oxford, that we'll stop now and do the last 4 sections, where there is no public transport, apart from the end, next year. It may indeed take some time to organise transportation, accommodation etc anyhow.

Our walk on August 22nd saw a small but elite group of the original East End Girls step out from Culham railway station which is 1.5 miles from the Thames and the start of the walk. This was easier to do at the start than at the end as we'd had to do last time. Again, we were blessed with wonderful walking weather so plenty of sunscreen and water.

The first little bit of the walk took us first to Culham Lock where you can see the group posing in the shade and then to Abingdon which I hadn't been in for years. At this point we chose to leave the river for a little while and find somewhere to have coffee and go to the loo. Taking advantage of loo stops is something you learn quickly when walking as you never quite know when the next one will be.

Back on the river and at Abingdon Weir, we saw a coot on it's next with a young chick, not a very clear photo but so lovely to see. At this point there were also interesting grasses and the most unappealing picnic spot I've seen for a long time. The view wasn't bad as long as you looked into the distance.

Lots of long boats, lots of people cycling and walking the path, picnics happening and general business of an English summer in wonderful surroundings.

It seems terrible to say but parts of the river on this section, we found somewhat boring and repetitive. The paths weren't the best looked after and were also very narrow and rutted making walking difficult but then again, we've done so many great walks I think we are rather spoiled.

There were always wonderful boat houses though - don't think I've ever found as many as on the Thames.

It was good to get towards Oxford where there was more activity and more variety in scenery.

This beautiful building was on the River Path and looks as if it once was or still is some kind of a religious building

Looking forward to getting to the source when the time is right.