The Last Leg

The sun is back and I eat breakfast on the deck before packing ready to leave. It’s A level results day and our son is in Budapest, due to fly to Italy, so we receive his results in a message – he’s achieved the grades needed for his first choice university so we begin the day on a high. We’re on the road by 10, driving to Benson to pick up the Thames Path where we leave it and continue to walk east. 

The path crosses the river at Benson Lock and then hugs the south bank as far as Wallingford. It’s mostly rural until we reach Wallingford bridge. There’s a floating hotel moored here called The African Queen which appears to have come from Mapledurham, just down the road from home. 

The path leaves the riverside, passing down Thames Street between picturesque old buildings with the odd modern monstrosity thrown in. It passes through an arch between two buildings and across a narrow wooden bridge over a stream, emerging by a slipway back at the river’s edge. 

The riverside properties here are separated from their moorings by the path and at first it’s fenced but as we get further from the town there are no fences and the path simply crosses the substantial gardens. There are rowing clubs here for the Oxford colleges as well as private properties.

Shortly before we pass under the Nosworthy Road we reach open countryside and, before long, encounter the inevitable cows. These have calves and are blocking our path but don’t seem to mind us weaving through them. We cross the path to Cholsey where there are signs that there was once a ferry service across the river, and enter Cholsey Marshes where the path grows increasingly wooded.

We continue to follow the river until we reach a railway bridge where a boardwalk leads us through its arches and then sharply right on a footpath through the impressive grounds of Moulsford Prep School. 

Emerging onto the Reading Road we turn left past the fronts of riverside homes until we reach Ferry Road and our lunch destination, The Beetle and Wedge. We didn’t book ahead as we weren’t sure how long our walk would take and we’re fortunate to get a table as the restaurant soon fills up completely. The food is excellent but the service seems a little overstretched. As we finish our lunch the African Queen moors up outside.

As we retrace our steps back to Benson we are surprised to find a couple of huge branches have been broken by the wind since we passed a couple of hours ago … we hadn’t realised the wind was so strong. Within an hour we’re home and reflecting on what we’ve learned – we can live very comfortably on a boat and both agree that a couple of years exploring the waterways is something we’d definitely consider; our next step will be to hire a self-drive for a few days.  We’ve also resolved to walk the entire Thames path, bit by bit.