Hello Norfolk! The woodland theme continues. It’s STANTA not SANTA! Hunt the sculptures!

Much road walking. A former Cold War airfield. Plenty of ‘Wow!’s in Castle Acre

Final stage gets straight to the point. Surprisingly hilly! A disappointing welcome. Mission accomplished

The England Coast Path (or rather King Charles III England Coast Path as it’s now called) section of the Thames Path is officially 47 miles in length. This section starts/ends at Grain Beach on the Isle of Grain. In 2022 and 2023 I broke the 47 miles down into 3 stages – Grain to Cliffe, Cliffe to Greenhithe and Greenhithe to Woolwich. Grain and Cliffe are relatively isolated with each served by a bus service to/from the Medway towns. These bus services make Cliffe a good pla

I checked out of the Gillingham Premier Inn but left my luggage there. I’d collect this later in the day after my walk. My hope today would be to reach Woolwich but I knew I probably wouldn’t make it that far because at the end of the walk I’d have to get back to the Premier Inn to pick up my luggage and then get home to Northamptonshire. Anyway, after another early breakfast I walked to Gillingham Station and caught a train to Gravesend. It was another cracking morning with

To get back to Erith to start today’s walk, I caught the Elizabeth Line at Farringdon to the end of the line at Abbey Wood. I then got a bus into Erith to rejoin the path where I’d left off 2 days earlier. Today’s walk would take in the last few miles of the England Coast Path as far as the Woolwich Foot Tunnel and then the Thames Path 'proper' would take over taking me past the Thames Barrier, Greenwich, the City and through Central London to Vauxhall. The path to Woolwich i

Setting off from Vauxhall Bridge 4th stage of my Thames Sea to Source 2024 challenge. This time 18 miles from Vauxhall to Teddington Lock which marks the end of the tidal Thames. The walk takes in 20 bridges if you include Vauxhall & count Teddington Lock as 2 (there are 2 separate bridges). The Thames Path goes past the entrances to both Kew Gardens & National Trust Ham House – great for coffee & cake stops if you have memberships to either or both. I chose to stop at Ham Ho

Setting off from Teddington Lock 5th stage of my Thames Sea to Source 2024 challenge on an absolutely belting day. This time 25.49 miles from Teddington Lock to Windsor and Eton Bridge. I don't know what was wrong with my camera but the colours were all over the place today. Refurbishment works going on at Teddington Looking downstream from Teddington Teddington Lock & Weirs Duck enjoying the early morning sunshine Kingston Bridge which the Thames Path crosses over Looking up

Setting off from Windsor & Eton Bridge 6th stage of my Thames Sea to Source 2024 challenge on yet another belting day. This time 23.79 miles from Windsor and Eton Bridge to Hanley via the Temple Bridge Closure diversion in Marlow. I did this walk out of sequence in May. It's probably my favourite stage. The Brocas - a large meadow on the Eton side of the river Looking upstream from the Brocas This is as much of Dorney Lake as you can see without leaving the path Dorney Lake D

The Thames Path gets diverted almost straight away at Marsh Lock Stage 7 of my 2024 Thames Path challenge to walk from the sea at Grain to the Source near Kemble in 11 stages. 20.57 miles today from Henley to Goring. It was an absolute perfect day, spoilt only by a 35 min delay getting the train back to Henley where my car was parked. Loved the warm sunshine at last. Will have to expose my white knees on the next stage! The Marsh Lock closure results in a long diversion that

Goring Lock Stage 8 of my 2024 Thames Path challenge to walk from the sea at Grain to the Source near Kemble in 11 stages. 20.55 miles today from Goring to Abingdon. I decided to avoid having to walk along the busy main road through Moulsford and Cholsey Nature Reserve by instead walking The Ridgeway route on the other side of the river between Goring and Wallingford. I would then cross back to the Thames Path over the Winterbrook Bridge. Makes for an altogether much more ple

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 avoi

Stage 1 of my 2023 challenge to walk 232 miles along the River Thames in aid of Royal Papworth Hospital Charity

Stage 2 of my 2023 challenge to walk 232 miles along the River Thames in aid of Royal Papworth Hospital Charity

Stage 3 of my 2023 challenge to walk 232 miles along the River Thames in aid of Royal Papworth Hospital Charity

Stage 4 of my 2023 challenge to walk 232 miles along the River Thames in aid of Royal Papworth Hospital Charity

Stage 5 of my 2023 challenge to walk 232 miles along the River Thames in aid of Royal Papworth Hospital Charity

Having completed the previous stage with no ill effects, a week later I thought I’d have a go at the next stage. I was hoping I’d be able...

After a couple of days off, I was ready to set off again. Reading is easy to get to by train from where I live in Northamptonshire – even...

For the next stage of my walking challenge I really wanted to get as far as Staines; that would be 22 miles of river covered, though in...

This was the second week of ASLEF’s overtime ban meaning the earliest I could get to Staines station by rail with an off-peak ticket...

Today I was determined to reach Vauxhall as this would then leave Vauxhall to the end of the Thames Path at Woolwich as stage 11. The...

I was really determined to reach Woolwich Foot Tunnel today, as to do so would mean I’d walked the 185.2 miles of the Thames Path...

The 47 mile England Coast Path (ECP) between Woolwich Foot Tunnel and Grain was formally opened in January 2022. At the same time the...