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| Clifton Hampden bridge and church |
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| Hambleden Mill, Hambleden Lock |
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| Walkers on Wittenham Meadows |
Just returned from an interesting two weeks exploring the river Thames. There are few rivers that show so much contrast between source and estuary.
The Thames rises among the Cotswold Hills near Cirencester and then wends its tranquil way through Cotswold meadows and woodland to reach the great academic city of Oxford, where it briefly becomes the Isis (the Roman name of the river was Thamisis and Oxford likes to be a little 'different'). Below Oxford the Thames begins to widen and increase in power. There are wonderful stretches of towpath to walk notably the stretch from Culham to Dorchester-on-Thames visiting picturesque Clifton Hampden and the famous Barley Mow pub on the way. Dorchester Abbey is a very significant (as well as beautiful) building in the development of Christianity in Anglo Saxon
England.
The stretch of Thames between Henley and the pretty village of Hurley is well worth an afternoon walk (especially if you detour into Hurley Lock for a cream tea!) and passes historic Medmenham Abbey, former home of the notorious 'Hellfire Club'.
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| The White Tower, Tower of London |
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| Hampton Court Palace |
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| The Shard and 'More London' |
The 'metropolitan' Thames is different altogether. Busy and bustling as recreation rubs shoulders with commerce. The stretches of Thames between Hampton Court, Richmond and Kew have a green and rural quality which belies their location in one of the worlds great metropolitan cities. The 'Pool of London' between Putney and Tower Bridge has a bewildering array of iconic historic buildings such as the Palace of Westminster, Somerset House, The Tower of London, St Paul's Cathedral 'cheek by jowl' with the Shard, the Gherkin, the Walky-Talky and the Cheesegrater.
This combination just should not work and anywhere else in the world it wouldn't, but in London it just does!
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