Thames Path Day 4: Lechlade to Radcot, about 7.5 miles, walked on Tuesday 3rd March 2015

Thames Path Day 4: Lechlade to Radcot, about 7.5 miles, walked on Tuesday 3rd March 2015


At St. John's lock (the highest lock on the Thames, just half a mile from the start of our walk at Halfpenny Bridge, Lechlade) there are miniature houses and Father Thames reclines (originally with a trident, but now a navies shovel!)

 

All the way on this walk and into our next walk, we saw many pill boxes. They are all on the north bank of the river and are of FW3/22 hexagonal type, built between 1940/1 as small defensive structures when there was a fear of invasion from the Germans.

The river here twisted and turned so much, meandering through the fields. Looking back to the  'wool' church of St Lawrence's in Lechlade, with its tall, slender spire, helped to orientate ourselves.









Below is a typical view of the river around here, with mature, pollarded willows and wooden fencing and bridges.

 

We went slightly off the Thames Path into the pretty village of Kelmscott to have a lunch break. We saw the upper part of the Manor House, (William Morris' summer residence) and a little further on we admired the unusual stone slab fencing (with different coloured lichens and snowdrops behind).

In a field opposite the Manor House were two calves and a large, rather friendly-looking bull.

Towards the end of our walk the skies looked stormy and just a few hailstones fell. It didn't come to anything, no umbrellas were opened, and we were lucky to have a rain-free day (if a little windy and cold).

The area around here has made its mark three times in history. Matilda's Castle earthworks still remain and were investigated by Time Team in 2009.

Radcot was the site of two battles - one in 1387 when Henry Bolingbroke (who became Henry IV) defeated the Earl of Oxford and the other in 1645 during the Civil War when Prince Rupert's men fought off the Parliamentarians.

Radcot, our end point for today, has many small bridges over the different water courses.
The Swan Hotel provided (some of us) with picnic lunches containing 'doorstep' sandwiches and half a cake!