Thames Path Ramble 15: Saturday 13th February 2016 Henley to Marlow, which is about 8½ miles.

Thames Path Ramble 15: Saturday 13th February 2016  Henley to Marlow, which is about 8½ miles.

Sue and Jem, Peter and Sue, Ann, Jean, John, Julie, Janet, Carole and Howard, Dot, Jane, Ian and I walked the 8½ miles from Henley to Marlow that include some of the most well-known Thames views.

Most people in the group stayed in Premier Inn, High Wycombe for this and the following two walks. It was a good base, but just look at the swirling river that we saw from Henley Town Bridge. The previous week had been very wet so the river was swollen and surrounding land saturated.

The Leander club is one of the oldest rowing clubs; members wear pink and include James Cracknell and Steve Redgrave

The grand Victorian wooden boathouses on the edge of Henley town.

At the end of the Henley Reach is Temple Island - the "Temple" is actually a fishing lodge, with the cupola on top sheltering a statue staring up the reach. It was built as a feature to enhance the view from Fawley Court.

This point is often used as a starting line for regatta races, being at one end of a mile long straight stretch of river.

We passed the pretty hamlet of Frogmill, Hurley - a lot of the older chequered flint and chalk buildings, were once part of a Benedictine Monastery mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086, now residential. Dusty Springfield lived here and she is buried in Henley.

This picture is of Silly Bridge across Hurley cut. Just beyond Hurley, the Temple wooden footbridge enables us to cross the river, where once there was a ferry. It is 46m long and was opened in 1989

The landscape is particularly pretty around here, especially looking across the river towards the Chiltern hills. It is not dramatic on a grand scale but even on a wet day picturesque and enhanced by scatterings of the characteristic buildings made of local timber, flint and red brick. The picture on the right is of Hambledon Mill, now flats.

Temple Lock building

All Saint’s Church, Bisham Abbey. Nearby is a Manor House that was given to Anne of Cleeves, as part of her divorce settlement from Henry VIII. It is now one of five National Sports Centres in the UK.

Oh, dear! This is what we encountered at the end of our walk. It slowed us down considerably, and despite trying other ways we couldn’t avoid the mud and water. A test/baptism for some peoples’ new boots! But the end, Marlow Bridge, was in sight.