# 🥾 Walk 99 - Wittenham Clumps and Thames Path

On Sunday 27th April, twelve of us gathered in the Oxfordshire village of Dorchester. It was typical April weather with a mix of sunshine and showers so we were togged up in waterproofs and sunglasses.

We set off heading south out of the village, towards the Thames. Our first obstacle was a swing-gate with a rather deep puddle under it - evidence of the recent rain. On reaching the river, we followed the Thames path heading west until we reached Little Wittenham Bridge. On the way we encountered our next obstacle - a barge, in the field, on the footpath!

After a short break to remove the waterproofs (the rain had stopped and it was warming up) we crossed the bridge that led into Little Wittenham. From there we headed for Wittenham Clumps. Round Hill, the taller of the two "clumps", was directly ahead of us as we left Little Wittenham, but rather than walk straight up the obvious route, our leader took a more interesting route diagonally across into Little Wittenham Wood.

![The puddle was deeper than it looked.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume8/images/waterlogged_gate.jpg)

After crossing part of the wood, we began the uphill route to Castle Hill, the shorter of the two Clumps. Emerging from the wood, we crossed the ditches around the summit that form part of an ancient hill fort. Initially Bronze Age in origin, it is believed that further fortification was added in the Iron Age and the site was used later by the Romans.

We followed the circumference of the earthworks about three-quarters of the way round before crossing over to Round Hill. From there we stopped to admire the view of Day's Lock and the River Thames before descending back to Little Wittenham.

Next we followed a footpath that took us through the beautifully kept back garden of a rather large house, then through a meadow and into a farm. Our next obstacle was a stretch of muddy track by some farm buildings. The mud was very slippery, and it became obvious as we waded through it that it wasn't just mud! The field of cows nearby confirmed our suspicions.

![An unexpected sight along the Thames Path.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume8/images/beached_barge.jpg)

From the farm, we made our way to the village of Long Wittenham and then to the Thames Path again. We stopped at a suitable point along the path to have our picnic lunch. A few spits of rain threatened to spoil our lunch but came to nothing.

We followed the Thames Path for a couple of miles to Day's Lock, where we crossed over the weir and the lock. One of us noticed that we hadn't seen a single boat on the river all day.

We made our way across fields back to Dorchester, where we changed out of our muddy boots before going for a post-walk drink at a local pub. See our route on Bing Maps.

![Crossing the ditches of the Bronze Age fort on Castle Hill.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume8/images/castle_hill_fort.jpg)

![Carefully crossing through the mud. (It wasn't just mud!) ](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume8/images/mud_and_something.jpg)

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