🥾 Walk 417 - Dorchester-on-Thames to Wallingford and Back

November last year, we were approached by Mark from the SABRE (Surrey and Beyond Ramblers) group who was organising a series of fifteen walks to follow the Thames Path from Oxford to the Thames Barrier at Woolwich. The Oxon Weekend Walkers, Chilterns Weekend Walkers and the Berkshire Weekend Walkers were invited to join in with this ambitious project.

The first two walks of the series were beset with problems - parts of the Thames Path in Oxfordshire were flooded and the OWWs also struggled to get leaders for their sections. So, the first walk to actually go ahead was the Dorchester-on-Thames to Wallingford section, which was led by Mark himself. The remaining eleven walks will be led by Mark, by us and by the CWWs.

Saturday 8th February was the day before Storm Ciara, which brought heavy rain and winds gusting to 60mph to large parts of the UK. By contrast, Saturday's weather was very pleasant. After a slightly overcast start, the sun broke through and the sky turned to the clear blue that you rarely see in Summer, but is more common on cold Winter's days. There was no hint of what Sunday was to bring.

Nineteen of us gathered in Dorchester-on-Thames, a mix of people from many different walking groups, some having travelled relatively long distances to attend the walk. This was my first face-to-face meeting with Mark, who I had been corresponding with since November, when the BWWs had been invited to contribute to the project. As we had both arrived quite early, we had time to chat as the other walkers arrived.

We set off from Dorchester, on a footpath that followed the River Thame to its confluence with the River Thames. The Thame is a tributary of the Thames, which rises in Buckinghamshire and discharges into the Thames just south of Dorchester. Here we joined the Thames Path, which showed the signs of recent flooding but the waters had receded and the path was slippery but quite passable. As we reached Shillingford, the Thames Path leaves the riverside and follows the main road into the village before rejoining the river at Shillingford Bridge.

The clouds had lifted by the time we reached Benson. We had a brief stop at the waterfront marina to have a drink and snack before we crossed the Thames at Benson Lock on the metal bridge over the weir.

We continued following the river's edge all the way to Wallingford. Here we left the Thames Path and went into town, stopping in the Market Square for lunch. Here, Mark made us aware of the shops and various cafes available to those who hadn't brought a packed lunch. There was just time for a few of us to have a swift half in The Dolphin pub before part two of the walk.

Only one person took the bus back to Dorchester, the rest of us electing to take Mark's cross country route. Heading west, we stopped at Kinecroft Park, site of the Bunkfest (a local music and beer festival) before leaving the town. We crossed numerous fields, all of which were thankfully less muddy that the leader had experienced during his pre-walk only two weeks earlier.

We stopped off at the Church of Saint Agatha in the village of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell. Our leader had read that one of the stained glass windows depicted a scene in which it appeared a character had three legs. We looked hard, but couldn't see any significant anatomical inaccuracies.

Next stop were the Sinodun Hills - Castle Hill (an Iron Age hill fort) and the slightly taller Round Hill, which are commonly known as Wittenham Clumps. Form here we could see the remains of Didcot Power Station, minus its already demolished cooling towers, and from the other side, we could see Dorchester and the Thames.

A rather slippery descent brought us to Little Wittenham, where we crossed the Thames once more and headed back to Dorchester. See our route on Google Maps.

Many thanks to Mark for leading this walk and for organising the Thames Path walk project.

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