Thames Path - Source to London - Cricklade to Radcot Bridge - Day 2 of 12

Day 2 of 12 of an epic walking adventure through some of England's most beautiful countryside and incredible history. A walk that covers 186 miles from the source of the river in Gloucestershire to the Thames Barrier in the east of London via historic towns of Oxford, Henley and Royal Windsor to name a few.

Day Two - Friday 29th March Cricklade to Radcot Bridge

The Thames Path Challenge - 184 Mile hike from Source to London - Click on the image to watch the video of day 2 of the hike. An epic adventure

We had a long day ahead so we got up at 7am, in time for the continental breakfast which was included in the room price (English breakfast available for an extra £6).

We again visited Tesco Express in order to buy fruit and sandwiches for lunch. It was fairly cold and foggy for the first couple of hours this morning, then became a beautiful day. We followed the well signposted path, and after one hour45 minutes of walking arrived in the beautiful village of Castle Eaton. There is a large pub, The Red Lion, but unfortunately we were too early for the opening time of 12pm. We looked at the beautiful church, the graveyard of which backs onto the river.

https://www.red-lion.co.uk/

The path from here to Lechlade is fairly obvious, sometimes by the river, sometimes along small empty roads, and across fields. Just before Upper Inglesham a new path has been completed which is not in our book or map. So now instead of having to walk down the side of the A361 the path continues through the countryside, past the old junction of the Thames-Severn Canal into Lechlade.

After an 11 mile morning walk we arrived in Lechlade at 12.30pm, and ate our sandwiches on a bench in the riverside park by halfpenny bridge. We carried on for another mile to the first of 45 locks along the Thames, St John's Lock. Here there is a statue of Old Father Thames, which has been moved from his original location at the source of the Thames. We crossed over the bridge and called in the Trout Inn for a cup of tea. It is amazing how large the Thames seems to have become, with lots of boats and canal barges being moored both before and after Lechlade. Lechlade is worth a visit and there are shops, bars, restaurants and accommodation, but we continued our walk.

http://www.thetroutinn.com/

We continued along the river bank past Kelmscott for 5 miles until we reached the Swan Hotel at Radcot Bridge. The bridge is certainly in a very picturesque location, parts dating from the 12th century making it one of the oldest bridges on the river. The Swan unfortunately does not have rooms at present, but there is a rumour that there may be in the future. We had booked to stay at The Old Crown Coaching Inn in Faringdon, which we thought was the nearest location for accommodation and food to the path at this point. Stage 2 in the book is from Cricklade to Lechlade, but we wanted to travel further. We phoned Faringdon Taxis who arrived promptly, charging us £10 for the fare for 3 miles to Faringdon.

https://yeoldeswan.co.uk/ Radcot Bridge

http://www.faringdoncars.co.uk/ Taxi Company

In the town of Faringdon there are 3 pubs, Indian restaurants, many take-outs and Tesco Metro. We opted for a lovely large portion of fish and chips in the Harbour Fish Bar.

The Harbour Fish and chips takeaway 6 Marlborough St, Faringdon SN7 7JP



https://www.historicinnz.co.uk/faring... The Old Crown Coaching Inn

Distance km 29.12

Duration of Walk Hours 8.30

Average Pace Min/km 17.30

Steps 51227