Walking the Thames Path: From London to the River's Source in Gloucestershire

by Peter Aylmer

A guidebook to walking the Thames Path, a 180-mile National Trail from the Thames Barrier to the river's source in near Cirencester, passing from central London through Windsor, Henley, and Oxford, and rural countryside. Described in 20 sections, of between 4 and 16 miles (6.5-32km), it is an mainly flat route with good access by public transport and typically takes two weeks to walk. On its way it passes historic sites such as Greenwich, Kew Gardens, Hampton Court, Runnymede, Windsor Castle and Oxford. This guidebook features complete OS 1:50,000 scale mapping of the route and comprehensive information about accommodation, facilities, refreshments and transport links for each stage of the route. It is crammed with fascinating details about the places and features passed along the way. A separate pocket-sized map booklet is also included showing the full route on 1:25,000 scale OS maps, providing all the mapping needed to complete the trail. The Thames Path is an easy riverside walk that discovers the constantly changing character of the River Thames. 

314 pages, Paperback

Published June 30, 2016

Reviews

[W H Nicholls · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not normally a book I would read but my neighbour let me borrow it after we were talking about the Thames Path as he was walking it and I had walked a lot of it. My interest was recording the pillboxes you see on route. The book is easy to follow and tells you they way to go and is a really good pocket guide with maps though these will be out of date now on the edition I read. If you do intend to walk the path then get yourselves a proper OS map to follow. Leigh also gives little bits of history on the places you see which gives interest as well some of it I did not know about. The only thing it does not tell you is the problems you can have with the bank deteriorating in some places. I might add the path around where I live has moved since I was a kid. The path is also impassable in the winter when it floods. The book also gives the route from the Thames Barrier to the source so would read different if going the other way, The map at the back also starts at the source so if that is the direction you will be going it might be worth seeing if there is another book on the Thames Path with the route going with the river.