Thames Path Cycleway 2019
June 1st-2nd 2019
150 miles
I haven't been cycling much at all this year, thanks to a new addition to the family and some rather inclement weather. However, I've been really missing doing some touring, so when a friend moved to Abingdon I thought that was the perfect excuse to do a fairly easy end-to-end route, using Abingdon as halfway. Unfortunately they didn't actually want to do the ride with me (I'm too slow!) but I was joined by Beth who undertook it as part of a year's worth of amazing challenges (including cycling alongside the Great Wall of China) accumulating to 1000km in aid of raising money for charity. Beth lives just 15 miles or so from the source of the Thames, so our adventure was decided - cycling from London along the Thames path to its source, then onto hers.
Day 1 - London Paddington to Abingdon
(with 10 mile add on from Cabinteely to Dublin train station)
93 miles, 1900 ft climbing
Having stayed the night in Stonehouse, we boarded the train at around 6am, destined for London (with a change at Swindon, which apart from being direct to completely the wrong end of the train, was thankfully uneventful). Arriving on time, we were on our way by 8am, digging our way through London from Paddington towards the Thames. Although not busy with traffic, this was pretty slow due to the numerous sets of traffic lights! We were pleased to finally reach the Thames, where a number of rowing crews were embarking on their morning outings and making us (as ex-rowers) feel a tad jealous...
Once along the river, we followed the towpath for a little way (of deteriorating surface quality) before leaving the river for Richmond Park. This was pretty familiar to me as my brother lives nearby, and I've also done a duathlon (hopefully my first and last, I need the swim element of a race it turns out) there. Plenty of cyclists were training in the park, and we pootled slowly through and out the other side. From here we rejoined the river at Teddington for a beautiful stretch all the way to Kingston-on-Thames, then via Hampton Court Palace to Walton on Thames. The going was generally flat and easy, with no breeze to speak of, and generally decent surfaces.
At Stains-upon-Thames we ended up cracking on with a less pretty but necessary crossing of the M25. For the first time we really felt like we were leaving London! Soon after, Egham brought the first notable climb of the route, in a pleasantly shaded but very bumpy forested section. The top of Coopers Hill led us to Windsor Great Park, which was lusciously green and a refreshing sight after all the urbanisation of London. Windsor came soon after, and we had a quick pit stop at a leisure centre, to empty and fill-up, before rejoining the river all the way to Dorney Lake. Here, it turned out to be the Met regatta, which I have raced in previously! Again we were a little envious of the crews on such a perfect day for rowing. We cheered a few on before cycling the length of the lake and into Maidenhead. I know there are nice parts of Maidenhead as my aunt lives there, but nice parts we did not cycle, and this turned out to be my least favourite bit of the whole trip. Busy roads (thankfully with cycle paths) and a headbreeze really made the miles slow down, and we were so glad when we were back out in the open countryside.
Knowl Hill led to Crazies Hill (the second notable climb) where we stopped for an overdue lunch break, and I had to relieve my chest of Molly's lunch, as it was very painful indeed. I'd wanted to stop earlier but we were being slowly chased by a rather annoying group of american tourers and wanted to make some distance. Typically they caught us up just as we finished our stop, and we cycled awkwardly with them until they had a bit of a navigational error and thankfully we lost them. Sonning common then led us into Reading, where we left NCN 4 for NCN 5, now heading north-west towards Abingdon.
At this point my bike (which had been poorly indexed to say the least) decided to not let me change gear at the front. Not so bad when it had been flat, but crossing the Chilterns proved to be scenic but difficult! At Wallingford I therefore decided to drop into a bike shop before it closed. They gave my bike a good inspection and to my relief (and utter embarrassment) they said the gears were fine, but my bike bag was impeding the lever. Ooops. Thankfully relief overrode embarassment and I could easily laugh off the incident, just glad to have a fully functioning bike for the rest of the ride.... From Wallingford we carried on, briefly leaving the NCN 5 to skip a detour to Didcot, ending up in the pretty town of Abingdon, our rest stop for the night. After 93 miles of largely flat riding, we were certainly glad to be off our saddles, and fuelled well for the next day on pizza.
x
Day 2 - Abingdon to Stonehouse via the source of the Thames at Lechlade
61 miles, 1700 ft climbing
Well rested (apart from an interlude of fireworks!) we decided to make a good start, and at 7.30am we left for the second day of our journey. Going due east from Abingdon, the roads were fairly major but thankfully not busy on a Sunday morning (I had decided we would skip the Oxford section, having spent far too much time there for work and also knowing how unpleasant it would have been to cycle alongside the A34...). The route took us through somewhere called Bampton, which I found funny as I know there is a Bampton in the Lake District too, and on to Lechlade on Thames, where there were a number of inviting-looking lakes. Impending rain due later in the day, and needing to get back to feed my daughter meant unfortunately no time for a swim! Perhaps later in the year...
South Cerney brought another set of lakes, and some definite spits of rain, far earlier than forecast. However, these soon blew over and before we knew it we were near Cirencester, excitedly anticipating finding the source! Typically when we arrived at where we thought we could access it, there were locked gates and a "Private Drive" sign. We knew we were close as a father and son duo were also looking in the same place! I found a route that followed the footpath, and three sides of a square and a few cross country fields later we had found the stone that marked the source of the Thames. It was very....dry....but this was good news for our bikes and the obligatory photos were taken. Incidentally the father and son beat us there as apparently when Beth and I left them, the owners came and opened the gates for them! Nevermind, at least our route was legitimate....
After the excitement of the source, we continued on in what were definitely heavier drops of rain. The Cotswold countryside was pretty, slightly lumpy and pleasingly distracting from the darkening clouds, but en-route to Minchinhampton, the jackets were donned (not to be removed it turned out). I had visited the common just a few weeks earlier so it was familiar, but the downhill section was incredibly steep and testing in what by then was torrential rain. Once in the valley there was a largely downhill track leading all the way to Stonehouse - nicely off-road but extremely bumpy and muddy given the weather! We didn't really mind though, being a few miles from the end and having completed our adventure. A nice warm house and shower awaited us, the perfect end to a fantastic weekend!
150 miles
I haven't been cycling much at all this year, thanks to a new addition to the family and some rather inclement weather. However, I've been really missing doing some touring, so when a friend moved to Abingdon I thought that was the perfect excuse to do a fairly easy end-to-end route, using Abingdon as halfway. Unfortunately they didn't actually want to do the ride with me (I'm too slow!) but I was joined by Beth who undertook it as part of a year's worth of amazing challenges (including cycling alongside the Great Wall of China) accumulating to 1000km in aid of raising money for charity. Beth lives just 15 miles or so from the source of the Thames, so our adventure was decided - cycling from London along the Thames path to its source, then onto hers.
Day 1 - London Paddington to Abingdon
(with 10 mile add on from Cabinteely to Dublin train station)
93 miles, 1900 ft climbing
Having stayed the night in Stonehouse, we boarded the train at around 6am, destined for London (with a change at Swindon, which apart from being direct to completely the wrong end of the train, was thankfully uneventful). Arriving on time, we were on our way by 8am, digging our way through London from Paddington towards the Thames. Although not busy with traffic, this was pretty slow due to the numerous sets of traffic lights! We were pleased to finally reach the Thames, where a number of rowing crews were embarking on their morning outings and making us (as ex-rowers) feel a tad jealous...
Once along the river, we followed the towpath for a little way (of deteriorating surface quality) before leaving the river for Richmond Park. This was pretty familiar to me as my brother lives nearby, and I've also done a duathlon (hopefully my first and last, I need the swim element of a race it turns out) there. Plenty of cyclists were training in the park, and we pootled slowly through and out the other side. From here we rejoined the river at Teddington for a beautiful stretch all the way to Kingston-on-Thames, then via Hampton Court Palace to Walton on Thames. The going was generally flat and easy, with no breeze to speak of, and generally decent surfaces.
At Stains-upon-Thames we ended up cracking on with a less pretty but necessary crossing of the M25. For the first time we really felt like we were leaving London! Soon after, Egham brought the first notable climb of the route, in a pleasantly shaded but very bumpy forested section. The top of Coopers Hill led us to Windsor Great Park, which was lusciously green and a refreshing sight after all the urbanisation of London. Windsor came soon after, and we had a quick pit stop at a leisure centre, to empty and fill-up, before rejoining the river all the way to Dorney Lake. Here, it turned out to be the Met regatta, which I have raced in previously! Again we were a little envious of the crews on such a perfect day for rowing. We cheered a few on before cycling the length of the lake and into Maidenhead. I know there are nice parts of Maidenhead as my aunt lives there, but nice parts we did not cycle, and this turned out to be my least favourite bit of the whole trip. Busy roads (thankfully with cycle paths) and a headbreeze really made the miles slow down, and we were so glad when we were back out in the open countryside.
Knowl Hill led to Crazies Hill (the second notable climb) where we stopped for an overdue lunch break, and I had to relieve my chest of Molly's lunch, as it was very painful indeed. I'd wanted to stop earlier but we were being slowly chased by a rather annoying group of american tourers and wanted to make some distance. Typically they caught us up just as we finished our stop, and we cycled awkwardly with them until they had a bit of a navigational error and thankfully we lost them. Sonning common then led us into Reading, where we left NCN 4 for NCN 5, now heading north-west towards Abingdon.
At this point my bike (which had been poorly indexed to say the least) decided to not let me change gear at the front. Not so bad when it had been flat, but crossing the Chilterns proved to be scenic but difficult! At Wallingford I therefore decided to drop into a bike shop before it closed. They gave my bike a good inspection and to my relief (and utter embarrassment) they said the gears were fine, but my bike bag was impeding the lever. Ooops. Thankfully relief overrode embarassment and I could easily laugh off the incident, just glad to have a fully functioning bike for the rest of the ride.... From Wallingford we carried on, briefly leaving the NCN 5 to skip a detour to Didcot, ending up in the pretty town of Abingdon, our rest stop for the night. After 93 miles of largely flat riding, we were certainly glad to be off our saddles, and fuelled well for the next day on pizza.
Day 2 - Abingdon to Stonehouse via the source of the Thames at Lechlade
61 miles, 1700 ft climbing
Well rested (apart from an interlude of fireworks!) we decided to make a good start, and at 7.30am we left for the second day of our journey. Going due east from Abingdon, the roads were fairly major but thankfully not busy on a Sunday morning (I had decided we would skip the Oxford section, having spent far too much time there for work and also knowing how unpleasant it would have been to cycle alongside the A34...). The route took us through somewhere called Bampton, which I found funny as I know there is a Bampton in the Lake District too, and on to Lechlade on Thames, where there were a number of inviting-looking lakes. Impending rain due later in the day, and needing to get back to feed my daughter meant unfortunately no time for a swim! Perhaps later in the year...
South Cerney brought another set of lakes, and some definite spits of rain, far earlier than forecast. However, these soon blew over and before we knew it we were near Cirencester, excitedly anticipating finding the source! Typically when we arrived at where we thought we could access it, there were locked gates and a "Private Drive" sign. We knew we were close as a father and son duo were also looking in the same place! I found a route that followed the footpath, and three sides of a square and a few cross country fields later we had found the stone that marked the source of the Thames. It was very....dry....but this was good news for our bikes and the obligatory photos were taken. Incidentally the father and son beat us there as apparently when Beth and I left them, the owners came and opened the gates for them! Nevermind, at least our route was legitimate....
After the excitement of the source, we continued on in what were definitely heavier drops of rain. The Cotswold countryside was pretty, slightly lumpy and pleasingly distracting from the darkening clouds, but en-route to Minchinhampton, the jackets were donned (not to be removed it turned out). I had visited the common just a few weeks earlier so it was familiar, but the downhill section was incredibly steep and testing in what by then was torrential rain. Once in the valley there was a largely downhill track leading all the way to Stonehouse - nicely off-road but extremely bumpy and muddy given the weather! We didn't really mind though, being a few miles from the end and having completed our adventure. A nice warm house and shower awaited us, the perfect end to a fantastic weekend!
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