Advertisement
Published: September 10th 2019
20190907_091720
About Rose Revived. No date.7 September 2019, Saturday
Thames Path day 6,
Newbridge to Oxford
Day 22 of travel
There are several items around Rose Revived about Newbridge in West Oxfordshire County.
There is a sign indicating 40 miles from the source of the Thames and 154 miles to the barrier in London. The sign also heralds (from a time long ago) the early announcement of the opening of The Rose Revived by the new owners. "Redecoration of the facility, with all the amenities currently available, makes the inn quite desirable." Cross the road is a sign for the meadow and discovery of the lower windrush path and valley.
Our taxi driver meets us at about 9:30 for transport back to the Ferryman Inn at Bablock Hythe to begin our walk and reduce the distance into Oxford by about three and a half miles. This was the distance we had covered yesterday afternoon by taking the same taxi, and walking back up the river to Rose Revived from Bablock Hythe.
At our first gate, opening onto a field of sheep, we are greeted by a young black face lamb who wants to play and be petted. The field is filled with the
20190906_142613
40 miles from source, 153 to the sea. most sheep we have seen; it appears there are more than 300.
Continuing down the river we pass a swan with three, still grayish-brown, full-grown youngsters.
Our first lock on this day is the Pinkhill Lock and weir. In contrast to the NorthkMoor Lock, this lock is fully automated and you can see the difference on the weirs by the cable driven motor operated paddles,
At the Northmoor lock the lock operator had to control water level by manually placing the wooden paddles into the stream to interrupt the flow and raise the water level. This endeavor demands great physical strength and knowledge of the waterway. We tarried and chatted with Steve Burnet, the lockman. He is 66 and does not look a day over 50. He explained why his lock is unique. He tells us that the first duty in his job is governing the water flow of all the tributaries in his area. Then he helps people with lock passage. There is a room being built behind his charming gatehouse. He informs us he is Buddhist and the room is for gatherings of fellow believers in the area. This is all interesting as he appeared
20190907_092838
Rose Revived Inn and Pub to be a man of gentle persuasion and a lover of people. He takes us over to the old weir and shows us how it is manually operated. Now we understand why he is in such superb condition! He would like to work to age 75.
At the Oxford Cruisers Limited drydock boat yard we see different boats, probably in various stages of being overhauled or repaired. The next meadow we walk through gives us our first glimpse of a real hill. This hill moves down to the river through Wytham Woods. Just beyond the woods is FAI farms. There is a detailed description of the sustainable, environmentally-friendly practices of this Oxford run farm. Particularly interesting is the different behavior observed by pigs when they are given adequate space and room to grow. The paragraph about Wytham Woods indicates it is the scene of many buried bodies in the Inspector Morse series.
At the King's Lock, the Oxford Canal now branches off of the Thames. Karen and I stopped at this lock, and a nice picnic table, to have our sandwich. We then continue on to the next Trout Inn where we stopped for a bowl of soup
20190907_092956
The Windrush Path and a relaxing time along the river in this beautiful and busy restored inn and restaurant. Just across the river are the ruins of the Godstow Abbey nunnery. Another victim of King Henry the 8th.
On we go to the Godstow Lock; this is the first fully automated lock with a lockkeeper. The gates are opened electrically, not manually, with the long wood levers.
The river is now filled with many sculls and young people are practicing their rowing with power boats alongside giving instruction. This is called sculling.
We encounter a frustrated bicycler's revenge with a bike stuck up on a branch of a tree.
The walking traffic on the path, from here to Oxford, increases immensely. Many people are enjoying the good weather, out for a weekend walk with their families and dogs.
At last we have a view of the spires of Oxford above the trees and the river.
At the next boat yard very close to Oxford we are engulfed by a huge flock of geese that come soaring in for a landing on the water. They are a noisy bunch as they darken the sky. It reminds one of
20190907_094320
We set off from Bablock Hythe the old movie, "The Birds."
Osney Lock is our final lick before entering Oxford. It is still a mile and a half walk through the city before we arrive at the Lakeside B&B, our stay for the next two nights.
Per Norma we walked 10.9 miles. My Garmin Forerunner 25 showed 12.6. We are so thankful we did 3.5 miles the afternoon before!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.071s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 14; qc: 19; dbt: 0.0494s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
