Tamesis Fluvius

The Thames Path from
the Source to the Thames Barrier

The Thames Path

The Thames Path is one of sixteen National Trails across England and Wales, the only one which specifically follows the course a river. The trail runs from the official source of the Thames near the village of Kemble in Gloucestershire, all the way to the Thames Barrier in East London. Although the exact distance covered may vary a little depending on which bank of the river is followed through London, the official length of the trail is 184 miles. Our route came in just under that figure, having switched banks many times in London. There is an extension to the path (not part of the National Trail) which runs to Crayford Ness near Dartford and adds almost ten more miles to the route.

This website is the record of a journey along the entire length of the National Trail, which my girlfriend and I walked over a period of two weeks during April 2017 (we passed on the unofficial extension to Crayford Ness). It is by no means an attempt to be a definitive guide to the trail, many of which are available both online and in book format, but hopefully gives an idea of what it is like to journey along this spectacular and fascinating route. The site is divided up into fifteen sections, each of which corresponds to one day of our walk. During the course of the two weeks, I took well in excess of two thousand photographs and a selection of them are included on each page.

Following the Thames Path for its entire length takes you through an enormous variety of landscapes, from the rural solitude of Wiltshire and Oxfordshire to the heart of London and some of its busiest and most famous landmarks. Upstream of Oxford, the first major city on the river, the trail takes you through some very isolated agricultural areas with the small towns of Cricklade and Lechlade the only real settlements of any significant size. From Oxford onwards, larger towns become a more frequent sight, with Reading being the largest of all before you reach the outer suburbs of London. After Kingston-upon-Thames, there is no doubt that you are in an urban environment although a number of parks still give the path a slightly rural feel at times, before the centre of London dominates the final twenty miles of the route. The simple map below, which is approximately to scale, gives a basic overview of the route which the river takes from its Source to the Barrier at Woolwich.

How long it takes to walk the path is of course entirely up to the individual. The route can easily be broken down into as many different stages as is necessary, although there are fewer options for dividing up the more rural sections due to the rarity of suitable places for an overnight stop. Our itinerary split the path into fifteen sections, allowing us to start and finish on Saturdays and take two full weeks to complete the trail. This made for on average a little over twelve miles of walking each day, although the individual stages ranged from less than ten miles all the way up to almost seventeen. We did not take any rest days, but if you have more time to spare there are certainly many towns along the route which are suitable for a day off from walking.

Our journey began at the Source on Saturday 8 April 2017, reaching the Thames Barrier on Saturday 22 April. Each day's walk is listed below, with an approximate figure for the distance walked. Those distances relate solely to the length of the path that we covered; on a number of days there was a certain amount of additional walking required to get to and from our accommodation in order to pick up the path where we had left off!

Use the menu at the top of the page to read more about each of these individual stages, as well as to see a selection of pictures from along the route.