There were a couple of times this week I wondered if we’d get to this day, and more than a couple of times this morning when I wondered if my feet would get through today – simply, there was just no choice. This morning was the toughest get go for my feet. I don’t think it was just about the walk, it was about the boots – my trusty old hiking boots, that cost a fortune and had been in the Yorkshire Dales plenty of Cornwall and on all my dog walks and training runs, were just not right for the job. It’s a shame, I wonder how my feet would be had I had the different boots on from the start.

Today was about walking through familiar territory frequently walked by Henny & me, walking through my life as it currently is, here in West Oxfordshire, and visiting some well known pubs where Tania and I like to finish some of our walks with the dogs up the river.

Today we left from Newbridge meeting in the car park at The Rose Revived, a pretty twin bridge over the river which we had to cross to get back on the path. Clearly, the start of this one was going to be chaos – Henny had invited some of her best friends!

(L-R) Julie, Andy, Ange, Viv, me, Elaine & Chap (Alan)

(L-R) Tilly, Mabel, Oscar, Henny & Bentley

Oscar is a Wirehaired GSP like Henny but with extra coat and a beard – just coming up a year old, and Henny has contributed to his growing up and development – so she thinks, this past year. They met when Oscar was no more than 9 weeks and she recognised the breed similarity without a doubt. She has been dominant over Oscar every time they’ve got together…. until lately- Oscar is now bigger than her, and though Henny can still win using a little wisdom gained with having a year on him, pound for pound he’s now ahead!

Bentley, is the love of her life, and his. This lovable bear of a choccy lab seems to dote on her and treat her as if she is his own – and she loves it. They’re just like a young couple in love. When these two see each other across the field they charge towards each other, NOT like Bo Derek & Dudley Moore In ’10’, but more like a couple of freight trains on the same track and on a collision course, and when they do they go off like a couple of WWE wrestlers. 1 hour into the walk and they were all still at it like lunatics.

I first came to the Rose Revived back in 1983, soon after Dad & Shirley moved to Bampton, it’s a Greene King pub now, one of a chain, which is a shame and it was probably an old Morland pub back then. So many of Oxfordshire’s beautiful historical pub buildings have been chained and tied by Greene King, its a shame. Opposite the Rose Revived on the other side of the bridge is The Maybush, a pretty little pub that has been run as a free house in recent years and under various ownership – for some reason and I can’t understand it, it doesn’t quite stick. Shirley and I would come here for lunch regularly after Dad died, they always did Scampi, one of her favourites, but I think it may have had more to with it not holding so many memories for her as perhaps other lunch spots would have done. My step mum was one of a kind, not the wicked step mum of Fairytales, but my always loving “other Mum”, who only ever treated my sister and I as her own. She’d been with me for some 45 years, in fact she joined us at Clifton Hampden, where we’d been on the river a couple of days before, was with us at Marlow where we’d been on Monday and was still with me today on my last stretch of the river.

The river gets particularly narrow and twisty from here on and only the best of long-boaters should negotiate these parts, if their boat is of the longer of long boats variety. We saw a couple get in a spot of bother when going into a bend too fast and not making it round the corner, only to hear the crunching of trees and snapping of wood etc as they wedged themselves into the river bank. With max-power on the Stern Thrusters (and probably a bit of Bowl (Bow) Thrusting they managed to set themselves free – I did feel for them a bit to be going through this right in front of half a dozen walkers, but not as much as I did when some 4 hours later he turned up at the Plough at Kelmscott to find us all in the garden, and I of course couldn’t help but mention it.

The Thames narrows & twists on the upper reaches

We marched on, in great company still amused by the dogs who still hadn’t slowed down. Soon we reached Chimney meadow and it’s beautiful chapel, just a shame about the siting of the electricity pylons – you’d think they’d have given it more thought.

Chimney Meadow Chapel & those damned cables

Almost 6 miles in and we reached The Trout at Tadpole Bridge no more than 2 miles from home and a regular walking destination for Tania and me. Here we were joined by Sue & Steve old friends from the late seventies and early eighties, who had been with me on Monday on the trip up to Henley-on-Thames. Sue and I used to knock around together with our respective partners of the time. Funny how we both didn’t stick with our partners back then, but remained friends ever since! Sue is godmother to our twins Suzanne & Richard – not that they’ve needed one, but she is the kind of person who would have undoubtedly been there for them despite us not seeing each other from one year to the next.

So at The Trout, something cold and refreshing required, Heineken hit the spot , as indeed they did last week when they supported my walk with 44 gallons of Lager worth £500 to the charity – would have been rude not to…

Dee Clarke joined us here too for short stretch of the walk with her two dogs, a Labradoodle (with little trace of a doodle in him) and a Lurcher mixed with a good bit of Greyhound.

I remembered Dee’s husband Peter could often be seen with one of his classic cars parked outside the Trout, no doubt as he stopped off for an “Orange Juice” at the end of a run round the country lanes – he was a commercial pilot and adored his old car. We didn’t know him well, just a few years, from meeting as you do, at the Morris Clown in Bampton. I liked to sit at the bar and hear some of his stories and jokes and to ask him about scary landings – I hate flying you see, and the worse the story, the more confident I am that I will survive my worst fear! Peter Clarke didn’t survive his encounter with Cancer and Dee sadly lost her best friend just last year and today it was Peters’ Birthday, I hoped he knew where Dee was today. It was time for a bit more reflection.

On we went through Rushey Lock and across the fields of cows, you can make out the Church spire at St Mary’s Bampton (is it me or are more churches called St Mary’s than any other name?), and you can make out the mast at Bampton Castle a former WW2 base, I believe. And, the planes circling above us from time to time are out of RAF Brize Norton, which as the crow flies is probably no more than 4 miles away if that. My Dad was stationed initially at Brize at the start of WW2, before the Americans operated from there. He was an RAF Acting Pilot Officer- thankfully he only had to do the “Acting” part rather than the flying bit (he was to be a rear gunner), but was colour-blind, so no flying for him or shooting from the back! I’m still proud that he did his duty during the war – he never thought much of it, but did like that he’d been in the RAF. I always thought it nice that he’d moved to Bampton some forty something years after he’d been at Brize, something of a full circle.

Past “Old Mans Bridge” and soon to Radcot Lock, not long now till the Swan at Radcot Bridge. This is a delightful setting and one of the nicest sunniest gardens on a summers afternoon overlooking the river. This pub is in private hands – No Greene King here. You can tell by the amount of work going on here that this will one day be an amazing venue, they’ve not long had it.

It’s owned by Roy Burton a local property ‘tycoon’, and former Oxford United goalkeeper- he clocked up some 450 ish games for Oxford until the early 80’s. There’s a lovely photo in the bar hanging above the fire place, taken from behind the goal, with Roy diving to his left and the ball in the right hand side of the net – you can make out George Best taking the penalty!

Teepees at the The Swan

Roy Burton & Georgie Best 1972

Just three miles to go… we met Tania & Georgie on route – it was great that we would finish this trek together. Also Elaine joined us again to walk with Alan & Bentley to the finish.

As I’ve said before I’ve been amazed at the support from all quarters – none more so than to see my friend Neil leaning on a gate at the entrance to the last field – Neil started the walk with me on Monday.

Last field done we headed off up the lane, past Kelmscott Manor, the former home of William Morris the textile designer of the Arts & Crafts Movement, and around the corner in this prettiest of villages to my destination, The Plough. What a bloody relief!

Mick & Doris Cleaver – Cancer Research UK Representatives at The Plough.

Mick Cleaver and his wife Doris were there to meet me from my local Bampton branch of Cancer Research UK, as we’re Captain Colin & Penny the Purser – two people I could never thank enough for helping me to achieve this. We all had a great lunch and a few beers before retiring to the Morris Clown.

It had been one heck of a week, I was thankful to everyone. I was in awe of Henny and what she’d achieved to.

All said and done, we raised a few quid, and I finally learned to walk.

End

Note: this blog has been written by two fat thumbs on an I-phone, most often late at night after a days walk, several beers a couple of shots of sloe gin and a slug of night nurse! There is much editing to be done in the coming week and a Prologue – but that I promise you is where it will stop.

Thanks for walking our river

Mark & Henny