I’m not sure if people really do trip reports here as I haven’t seen many. I thought I’d stick a post up on this as when a friend suggested we do this I tried to do a bit of research and found little information. I realise most of the riding on the Thames Path is ‘cheeky trail’. Having not done much multi day cycling this seemed like a good trip to start.

Practice day – We cycled from Lechlade to Cricklade this took us 2 hours, its amazing how windy the Thames is! Thankfully it was on the Sunday of the Easter bank holiday and the weather was brilliant, however there are a A LOT of gates and many of the more annoying kissing gates. We now had an idea what we were letting ourselves in for.

Day 1 – We set off at 11 to head to Lechlade via road from Cirencester as we felt we had already done the Path to this point. It started off well with a minor break before reaching Lechlade to help a women change the wheel on her Fiat 500. Lechlade reached and on to the Thames Path proper to head to our first stop over in Oxford. We decided we wouldn’t stop for lunch having a had a large late breakfast and just graze on some of the food we had brought with us. All was going well until my seatpost started slipping and dropping down, this probably wasn’t helped by the saddle bag hanging from it. So quick stops were annoyingly regular to lift the post and retighten. Lesson learnt, don’t grease your post! Plenty of lovely scenery and a large number of WW2 Pillboxes. For this section the Path is mostly through grassy fields and lightly compacted ground however it is bumpy and rough. I had contemplated doing the trip on my gravel bike however personally I think this would be unwise due to long hard sections of bumpy track. The weather had been wonderful all day but about 15km before Oxford and the rain stared so waterproofs donned we continued. As we neared Oxford the path turned into canal type track before your more usual gravel cycle track nearer the City. Having not done much city riding, cycling round Oxford during rush hour is hectic! Once into the City we headed for our Airbnb for a quick shower and bus into Oxford Centre for food and beers. 5hrs saddle time, 75km covered and a lot of gates passed through!

Day 2 – After the annoyance of the seat post of yesterday I had spotted a Halfords round the corner and got there for 9am and they kindly learnt me some Muc Off to clean as much of the grease off as I could, we then headed to a small café for breakfast before getting back onto the path and our next stop, Henley. The cycle out of Oxford was lovely, being a Saturday many people were out rowing following by the little coaching (?) boats. We stopped at Moulsford for food as my riding partner was struggling, my advice keep going on and find somewhere else as its was incredibly expensive and not what two hungry cyclists needed. . Terrain wise, much of the same, however more locks and there were some lovely flowy sections of trail. As per the previous day, 10 km from Henley and the rain started. Fantastic Airbnb, the chap was a keen cyclist who enjoyed fixing up old bikes so enthusiastically gave our bikes a once over, small gear adjustment for mine and help properly degrease my seat post. Spoons pub dinner, beer and discussions about the next days riding which would involve a lot more distance! I was to head off early on my own and continue following the Thames Path while my mate took a more direct road route and we would meet up as he rejoined it later on. 6 hrs saddle time, 82km covered and still no walker cyclist altercations!

Day 3 – Up early for 7am getaway, a stomach full of porridge and a now much better packed saddle bag (it kept drooping down and hitting the rear wheel) I was ready to put a shift in and make some decent headway on my own with my friends words of ‘you won’t make London before 5pm’ giving me plenty of motivation. It was beautiful leaving Henley in the early morning sunshine with nobody about and the path to myself. I was making good progress far better than I hoped, target was 15km/h, I was averaging 20. At Cookham bridge I somehow lost the main Thames Path and my (wrongly) planned route was now blocked as a Bomb Disposal Squad were defusing something magent fishers had pulled out the Thames. Minor detour and tough climb up Hedsor Hill saw my proposed route take me into Cliveden Park, through the gardens and then down some steep steps to rejoin the Thames for a short while before a climb back out and exit the park, the main gates were closed as it was before 9am so bike over and get back on the road to rejoin at Maidenhead. There was a lot happening at Dorney Lake so popped in and had a look round, lots of rowing action. A quick stop in Windsor for a coffee and cake at 10am and brilliant small café where they were happy for me bring my bike in as I realised my mate had the one lock we brought! I cycled up to Datchet to meet up with my mate for a quick chat and talk of remeeting near Richmond park. Moving on again you soon start to realise the amount of very expensive and nice looking houses that have either been built or are being built along the Thames is absolutely vast! Lunch stop was at Hampton another lovely small independent café, I got chatting to a couple who work for BA who were also sat outside who kindly watched my bike while I went inside. Pedestrian traffic on the path was starting get a little heavier now before hitting Richmond park where it got ridiculous! There was a sponsored walk happening for Diabetes UK and I happened to be cycling against the flow of this walk. The main issue being the number of people not sticking to their left side of the path and the amount of people who almost walked straight into me because there were heads down glued to their phone not looking where they were going was unbelievable. This stream of people seemed to continue for way further than I imagined! With the two of us now making our way slowly towards Battersea we soon decided to dip off and join the National Cycle Network No4 route to our destination of London Bridge, where our Hostel was for the night arriving at 3:30pm. Thankfully the hostel had a secure court yard area not accessible to the public to lock our bikes. Terrain all hard pack canal path style or gravel/tarmac which helped mean progress was fast. Just under 7 hrs saddle time, 123km covered (18km averaged), no charity walkers hit and one other cyclist calling me a ****.

Day 4 – After a rather late night and too little sleep it was time to head to London Paddington for our train home. Had a good breakfast at the hostel and then it was a 45 min ride to the station including a minor detour to ride through Trafalgar, past Buckingham Palace and through Hyde Park. London was mostly dead being just gone 9 on a Bank Holiday. Bikes loaded on to the train (The new GWR Hitachi variety). As other people have said they don’t fit great and there was no chance the cubicle doors would have shut with our bikes in there. Quick change at Swindon for Kemble and then a fairly (in comparison) short cycle home.

Summary – Pretty much everyone we met were all super friendly and I made sure to be polite and say hello to all the walkers to do my bit for MTB/Walker relations! We rode the path on hardtails, I took just a 10l saddle bag which had a waterproof bungeed to it. Total cost for all accommodation and train home was £99. A bell on your bike really doesn’t seem such a terrible idea when wading through pedestrians on the paths nearer London! Day 3 was easily my favorite as seeing the scenery change as you slowly head into London is wonderful even if it does account for a fairly long day. Day 1 and 2 really does involve a lot of gates!! I can add some pictures from instagram if some might give me a quick pointer on how its done! Any questions please fire away, as I have mostly put this up so when people like me are trying to do some research they might find some useful information.

John

Sounds like a good ride.

Pics would be nice (sorry not familiar with Instagram) as this sounds very different to my usual rides.

I was looking at a map of the canals in England, and it seems it would be possible to ride almost the length of the country to the north – or are there no go areas?

you can ride from Birmingham to London Paddington too for the South by canal.

Quick change at Swindon for Kemble and then a fairly (in comparison) short cycle home.

Where do you live then? You must be near me (Cirencester).

The gates must be mental though, no? There’s certainly tonnes at this end.

And grease your seatpost!

Yep I live in Cirencester.

The gates are a bit mental but you get used to them and learn to enjoy the challenger of opening and closing them without getting off your bike. For the kissing gates you soon learn the technique of getting the bike onto the back wheel reverse in spin round push open gate and down again.

Nice write up. I’ve cycled the thames path from central london out to egham on my commuter bike, it’s a nice path and surprisingly varied. I did my ride in the dark (mostly) so thankfully it was quite quiet..!