The GPS Route

Trip Summary

Four Go Down The Thames: Day 3 Photos

Foster at Staines Thames Footpath

Four Go Down The Thames: Day 2 Photos

River Hotel at Oxford

Four Go Down The Thames: Day 1 Photos

Braker Boys at Kemble Train Station

Four Go Down The Thames: Day 4, ...and relax!

The hotel at Canary Wharf was great and very comfortable.  After a sumptuous lie-in, and a hefty full English breakfast, we prepare for our final journey back to Waterloo.  However, this wasn’t all on bikes.  We took the Thames Clipper service all the way back to the London Eye, travelling through central London in style!

Four Go Down The Thames: Day 3, The End is Nigh

I started the day feeling surprisingly fresh, mentally at least.  We made another early start, aiming to get to the Thames Barrier before the final day of the Premier League finishes. 

Today we actually left on time, and made very good pace from Slough to Staines. 

Four Go Down The Thames: Day 2

Knowing that we had a lot of cycling to get through today, we attempted to make an early start.  I had had a somewhat disturbed night’s sleep, being woken by Foster to tell me I was snoring! 

We spent a little time in the morning finding a bike shop for Foster to replace his spare inner tube, having got a puncture yesterday afternoon.  Then it was onto the towpath out of Oxford all the way to Abingdon, and was just great with some great views of the river through the city.

Four Go Down The Thames: Day 1, The Adventure Begins

I hadn’t slept well.  It may have been nerves.  It may have been a million and one things going through my head such as have I packed and repacked enough times?  Have I done enough planning, preparation, and training?  Have I got the train times right?  Will I get there on time?  Will I even finish?  Then again, it may well have been the large amount of pasta I’d consumed the night before to ‘carb up’.  The day started off being rudely awoken by a text message from Shum at 4:30am.  Oh the hilarities of such a practical joke!

Places - 6

Greenwich

Greenwich is located at a latitude and longitude of 51° 28' 38" N and 0º 0' 0" E/W (by definition). It is 6 miles east of London on the south bank of the River Thames.

The Cutty Sark is the most famous tea clipper built, and is the only one to survive. She is now in dry dock at Greenwich. As a tea clipper the Cutty Sark played an important role in the world tea trade.

more after the jump..

Places - 5

Putney

Putney has, for decades, been London's rowing centre. 

The growth of the sport was greatly encouraged by the popularity of the Oxford and Cambridge boat race, which was first rowed over the Putney to Mortlake course in 1845. Since then, the boathouses of schools and rowing clubs have spread westwards along the southbank from Putney Bridge.

Putney Bridge is world-famous as the starting point of the annual Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race.

More after the jump...

Places - 4

Runnymede

Runnymede is 3 miles along the River Thames from Windsor in the county of Surrey.

Its great claim to fame is as the site where King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215. President John F. Kennedy is also commemorated here. It is an attractive area of riverside meadows, grassland, and woodland.

More after the jump...

Places - 3

Eton

Eton is a town in Berkshire, lying on the opposite bank of the River Thames to Windsor and connected to it by Windsor Bridge. Until 1974 Eton was in Buckinghamshire.

Eton is home to the largest and most famous private school known as Eton College. The school was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. Nearly 1300 boys attend the private school aged between the ages of 13-18 and all are boarders.

Many famous people went to school at Eton College including Prince William and Prince Harry, 19 prime ministers, authors such as George Orwell and numerous peers of the realm.








More after the jump...

Places - 2

Whitchurch-on-Thames

Whitchurch is a picturesque south Oxfordshire village located on the north bank of the River Thames, five miles North West of Reading. The history of the riverside village can be traced back to Roman times, and possibly earlier. 

 

Kenneth Grahame, inspired by the wildlife he observed on the Thames wrote the children's classic 'The Wind in the Willows'.

Hardwick House in Whitchurch is said to be the inspiration for Toad Hall.

The Thames leaves Pangbourne in an easterly direction along the base of the Chiltern Hills through pleasant meadows towards Reading.

More after the jump

Places - 1

We'll be cycling through some of the best of the British countryside as well as some of the more anonymous stretches of road.  In a series of blog articles, we'll be giving a short introduction to some of the more interesting places we'll be passing through.

The River Thames flows through the nine counties of Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, Middlesex, Essex, and Kent, before finally entering the North Sea.

The importance of the Thames can be seen in the settlements that line its banks. Royal palaces, government buildings, great trading houses, market squares and river crossings all provide links with the past. Many of these settlements have changed little in hundreds of years.

In comparison with major rivers of the world, the Thames is a very small river. It has a total length of just 215 miles (346 km) and is the longest river wholly in England.


More after the jump...