Regrets. I’ve had a few.
I couldn’t get the Sinatra song out of my head yesterday as I was reflecting on my early morning commute from Oxford to Newbridge, the starting point for leg 9 of my ramble. The trip on the Thames Path northward from Oxford becomes increasingly rural, forcing me to rely on a local bus system that is, to put it mildly, inconvenient. My travel to Lechlade from Newbridge is 16 1/4 miles, so I wanted to get an early start. My plan was to take the 6:05 AM bus from Oxford to Kingston Bagpuize, and then hike 2 miles up a two lane road to Newbridge where the real ramble begins. The 6:05 bus never appeared at Gloucester Green. No worries. I took the 6:35 AM bus and made it to my stop around 7:00 AM. It was pitch dark, and as I began my walk up the A415 I realized something.
What I am doing is dangerous. It was drizzling rain. My rain gear is black. I’m walking up a road with traffic running around 50 MPH just feet from me. After about 100 yards of me dodging traffic, my feet were soaked. I feared my planned hike was a grave mistake. I managed to sneak into a farmer’s field for a couple hundred yard, but eventually I was forced back onto the road because of hedgerows blocking my way. The hike from KB to Newbridge is just over 2 miles. I made it about a mile to a car turnaround, and there I began thumbing for a ride.
I’ve never hitchhiked before. I had doubts that I could get a car to stop for me, but alas a vehicle stopped! The kind driver asked me where I was going. I told him I needed to go just one mile to Newbridge, and he graciously offered me the ride. A landscape architect who was working locally for the week, he was my savior. I didn’t catch his name, though if I did I would have offered to let him stay at my house if he ever decides to visit the States.
So I made it to Newbridge! Note to self: do NOT try to hike any more rural two-lane roads in Oxfordshire. Having survived the morning, at 7:30 AM I turned my attention to my real goal: hiking the long, lonely leg of the Thames River Path from Newbridge to Lechlade-on-Thames. Between Newbridge and Lechlade there are no towns. This leg is filled with meadows, sheep and cow pastures, and occasional locks where boat owners appear to have parked their pleasure craft for the season. Along the 16 miles I crossed paths with a half-dozen people. I walked through a steady light rain that let up around noon. Having given up on my waterproof boots earlier this semester, this leg was the first where I suffered the consequences of this choice. My feet were wet for the entirety of the ramble. This was uncomfortable, but not unmanageable. The wet feet were preferable to the blisters I was dealing with in earlier legs of my journey. The temperature during the ramble stayed in the upper 50s, not at all chilly.
I have uploaded pictures of this leg of my ramble, which can be viewed here. Three things of special note from this leg:
(1) In an earlier leg I encountered the ruins of several World War II pillboxes along the river. I hadn’t seen any in quite a while, but on today’s leg northward the ramble covered a part of the path with the highest density of pillboxes still standing, about one every mile or so. I am still blown away by the proximity to history you can find here. This defense line was built in anticipation of a German invasion that never happened. The pillboxes were pretty much obsolete by the time they were completed.
(2) There was one moment when I really wished I could have crossed the river. About 2 miles from Newbridge sits “the lost town of Shifford.” My guidebook describes the site: “This very small place to the north of the river consists of a scattering of houses and a 19th-century chapel. It has been a tiny hamlet for many years but is reputed to be the location where King Alfred held a meeting of the English Parliament with ‘many bishops, learned men, proud earls, and awful knights.’ They would not recognise it now.”
(3) Lechlade-on-Thames, the final stop on Thursday’s ramble, was a lovely town, “the gateway to the Cotswolds” according to one local. The bus system in this area is dodgy. I arrived in Lechlade around 1:15 PM but discovered that the only bus out of Lechlade left at 4:15, so I spent a couple hours in a local pub listening to the locals talk about Liz Truss’s resignation, which had just been announced. The politics over here is bonkers at the moment. I stopped by a local cheese shop to see if I could get any stinking bishop cheese (look it up!). The cheesemonger told me that they’ve stopped selling it because of how expensive it has gotten, over £50/kilo! I made the 4:15 bus which took me to Highworth, caught the 4:54 bus from Highworth to Faringdon, and then the 5:38 bus from Faringdon back to Oxford. It made for a long, exhausting day. But I did it. I completed the longest, most remote leg of my ramble. It was a triumph.
I am wrapping up this post on Saturday, 10/22. An hour from now Tara and I will be getting on a bus with our students, traveling northward for a week in the Lake District. I’m uncertain how much internet access I’ll have. I’m hoping to do some blogging on the trip, so stay tuned!
Return home…
Did you say, “Well, this cheese shop seems to be uncontaminated by cheese, that’s for sure.” 😉