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Next time you potter through the Cotswold Lakes with your dog, cross the weir at Hambleden Mill or watch the monthly test opening at the Thames Barrier, stop for a moment: you’re standing on a national treasure – and it turns 30 next week.
The Thames is the only river in Britain to have a National Trail running practically its full length, and this 185.2-mile path has flipped England’s second-longest watercourse from its ancient role as a trading route to a leisure resource open to all.
In the capital, it has caused a universal swivel to face the once-unloved, tea-coloured flow, while upstream it links towns, cities, nature reserves, churches, art galleries, great houses and good pubs. The source, about 33m above sea level, is its highest point. The rest of it is generally flat, so all these walks are easy.
I’ve been walking the river since the Thames Path was a twinkle in the eye of some extraordinary people and organisations and, today, as I both guide on it and use it for fun, I’m grateful for the hard work that has gone into maintaining it.
In celebration of the anniversary, I’ve picked my top recommended sections. Note that timings exclude meals and stops, and be sure to check flood alerts before walking.
Five walking highlights
Lechlade-on-Thames to Tadpole Bridge
10 miles | 4 hours
Lechlade, the highest navigable point, was an inland port for salt, cheese and wool. Elizabeth I stayed on her way to the source, while poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and friends slogged up in a small boat in 1815. I love the wool church of St Lawrence (closed until Christmas), with timber angels carrying instruments of the Passion and a spire visible for much of the walk. Over Halfpenny Bridge are the meadows; look for the paddle-wielding sculpture of Old Father Thames at St John’s Lock and hexagonal wartime pillboxes, part of GHQ Stop Line Red. Meanwhile, Buscot Park has a delightful, idiosyncratic art collection and Kelmscott Manor was once home to Arts & Crafts power couple William and Jane Morris. Stop at Buscot Lock to read its amazing industrial history on boards.
Get there: Bus Swindon to Lechlade (30 minutes).
Lunch: Try The Plough Inn or Kelmscott Tearoom.
Stay: The Trout at Tadpole Bridge has six doubles/twins from £165.
Sandford Lock to Godstow, Oxfordshire
9 miles | 4 hours
This walk grazes the west side of Oxford, a dreamy world of mill stream, canal and Isis (Ox-speak for Thames.) Cross at the pretty lock by The Kings Arms at Sandford, then head north, passing the Norman church of St Mary’s, in Iffley, with its dazzling John Piper window; a dozen college boathouses; views of Christ Church Meadow; and Caudwell’s Castle, an eccentrically decorated house by Folly Bridge. I usually divert to the pubs of Jericho for lunch, rejoining the river via Walton Well Road. See Godstow Abbey before a pint at The Trout Inn, which is ideal at dusk when the sun catches the surrounding water.
Get there: Bus 3a Oxford to Rock Farm Lane/Bus 6 Wolvercote to Oxford.
Lunch: Old Bookbinders Arms for cosy French bistro food; closed Mondays and Sundays.
Stay: St Margaret’s Hotel, north Oxford, has 11 rooms, with doubles from £130.
Henley-on-Thames to Danesfield Hotel & Spa
5 miles | 2 hours
Start at the cheery new 30th-anniversary mural at Mill Meadows so you know what wildlife to look out for, then follow the current to Henley Bridge with its Isis/Tamesis keystones. This is the Henley Royal Regatta course, rowed upstream on the straightest stretch of the Thames; sympathise with the rowers as you walk one mile, 550 yards to the start at Temple Island. It’s thrilling crossing the roar of water at Hambleden Weir and Mill, wiggling around to walk the north bank to Medmenham for lunch. I’d get an Uber to Danesfield House, as the road is steep and busy. Find the corridor of photos documenting the hotel’s war history, then walk down the garden for amazing Thames Valley views.
Get there: Henley station is on a spur from Twyford; a taxi to the hotel takes 10 minutes.
Lunch: The Dog and Badger in Medmenham is an unexpected Italian restaurant.
Stay: Gently faded Danesfield Hotel & Spa is perfectly situated. Rooms from £279.
Richmond Hill to Kew Gardens, via Richmond Bridge
4.5 miles | 2.5 hours
This is the sylvan Thames, a world of former courtiers’ houses and fine vistas. Finest of the lot is from Richmond Hill, England’s only protected view, where the river slides through scenery that the artist Joseph Mallord William Turner knew. Descend to the path via Terrace Gardens, dodging bikes under Richmond Bridge (five arches, symmetrical, my favourite) to pass boatbuilders’ sheds and the White Cross pub with its flood steps; the road is often wet. Find Richmond Green for the old Tudor palace or the bench from Ted Lasso, and after Twickenham Bridge, peer through foliage at an obelisk marking George III’s Kew Meridian. The stroll to Kew is shady and a pink pavilion across the river heralds a final vista: it belongs to Syon House, aligned with the Palm House in Kew Gardens.
Get there: Richmond Station, via the Mildmay/District lines and South Western Railway.
Lunch: The White Swan on Old Palace Lane, sweet little pub with good food.
Stay: The Coach and Horses Hotel is on Kew Green, with doubles from £125.
Tower Hill to Greenwich
8 miles | 4 hours
I rarely miss a chance to see the giant sundial by the Tube here, charting London’s history with great charm. Walk via the Roman wall and Tower to St Katharine Docks and, once on the path, detour to Tower Bridge Wharf for top bridge views. Everything feels nautical, with Wapping an enclave of high walls, dock entrances and officials’ offices converted into houses. In St John’s Churchyard, you’ll also find a plaque to the Leveller Thomas Rainsborough, whose funeral in 1648 drew 3,000 mourners. From the pub, cross the red rolling bridge, looking left to the city and right to the mirage of Canary Wharf. The path south skirts the skyscrapers and the slipway where Brunel launched the world’s largest ship in 1858. It’s scarily fun going under the river by foot tunnel to Greenwich (just be sure to check lifts). Get there for 12.45pm to see the Time Ball drop.
Get there: Tower Hill Tube (District & Circle lines), Tower Gateway DLR.
Lunch: Legendary river pub The Prospect of Whitby allows weekend walk-ins.
Stay: Near the river, Admiral Hardy has doubles from £120.
When to walk the Thames Path
October is my favourite time of year: children are back at school, winter migrant birds are arriving, there are sloes and blackberries in the hedgerows and nuts on the trees. Everything outside smells lovely and everything inside has availability.
Tours to take
No company guides the entire route, but I do it in two halves with Martin Randall Travel’s Walking A Royal River (Sept 21-27, £2,880), day walks and transport, from source to Hampton Court; and Travel Editions’ The London River Walk, a tough four-day walk from Hampton Court to Thames Barrier (2027 dates and prices to be confirmed).
Henley-based Pipsticks Walks offers guided tours on and near the Thames Path, including Nordic walking and navigation skills, while Walk Works offers bespoke walks for groups of any size in the Chilterns section.
Many companies arrange self-guided walks (maps, luggage-carrying, hotel bookings, taxis if necessary) including Contours Holidays, which offers the whole trail over 23 nights for £1,790pp or by section.
There are also good guidebooks by Trailblazer and Cicerone. I use Harvey’s Thames Path map, with the OS app and the National Trails website.
The best stretch for history
Reading Museum has a full-size Bayeux Tapestry replica, if you can’t get tickets for the real one. Teddington Lock divides the tidal and non-tidal river. Visit former power behemoths Battersea (Chimney Lift) and Bankside (Tate Modern), the Brunel Museum and shaft at Rotherhithe, and new Thames Tideway Tunnel public spaces.
Nature highlights
London wildlife will flourish with the new Thames Tideway Tunnel (no more sewage spills). Upstream, kingfishers are common and otters are a possibility if you’re lucky. Seals have been known to travel as far up the Thames as Teddington.
Artwork on the trail
Thirtieth anniversary commissions include a wildlife mural by Vickie Amiralis and poet Robert Seatter’s River30 project, with QR codes linked to 30 poems. Meanwhile, the Father Thames sculpture at St John’s Lock has brothers at Richmond Terrace and Ham House. Like most Londoners, I’m also a huge fan of the Queenhithe Mosaic, which was created by Pierre Marques on the wall of Queenhithe Dock.
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