Stan Cullimore’s River Thames Diary – it’s a lovely way to live

There’s a lot to be said for messing about in boats. Living life beyond the river banks. It’s a wonderful way to slow down and unwind. Which is why Mrs Cullimore and I recently decided to spend a week slowly chugging up and down the River Thames to Wallingford and back.

Setting off from Drifters’ canal boat hire base at Eynsham near Witney, our home for the duration was the four-berth, 58ft narrowboat ‘Knighton’. With a solid double bed at one end, a delightful living room at the other and a bijou galley in the middle, it was perfect for seven days of relaxing adventures.

Here’s my Captain’s Log from what seemed like a Galaxy far, far away…

Day 1 – Eynsham to Godstow Abbey

Locks – 2
Miles – 4
Cruising hours – 2
Scenery – We’re in the heart of the country. Gently rolling away as far as the eye can see. Up ahead are glimpses of those dreaming spires of Oxford.
Pubs – The Trout. Great beer, friendly staff, lots of WiFi, all in all, delightful.
Highlight – After mooring up for the night and going for a stroll, we found a sign; “Be Your Beautiful Best” and decided to make it our motto for the week ahead.

Day 2 – Godstow Abbey to Oxford

Locks – 1
Miles – 2
Cruising hours – 1
Scenery – Wide open meadows give way to spiky castles on the skyline. If Willy Wonka did architecture, this is what he’d make. It’s fabulous.
Pubs – So many, it’s hard to choose. We ended up at The Punter, mainly because it was only a hop and a skip from where we moored for the night.
Highlight – Strolling into Oxford to explore, stopping for a coffee and finding a string quartet busking right next to us. Most excellent.

Day 3 – Oxford to Abingdon

Locks – 4
Miles – 8.5
Cruising hours – 3.5
Scenery – The countryside in this part of the world is very pretty. Gently folding hills, patchwork fields of yellow and green swaying in the breeze. Approaching Abingdon by river was like watching a picture postcard come to life.
Pubs – We moored just round the corner from The Broad Face. A lovely old pub built on the edge of the river, reached by a delightful stroll along the Thames Path.
Highlight – Making our way downstream from Oxford we found ourselves caught up among a crowd of rowers. Short boats, long ones and everything in between. They splashed and twirled their way round each other, like crazy boat-borne ballerinas.

Day 4 – Abingdon to Wallingford

Locks – 4
Miles – 13
Cruising hours – 4
Scenery – Another day, another lovely slice of countryside gliding past our windows. But the real stars of today’s journey were the houses dotted along the riverbank. We’ve left suburbia far behind. Some of the riverside mansions have boat sheds bigger than our house.
Pubs – We moored near the bridge opposite a road filled with friendly looking pubs, including the Old Post Office. Thought it would be rude to be this close and not drop in for a pint or two.
Highlight – We’ve seen lots of wildlife all week. Great to watch the Red Kites that have taken over the skies of Oxfordshire. When one of them swooped down to land beside the boat and take a drink from the river this afternoon, it was so exciting I forgot to take a picture.

Day 5 – back up to Abingdon

Locks – 4
Miles – 13
Cruising hours – 4.5
Scenery – We’re on our way back up river, however today, we’re feeling more relaxed, so made time to chat with some of the friendly lock keepers.
Pubs – Getting a bit sentimental we went back to the Broad Face.
Highlight – Chinooks. We saw loads of those enormous double ended military helicopters. Apparently, they’ve got a base somewhere down this way and to reach it from London, they follow the Thames to help them navigate.

Day 6 – Abingdon to Oxford

Locks – 4
Miles – 8.5
Cruising hours – 4
Scenery – Still on our way back and still enjoying the scenery in reverse.
Pubs – Went for a short stroll into Oxford and found The Jam Factory, a really nice place full of students who all wanted to make a fuss of our dog Mabel.
Highlight – The beautiful bridges of Oxford county. Whether they are built for trains, cars, people or bikes, made of stone, steel or wood, there’s something lovely about all of them.

Day 7 – Oxford to Eynsham

Locks – 3
Miles – 5
Cruising hours – 3
Scenery – The sun shone, the birds sang, everything in the waterside meadows looked green and pleasant.
Pubs – Stopped just short of the narrowboat hire base for our last night. Meant we didn’t have to travel far the next morning and we were very close to, The Talbot Inn where we headed for a last night pint. Very nice.
Highlight – One thing you notice when you’re on a boat, is how friendly everyone is. Doesn’t matter if they’re riding along on a boat, passing by on the towpath or just enjoying the view – everyone waves and says hello. It’s a lovely way to live.