Blog No 15, Pangbourne to Goring 6 miles

I was accompanied by my friend Alison. We set off for Pangbourne expecting a shorter walk than usual. The Thames Path book estimated 4 miles between Whitchurch Bridge and Streatley Bridge, with the diversions it was more of a six mile hilly trek. However I did manage this time around to get a picture of the very impressive weir at Pangbourne. 

We set off over Whitchurch Bridge, and straight up the hill through houses until we came to the sign for the Path going left. This was quite a steep climb, when we reached the top of the hill, I thought that was it, hill walking accomplished.

However, we soon found another steep incline along the path leading to the woods, very pretty but rather steep. These paths continued for several miles, with the river to the left of us. We chatted about Alison's dad and daughters, just life in general. I told Alison about a radio 4 programme I listened to about the history of Celiac Disease. How it was noticed that children once reaching the age of 2 did not make the milestones expected and became weak with no bone growth. When bananas were first exported to the UK from the Caribbean they were seen as the miracle cure. A doctor from the Netherlands after the 2nd world war finally located the the problem of gluten being the root cause of the problem. Alison commented that she knew when one of her daughters developed the condition that there was a problem. No amount of 'fobbing off' worked, there is instinctive knowledge. 

We were then through the hills and could see the river from the ridge we were walking.

Soon the clouds gathered and we had a fantastic view of the Wittenham Clumps, with the storm clouds over them. Alison was sure we were in for a soaking, but I was hopeful that we would just catch the edge of it. We did get a little bit wet but nothing like the drenching in some places. 

+

Some lovely views of the river, Alison took some good pictures along the way. As well as the sheltered paths we walked with meadowland to our right.

We also reminisced about Elizabeth and I reminded Alison of the denim shorts trauma, recorded in the previous blog. Adrian had messaged Alison about his diving exploits off the coast of Honduras. This is a new activity that Elizabeth would loved to have known about. Elizabeth did like spending time with Alison and Adrian enjoys spending time with her as well. 

On this walk we saw quite a bit of wildlife. Alison took a picture of the Egyptian geese, they are becoming a common sight along the river.

Nearing the end of our walk we came across a field of goats. Alison managed a picture of one close by. They were not friendly or interested in us in the least.

Rather annoyingly a diversion took us away from the river just when we were expecting to see the Bridge at Streatley hove into view. By this time we were tired and our thoughts turned to obtaining an Uber to take us back to Pangbourne. This proved rather more difficult than expected. We thought we would try again when we reached the Swan at Streatley.

We crossed under the railway bridge before Streatley and then soon saw where we could get onto the main road across the river bridge and to the Swan Hotel.

At the Swan we sunk into the seats and had a drink and a packet of crisps, expecting to get an Uber fairly quickly and head back to Pangbourne as it was getting late. This was not to be, according to the Taxi driver we finally found, who picked us up about an hour later,  he informed us that no Uber's operated in the area. Another lesson to be learnt.

We headed home and stopped to pick up fish and chips on the way at Abingdon. We returned home just in time to catch the last light in time to put the Godfrey goose and the chickens to bed. 

A lovely walk with a good friend.