Jane’s Walk 2022 – Day 3

Back to Tadpole Bridge, where we ended in a sodden mess last night. I had to turn on the central heating when I got home just to dry out our shoes, backpacks, and clothes. Annoyingly it had not rained much in Bladon, which made me doubly cross. At least this morning is dry. How different it all looks. We are joined again by Charles with his wife, Angela. We reckon this to be an easy stretch as we are close to the river all day, with no deviations. This turns out to be accurate as we arrive at our lunch stop at Newbridge an hour earlier than estimated. We saw a few boats today on the river but still surprisingly few considering it was a beautiful stretch, twisting and turning through wide flood plains. Lots of swan families about and herons but no visible kingfishers or bullfinches as predicted on the nature information boards on the way. Approximately every 1/2 mile, there is a World War 2 concrete lookout post, all well preserved. We debate whether it was really thought that the Germans would have travelled this far up the Thames without being spotted? What a boring posting it must have been for those manning them.

On a particularly wide and tranquil stretch of the river, I spy two or three large properties on the opposite side with sweeping gardens down to the shore. But perhaps, more interestingly, I see 2 quite ordinary small inhabited 1950/60 bungalows, again with gardens down to the river. I bet they are owned by elderly people, with relatives just waiting for them to die so they can sell the sites at a huge profit!

Back on the road path after lunch, we complete the 9. 6 miles in record time at Bablock Hythe caravan park at 3.30.