Back to Old Father Thames

Yesterday, 26th February I revisited the source of the Thames, the point was to see the source when the spring was operating as a spring, in 2008 when EG and I were there the source was dry so I believed that there would be running water because there has been several days of heavy rain.

To make it more interesting I decided to appraoach from the west by stopping at a pub near Sapperton and walking along the disused Severn to Thames Canal for a mile to Trewsbru then dropping across fileds to my destination. The ground was soggy, very soggy and it was hard going but when I got there total disappointment, no water, not even a puddle so I took a few photos and returned to The Tunnel pub to finish my lunch. It has been said that it was only in the 19th Century that Thames Head became known as the Thames source and some consider that this was because there was an artificial spring created from water leaking out of the canal. Those interested should refer to the Cotswold Canal Trust website.

New walking route

Got going about 4pm with a pacemaker thing to indicate my number of steps and new socks, specially made for snowboarders, 'made of wool' said the guy in the shop, when I got in I looked carefully, 8%wool, 59% synthetic, 33% cotton. But they fitted and did me wll for my trial walk which involved an extended walk across fields to a road I know followed by 600 yards as a pedestrian with no footpath, sidewalk or escapes. I survived but I did not like it and must find a better route. 8500 steps, 5.4 miles according to my pedometer, 1 hour 10 minutes, something is wrong there and it is because I have the pace length wrongly set. On flat even ground I can do about 30 inch pace but going up a 45% hill it can be down to 12". Sunday to-morrow, just a dander.

Pre-Plannig

The first steps towards pre-planning Have started, I now have Wainwrghts book and 2 Ordnance survey maps. Some of those hills look quite steep, in many cases over 25% gradient which seems to me on a par with going up Snowdon or Ben Nevis. I managed those without difficulty but of course it was only one mountain in a day, for this walk there will be two or three in a day but Wainwright does a good job in setting out the route with some explanation of what is going on around, however to judge from the DVD made with him the man did not try to do the walk on a continuous basis. By chance I have met up with a lad in the climbing gear shop who plans to be doing the C2C with his father later in the year and I had a long discussion with him about buying a GPS. Four hundred quid seems a lot for a piece of equipment to be used for one trip only, against that must be set the possibility that it could be a life saver following a simple accident. I shall take my car SatNav out for a few trial walks, not quite so convenient but we shall see.

This is the end of the first week of February and I have been walking for an hour or so most days in oto get a suitable fitness level for my next serious walking trip with my Thames companion EG, we are planning to do Wainwrights Coast to Coast walk, St Bee's Head to Robin Hood Bay walking whenever possible on footpaths rather than hard surface. Distance is about 195 miles and since this is serious up and down hill walking the present plan is for about 6 miles per day with the intention of looking at the countryside as well as the marvels of nature. Six miles does not seem much but it can be rough walking and the weather can vary from glorious to blooming horrible. So far I have done no serious planning, such important details as where to stay and how to move luggage have to be thought about and decided. The current plan is that there will be 4 of us walking and we may have a back up pair to deal with luggage moving. There are complications, EG has serious illness in the family, one of the other 2 has a foot difficulty, the other is a busy lady and 30 days away from serious office work may not be possible.