Spring Walk - Thames Path at Lechlade

Old Town Partnership of Churches

(print out this itinerary)

Walk - Thames Path at Lechlade – Saturday 7th May 2011

 The start and finish point of the walk is Lechlade Market Square, St Lawrence Church.  Transport by bus – see below.

Please bring a light packed lunch, and waterproofs in case of rain.  Flat grassy paths, trainers fine. 

Long option – 8 miles.  Two churches and two pubs.

Short Option - 4 ½ miles.  Two churches and one pub.

Picnic option - Buscot by car and picnic at St Mary’s Buscot  (1 mile total).

Transport

Bus (preferred option).  Meet at Swindon Bus Station, at 10.30 a.m., in good time to catch the 10.45 bus to Lechlade.  Service 64 (Saturday) operated by RH Transport.

Out	Swindon (Bus Station) dep	10.45
	Lechlade (Market Place) arr.	11.10
Home	Lechlade (Market Place) dep.	15.13	17.08
	Swindon (Bus Station) arr	15.37	17.35

Fares -  £2.50 single, £4.20 return, (discount  - 12 tickets for the price of 10, from the driver).

By Car - Park at Riverside Park, off the west side of the A361 about ¼ mile south of Lechlade.  There are toilets at Riverside Park.   (Map reference SU 212992, OS Landranger 163, Cheltenham and Cirencester area).  Riverside Park is approximately 25 minutes by car from Christ Church (via Highworth).   Meet the rest of the party at St Lawrence’s at 11.10 (if the bus is on time).  Half mile walk. 

11.10 - Visit St Lawrence, Lechlade (off Market Square).  Simon Jenkins’ book states, “Lechlade is a cadet branch of the ‘woolgothic’ aristocracy, and the most self-effacing.”  Jenkins states “The church inspired a verse by Shelley in 1815.  The poet saw the church as dusk fell on a summer’s evening,

‘Clothing in hues of Heaven thy dim and distant spire,

Around whose lessening and invisible height

Gather among the stars the clouds of night.’ “

11.30 walk for ¾ of a mile from St Lawrence to The Trout at St John’s Bridge.  The Trout’s website advertises a “Traditional Fete” on this day, starting at 12.00 noon.  We plan to stop for 30 minutes at the pub.  Real ales, including Sharpe’s Doom Bar.

12.30 Leave The Trout and walk for 1 mile to Buscot Lock, cross the lock gates to the south side of the Thames, continue for about 200 yards, and stop at the National Trust meadow at Buscot Lock (SU 231979).

13.00   Picnic lunch, National Trust meadow, Buscot Lock .

Picnic option - There is a National Trust car park at Buscot (SU 232977) and toilets and a tea place.  An option is for drivers to join the picnic at 1.00 p.m.  The picnic location is 500 yards from the car park.

13.30 Walk to St Mary’s Buscot.  600 yards from picnic spot.  The church contains a Burne-Jones stained glass window.   (Chancel arch of c. 1200, Pevsner).   It is planned that St Mary’s will be open for us.

14.00  Either - continue the walk for a further 2 miles east along the Thames as far as The Plough at Kelmscott, for a brief refreshment stop and then return all the way to Lechlade to catch the 17.08 bus back to Swindon,

Or – short option - return from Buscot to Lechlade, via The Trout.

 The walk passes through corners of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Oxfordshire (the Oxfordshire corner was Berkshire before the boundary changes), and – I need to check this - two, possibly three dioceses.

Next walk - provisionally:

Old Town Parish – Beating the Bounds – walk around the boundary of the parish.  Anticlockwise this year.  Sunday 12 June 2011 (Pentecost).

Organisers (please contact for further information)

Daniel Pitt       mobile 07989 493850

Caroline Pitt   mobile 07749 084880

                         home   01793  521732

Risk Assessment  completed – risks all acceptable.

 References

Simon Jenkins – England’s Thousand Best Churches.  Allen Lane The Penguin Press. 1999. 

Nikolaus Pevsner - The Buildings of England.  Berkshire.  Penguin Books.  1966.