Nordic walking the Thames Path Leg 3: part two

Leg Four - Newbridge to Oxford
When: Sunday 17th August 2025
Miles Walked: 15.1
Steps Taken: 31,748
Moving Time: 4:56:03
Elevation Gain: 31 ft

On Sunday 17th August three of us met at Oxford’s Seacourt Park & Ride car park, off Botley Road on the outskirts of Oxford. From there we drove one car to Newbridge and parked outside the Rose Revived Pub/Hotel and shortly before 9.30am set off in glorious sunshine back towards Oxford. We head through the terrace outside of the pub on the riverside to reach the towpath alongside the river, it looks like a great spot for breakfast in the sunshine! We are soon back onto lovely grassy paths with clear stretches of river alongside us. We continue following the meandering contours of the river through slightly shaded paths and open countryside.

Great wide expanses of grass are fantastic for Nordic walking and we stride on pass a lovely wooden footbridge that would take you over the river to Fyfield, but we are heading for Northmoor Lock.

Before reaching Northmoor we pass a big house on the opposite bank with a massive boathouse, I reckon I could live just in the boathouse! There is a lot of Purple Loosestrife and Common Fleabane on the river banks on this stretch, the insects love them!

We come to a wide expanse of grass that has quite a few people milling about on it, we are approaching Bablock Hythe, a hamlet that up until 1959 had a hand-propelled ferry to take cars and passengers across the Thames, this is apparently one of the best known crossings of the Thames since the Romans forded here, the pub is called The Ferryman and I’m supposed to get a stamp in my passport, but sadly it is not open yet, a photo will have to do. The Thames Path diverts away from the river here presumably because the caravan site here owns the next mile of riverside frontage! A long yomp out past the caravans and further along a road before turning right into fields and endless fields of sheep before finally we see the river once again.

After crossing the very ugly weir bridge we reach Pinkhill Lock, which has some beautiful flower borders.

Not long after Pinkhill Lock the Thames Path leaves the riverside again, this time due to erosion and the towpath being destroyed, so a small diversion up to the B4044, along for 250 yards before taking us down through Oxford Cruisers boatyard and back to the river. Then we are back following the twists and turns of the river all the way to Swinford,