Nordic Walking The Thames Path: Leg Nine
Leg Nine: Henley-on-Thames to Marlow
When: Saturday 13th September 2025
Miles Walked: 12.55
Steps Taken: 27,046
Moving Time: 3:58:02
Elevation Gain: 93 ft
Avoiding the lengthy diversion at Shiplake we are starting this leg beyond the diversion, I found a car park near the Thames just before Henley-on-Thames which turns out to be just where the closure is.
Karen and Sarah are joining me on this Leg and have driven up from home this morning, we meet at the car park in Marlow and Steve drops us all to the car park at the bottom of Mill Lane. We set off in the sunshine and are contemplating the closure when a couple appear on the bridge, apparently not the whole bridge is closed! They suggest it’s worth a walk across and so we do. Honestly the small amount of bridge that has been closed for nearly three years must be such a nightmare for local residents, let alone Thames Path walkers. The Environment Agency need to really get on with repairing it, there’s a petition by a 9 year old local girl attached to the fence (www.change.org/MarshLockBridge) the couple told us the structure of the bridge is sound, there’s some slats that need repairing, but it has taken this long for them to find that much out!
After our bridge expedition we head out along the towpath towards Henley-on-Thames, it’s a busy Saturday on the river and on the path! We stop at the River & Rowing Museum so I can get a stamp for my passport and avail ourselves of their facilities. Sadly this museum is closing for good next weekend as they just can’t afford to keep it open. We pop into the shop and I purchase a small Toad of Toad Hall plushy to keep Norbert company. Back on the path we pass the Ultra Challenge finish line area being set-up, folk are walking/running between 25km and 100km this weekend from Putney Bridge or Runnymeade for charity. Soon we can see Henley-on-Thames town appearing. I love some of the boat names!
When we reach Henley-on-Thames we have a wander up and down it’s High Street and admire some of the impressive buildings. The Grade II listed Town Hall in the Market Place built between 1899 and 1901 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, the Greville Phillimore (a local Rector) memorial Fountain (1885) and the Golden Post Box celebrating the medal winning rowers at London’s 2012 Olympics. Henley Bridge was built in 1786, a five-span stone bridge designed by William Hayward which replaced an earlier medieval wooden bridge. Henley Bridge was also the finishing line for the first Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race in 1829! We cross over the bridge and pick up the path on the other side of the river.
This stretch of The Thames Path is extremely busy on this sunny September Saturday! Dog walkers, families out walking, rowing coaches on bikes shouting through loud halers, we battle our way on through enjoying the rowers, boats and kayakers gracing the waterway. We initially pass many boathouses on the opposite bank and the Grade II listed Phyllis Court Grandstand which overlooks the finish line of the Henley Regatta, in 1912 King George V and Queen Mary made a visit here to watch the Regatta! In the middle of the river is Temple Island which has this folly in the form of an elegant ornamental temple built in 1771, it was designed as a fishing lodge for nearby Fawley Court. It is now owned by Henley Royal Regatta and the course starts here. We outwalk most of the groups of walkers ambling along the path and reach Hambleden Lock, there’s been a lock here since 1773.
Beyond the marina we see the first KM marker for the Thames Path Ultra Challenge, 95km! We’re now heading away from the river on a small lane towards the hamlet of Aston and our lunch booking at the Flowerpot Hotel.
We met Steve here and decided to sit outside and enjoyed our lunches in the sunshine, the triple cooked chips were amazing! Once we had settled our bill, used the facilities and hoisted our rucksack back on our shoulders, we grabbed our poles and set off up the lane for our afternoon walk, passing Clara in the car park. The path now takes us on higher ground above the river through the grounds of Culham Court, where we hear a clap of thunder and the rain begins to pour from nowhere! Waterproofs hastily donned we walk past a couple of sculptures in the grounds, one by Chrisitian Andersson, looks like something from Stonehenge, but in fact says To R.M for EVER. We then pass another sculpture which is harder to see in the rain, but I believe it is by the Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, a 7 foot bronze head of a girl entitled ‘Wilsis’ The owner of Culham Court is a big art collector.
As we walk on into the Deer Park there is a stark white building on the hill, it turns out this is Culham Court Chapel, Chapel of Christ the Redeemer (a Roman Catholic chapel with services held on the last Sunday of the month), which was built in the footprint of a demolished 18th century building. It won the Murdoch Award in 2017 and has been described as a masterpiece of architecture, apparently the simple outside belies the magnificence inside! The rain has thankfully stopped and we are treated to the wonderful sight of herds of White Fallow and Fallow deer grazing around us! I’ve never seen white deer before and am momentarily captivated! I though it to be a very rare sight indeed with a white stag in folklore and legend symbolising purity, mystery and messengers from other worlds!
We reach the riverside again and pass through fields of sheep and take the alternative path that hugs the riverside, spotting St Mary’s Abbey at Medmenham on the other side of the river from us. Better known as Medmenham Abbey, the current building is partly 16th and partly 18th century Gothic and was the home to Sir Francis Dashwood, founder of the infamous Hellfire Club, but is located on the site of the medieval Cistercian Abbey founded in 1204. Shortly after this we think the first participant in the Ultra Challenge Thames Path event passes us! We are approaching Hurley Riverside (where we are camped) and in the distance we can see a grand house high up on the hillside - this is Danesfield House Hotel and Spa, built between 1899 and 1901 in the Neo-Tudor style , designed by architect WH Romaine-Walker (also involved in designing Medmenham Abbey) it has a varied history as a private home and used as temporary home for 80 evacuee boys during the war and being requisitioned by the RAF in the Second World War and as the headquarters for Carnation in the 1970’s and a hotel since 1991. It was located on the site of a large multivallate hillfort known as Danesfield Camp.
The walk along Hurley Riverside with its wide green picnic meadow is very well kept, clean and tidy, Hurley village is mostly built on the site of a Benedictine Priory. We pass through Hurley Lock and continue on to pick up an alternative diversion route as Temple Bridge is closed ahead.
The diversion takes us away from the river and along footpaths to start with.
The diversion route takes us along Temple Lane and around Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre, I keep myself occupied spotting unusual door knockers and house adornments! This road must have originally been on the route of the Reading & Hatfield Turnpike Road as this milestone marker shows Hatfield at the top. This was a toll road designed to avoid going into Central London established in the 1760’s.
We finally reach Marlow and cross over the river using the impressive looking metal suspension bridge was completed in 1832 and was an experimental design at the time. I nip off to collect a stamp for my passport from a café and Sarah stops to buy an ice-cream. We then head through the churchyard to a lovely wide path beyond.
Here the Thames Path weaves on and off the riverside and eventually we see the car park Sarah and Karen parked in this morning. Steve is waiting for me in Clara having passed us on the bridge in Marlow and turned round (originally Sarah was going to drop me back) and we complete our stretches with the heavy scent of weed coming from one of the parked cars nearby!
