Category Archives: River Thames

Pilgrims passing through Abingdon

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A notice outside St Nicolas’ Church welcomes pilgrims walking St Frideswide’s Way and the Camino Inglés, with a stamp available inside the church to record their visit.

St Frideswide’s Way is a 40-mile pilgrimage route from Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford to Reading Abbey. Launched in 2024, it follows the Thames Path through Abingdon, Dorchester-on-Thames, Wallingford and Pangbourne.

As Abingdon is one of the stops along the route, pilgrims can visit the former Abbey grounds and the town’s historic churches.

St Helen’s Church is often open, and its pilgrimage stamp was available today.

From Reading, the pilgrim route connects with the St James’ Way to Southampton, forming part of the wider Camino de Santiago, the network of pilgrimage routes leading to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, where St James is honoured.

So the little sign at St Nicolas’ and the stamp available at St Helen’s are part of a much bigger pilgrimage network.

70 anglers line up for Thames Festival fishing competition

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The three-day Thames Festival has seen 70 anglers from around the country fishing at Abingdon, Culham and Appleford. The annual competition has now been running for 14 years, with anglers this year competing for a £1,200 top prize.

Abingdon Town Council allows the anglers to use its water, which has meant a line of anglers along the Thames opposite Wilsham Road over the past three days.

The competition must show what a good fishing river the Thames is around Abingdon.

Gongoozling at Abingdon Lock

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There are not so many boats passing along the River Thames at Abingdon Lock this summer, and I had to wait fifteen minutes before I saw one go through Abingdon Lock at around 4 pm. The lock keeper said there had been about 70 boats through today, about half the normal number for a summers day.

On the River Thames there are ‘prolonged dry weather restrictions’ at locks upstream and downstream of Abingdon (from St Johns Lock to Osney Lock and from Culham Lock to Goring Lock). Boat movements through these locks are restricted to help conserve water, with one upstream and one downstream passage every 30 minutes. The locks also close overnight from 6pm to 9.30am; so boaters need to plan their journeys accordingly and are also advised to check conditions such as sand bars. These restrictions must put some boaters off.

When a boat arrived it went directly into the lock. The water poured into the lock and the boat rose. The lock keeper gave the crew some information about places to moor and it set off.

The boat was called ‘Tranquility’, one of three long boats from River Holidays at Sutton Courtenay, a local family business which also has a campsite.

So, despite the prolonged dry weather and restrictions, there are boats making their way through Abingdon Lock. You just have to wait a little longer to see one if you are a gongoozler.

Thames Path Relay Walk Passes Through Abingdon

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This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Thames Path National Trail. The Thames Path stretches for 185 miles from the source of the River Thames in the Cotswolds to Woolwich in east London.  To celebrate the anniversary, a month-long relay walk is taking place along the Trail in partnership with Drinkable Rivers. The relay is carrying a baton (made from an old way marker carved with an acorn – the emblem of the trail).

The baton arrived in Abingdon on Friday evening when Philippa Saunders of Pipsticks Walks handed it over to Sue Heathfield, who was leading Saturday’s walk.

Saturday’s section was Stage 9 of the 24-stage relay, covering approximately eight miles. Before setting off, the group gathered at Abingdon Bridge to receive instructions for the day ahead. Among the information shared was that ice creams could be purchased at Culham Lock.

Thanks to Wendy for the photograph of the baton arriving in Abingdon.