FX Aviator: Riding the length of the Thames

Sept 7-8 , 2014

About 5 years ago I got the idea in my head of riding the length of the Thames. A bit of research led me to discover that it starts just outside a small village called Kemble in the English county of Gloucestershire. Where did it end? My first thought was the Thames flood barriers in East London. Not the case it transpires. The official ending is where its estuary spills into the North Sea marked by the naming of the first town on the sea which is aptly called Leigh on Sea. Less than 120 miles as the crow flies it is in fact 205 miles by actual river flow from start to finish.

This year the plan was hatched to ride it over 3 days. Keeping as close to the river as physically possible we would ride the tow path where we could and if that wasn't possible then we would simply ride the nearest road that ran parallel to the river.

Day 1 was to be as far possible with an eye to making it to Reading where we would stay in a riverside pub. Day 2 was to be Reading to Richmond where we both lived and day 3 was to be from Richmond to Leigh-on-Sea.

My partner on this trip would be another insane Aussie who lives 10 doors down from me in the same street. Like all true bloodied Aussie men after a few pints in a pub one night he jumped at the chance.

We caught the train to Kemble in Gloucestershire late on Friday afternoon and stayed in a B&B some 6 miles from the Head of the Thames. We got lost just trying to find the start which is about a mile from the nearest road and at the top end of a public accessed paddock marked by a single headstone.

There is no gushing spring there. Supposedly there is a subterranen flow of water that commences there and ends up becoming the river that is. You see your first bit of real river about 2 miles from the headstone and the first meaningful crossing is about 11 miles from the start. We lifted out bikes over and through 17 gates in the first 6 miles which took just over an hour to complete. At that rate it was going to take us forever.

We set off at 8.15 am on Saturday morning blessed with perfect English summers weather. Stopped for coffee in Lechlade, lunch in Oxford and got to Reading at 7.45 pm that night.

Sunday we departed Reading at 7.50 am and surprised ourselves by arriving in Richmond at 1.30.pm. We then toyed with the idea of wondering just how far we could get the rest of the day. So after a quick lunch, shower and change of clothes we set off thinking that if we could make it to the other side of London it would leave only a small final lg to be cycled on Monday. As it transpired we arrived into Leigh on Sea at 7.35 pm having cycled 320 km in 2 days on mountain bikes.