Davepaddles- Culham to Wallingford 16th November 2025
Its Sunday morning, the rain stopped overnight and its forecast to stay dry for us with the sun potentially
making an appearance around lunchtime. Meeting at 8.30am wasn’t early enough for Tony, who was so keen to
get back onto the water for another paddle with the group that he arrived a whopping 60mins early! By the time
the rest of us turned up he was all set up with his kit by the waterside, wetsuit on and launch spot fully
photographed. It didn’t take the rest of us very long to get ourselves sorted out and set up, make the shuttle
and profusely thank Graham for the shuttle service back to our starting point. Then it was time for a detailed
safety briefing before making the move to all get launched onto the water. It was going to be a full on day on
the Thames, running fast in parts with red and yellow warnings in place around the Weirs.
After the obligatory photo shoot that is now customary before each trip, we set off under the bridge. Only about
fifty meters of water stretched ahead of us before we got to test our skills on the first moving water section
following a detailed briefing by Dave. While intimidating to look at, once in it the flow was actually quite
manageable for all of us to navigate and feel quite comfortable manoeuvring in. Which was lucky as we didn’t
have long before we had to the navigate our first bridge. With the water levels higher than usual and the pull of
the currents around the piers we had to follow Dave’s guidance of ‘just pick a line and commit to it with
confidence’. Easy work.
It wasn’t long before all of us on paddle boards were back up on our feet and merrily paddling along at what felt
quite a leisurely pace but actually when looking at the bank turned out to be a really good speed. As everyone
relaxed into the flow of the river, we maintained a great pace and covered the first 3-mile section with ease,
arriving at our first portage ahead of schedule after all making it passed the swell of the current rushing into the
first Weir of the trip.
The scramble to get out at Clifton Lock via the floating pontoon proved to have been not required as the lock
keeper allowed us all to transit through the lock itself. For those of us with inflatable boards, this was a rare
treat as we were expecting to have to get out and walk around while our boards were being towed through by
the hard crafts.
Then it was back into the flow of the moving water as we left the pontoon and onto the next 3 mile stint of the
trip down to Day Lock where we would be stopping for lunch. The water was perfect in this section, fast
enough to just float along and only needing to steer to keep together as a group. Tonys absolute delight in
being on the water was incredibly infectious and everyone was in good spirits with the jokes and banter in full
swing. It was incredible to see how high the water line had risen from the rain over the last few days and Dave
gave us all a little geography lesson in the build-up of water and overrun from nearby fields.
Days Lock was a good spot for lunch although it had limited options for keeping out of the wind as we were not
allowed to camp on the side of the lock to eat. We all found shelter behind a hut on the side of the weir
walkway. Phil went for a walk along the bridge over the Weir and I think that this might have been where he
spotted these amazing fungi.
6 miles in and we were all feeling a lot more confident in our moving water skills. A quick briefing by Dave for
the next section once through the lock had us all gather at the pontoon while he got set back up into his kayak
and then we were off again on the penultimate section, 4 miles this time to the final lock of the day. The sun
picked up the memo and finally made an appearance which brought a new range of colours to this part of the
river just in time to light up some of the beautiful Tudor houses, very expensive moored boats and weeping
willows that we were passing by. It turns out everyone favourite building was this one pictured, what is there
not to like about this spot, especially the way it just caught the sunlight at the moment we were passing by?
Sam gave an architectural history lesson, and Dave provided a history lesson about the pillar box bunkers
scattered along the riverbank. It seems history on the water was a good subject for the afternoon. Everyone’s
favourite pillar box was the highly decorated one forming a proud feature at the bottom of the garden overlooking
the water captured here. 10/10 for effort but not sure what they actually used it for. Not to be outdone on the
local buildings knowledge, Brendon spotted a nearby local sanitation centre for use by the river community while
we were all ambling along on the pull of the currents passed weeping willows dipping into the river and open
farmland. Sadly, we didn’t manage a snap in time, but Phil took some incredible silhouette action photos of us
making the most of the currents moving us along.
The third and final lock of the day: Benson Lock took a bit longer to get set up and ready for us to move through,
we had a moment when we all thought that we might have to portage, but Brenden kept us entertained with the
joke ’before water was invented people used to carry the boats along these roads’ while we paddled into the final
lock in anticipation for the final 1-mile stretch to our final destination on the trip.
The last mile flew by, helped by the flow of the river, arriving soon at Wallingford. We spotted a great looking
pub for a warm drink and agreed to decant before heading across the bridge. Our mooring was on the left hand
side of the final bridge and needed everyone to put into practice their moving water skills that had been
developing steadily all day to effectively navigate the currents of the piers and then turn hard left onto the bank.
Everyone nailed it. Mission complete. Culham to Wallingford all now checked off on our Thames charts. A
beautiful stretch of the river that I’m sure we would all happily return to again in the future at a different time of
the year to enjoy the changing seasons.
Thank you to all for a wonderful day. It was a brilliant group outing and as always, the camaraderie made it even
more enjoyable.
And thank you Dave as always for looking after us all on another incredible trip and all of the planning that goes
into a day like this behind the scenes! Here is hoping to many more of these in 2026!
Write up by Sam L
Our photo gallery is HERE