Bablock Hythe to Oxford

11 miles 18.5km

Thames Section 4: 11 miles 18.5km downstream Bablock Hythe to Riverside Centre (Meadow Lane). 

Bablock Hythe is a small hamlet in Oxfordshire some 5 miles to the West of Oxford city centre … Bablock Hythe “where the Thames smooth waters glide”. 

Paddlers Dave Hillier (Organiser in chief) Dean, Conrad, Phill Gent, Pierre Leon and Sue Leon.  

What a gloriously thrilling and relaxing day out on the water.  

These trips are so well organized by Dave. 

Nothing is left to chance; we even got a written risk assessment, a weather forecast, an itinerary of events and a safety briefing before we set off.  

Before we started our trip, Dave schooled Dean in the art of paddling. Dean was new to kayaking; so, an 11 mile trip on the Thames was a daunting task for our new comer.  We set off at about 10.15am after Graham had helped to shuttle us back from the get out point. Dave showed us how to launch a kayak from the river bank, which was a good three feet up from the water. Conrad did one better and launched his kayak sideways; something I didn’t even thing was possible. 

This trip involved 5 locks: Pinkhill Lock, Eynsham Lock, Kings Lock, Godstow Lock and Osney Lock. When we arrived at our first lock, Dave got out and watched a boatsman open it. As a result of this instruction, we never had to portage our boats around the locks saving us hours of back breaking work. Dave is now our cigarette smoking Lock Keeper. 

Meanwhile Dean had gone from kayaking in circles to a raggedly straight line as he slowly mastered the art of steering his kayak true. 

This stretch of the Thames is one of the most beautiful sections of the river as it snakes and meanders through the Oxford countryside. On the last trip we were counting Pil boxes that were built to protect the waterway from an invading army. This time we were spotting different species of birds. On the flood plain, just before Oxford, the geese and ducks were on the water and the river banks in their hundreds. There were also cormorants, herons and red kites flying around, all looking quite menacing as they hovered over the young chicks. 

We had lunch at Kings Lock and Phillip swapped boats with Dean for the final leg of the trip. The trip through Oxford was quite interesting with ancient buildings on both of the riverbanks and rowers speeding up and down the river training for some future race.  The downside of this trip was no pub at the end; merely a carpark … even so a splendid day out on the water. Thanks to Dave and Graham … let’s do it again with leg five. 

Write up by Phillip Gent