Very good news on the front page of South East Walker.
‘New path opens up a mile of Thames riverside’ says the headline.
I had been waiting for the result of a public inquiry over a disputed path at Shiplake linking the road with the isolated towpath.
I can remember in the 1980s walking from Shiplake Station into Mill Road where I turned left at the wooden Lashbrook Mission Room. This path led to open ground and the river.
Unfortunately the path was not on the definitive map when the Thames Path was opened and a new landowner disputed the path status. This why the Thames Path misses out a long and lovely stretch of towpath opposite Wargrave.
A government inspector has now confirmed an order made by Oxfordshire County Council to add the path to the map.
A confirmation order will be posted within the next few weeks and, providing there is no appeal, the path should be declared to be part of the Thames Path sometime next year.
See page 121.