THE THAMES a new river adventure

I was reading Miriam's beautiful copy of Wind in the Willows. The Water Rat's eulogy of the world of the river was a treat. Mole was entranced, fascinated and bewitched. For those that do not comprehend the call of the river, try reading the first chapter of this great book.

Jenni and I are at Thames Head. We have no intention of walking all 184 miles - age is taking its toll! Rather, we envisage a “Thames Journey”, walking some, missing some but absorbing the wider feel of England's most significant river from its source to the sea. How this will work .... time will tell.

I am also unsure how I will react to the Thames. Of the rivers I have walked, the Wye and the Severn are rivers of comfortable home territory. The Derwent had a familiar feel but the Thames crosses lands of wealth, power and influence the intensive worlds of the South East.

Here, at the start the Thames, it already feels different. Up the road from Thames Head is Cirencester, the capital of the Cotswolds and influential since Roman times. Close by is The Royal Agricultural University: the Mecca for landed gentry. Down the road is Tetbury, home to HRH Prince of Wales. Last, and probably least, not far away is Witney: Cameron country!

Local chocolate box Cotswold Villages exude middle class southern comfort. Estates and large gated stone houses are the prerogative of the rich. Waitrose is the supemarket closest to the picturesque town centre of Cirencester Not that different, I suppose, to many other parts of the UK but perhaps a touch more noticeable

The geography of the Thames is staggeringly different. The Wye and the Severn start around 600m above sea level, the Thames about 100m. It only needs to drop just over 500mm every mile to reach the sea.

The original source is marked by a stone and probably has not seen water for years. What there is will be in the limestone underground water courses.

Half a mile or so, the other side of the Fosse Way, the ‘river’ becomes evident as a small dry ditch which gradually widens. Soon after the villages of Kemble and Ewen there are the first signs of minimal water in this very dry summer but the river is little more than a large ditch.

Before the river has a chance to live, massive gravel extraction completely throws the local water table. The river appears translated into a shallow canal as it passes this 140 square miles of former gravel pits - now about 150 lakes being developed by various competing companies into the Cotswold Water Park.

Here the Thames Path is mostly fenced off as it weaves its way past these revitalised commercial lakes. This generates a bizzare reality. This ghost of a river is confined to narrow strips of land alongside the huge former industrial gravel pits now being marketed as havens of wild life.

The views from the river path are heavily constricted by vegetation with the occasional glimpses of private lakes and land across locked gateways. Clearly, only paying guests welcome. It is a weird, ironic and total reversal of what rivers are all about.

As it emerges from this area and supports the small townships of Cricklade and Lechlade it is joined by similar small rivers and becomes a recognisable attractive river.

However it’s freedom is very short-lived. The demands of navigation require locks and sluices. Flows and levels are strictly controlled.

Is Father Thames a sad river stripped of childhood and youth?