Oxford Canal and Thames
Oxford - approximate Postcode: OX1 2RQ
Grid Reference: SN988199.
Duration: 2.5 hours
Distance: 5.5 miles
There are walks that feel like exercise and then there are walks that feel like conversation. The Oxford Canal circular walk is one of the latter types as it doesn’t rush you and it doesn’t demand hills to be conquered or miles to be achieved but instead, it unfolds gently, like a favourite story retold beside cool water that has seen centuries drift past in silence. This is known at the ‘wellbeing’ walk for a very good reason.
Starting at Isis Lock, just beyond the buzz of modern-day Oxford (within easy reach of the train station), the city lets you go almost immediately. One moment there are roads, students, bicycles and a modern cluster of homes and the next, with just a short walk off and down to the side, there is the quiet slap of water against narrowboats and the soft metallic creak of mooring ropes shifting in the breeze. The canal seems to whisper, ‘Slow down, you’re on canal time now’.
The Oxford Canal itself is one of England’s oldest canals, constructed between 1774 and 1790 under the guidance of the great canal engineer James Brindley. Unlike the ruler-straight canals that came later as the canal network expanded, Brindley believed in following the land rather than fighting it and, as a result, this canal meanders through the landscape, curving and wandering as though it has all the time in the world.
And that is exactly how this walk feels as you pick your pace and no-one judges you for that. There are cyclists and there are joggers and there is the walker.
The towpath north from Isis Lock carries on through a wonderful corridor of life. Longboats sit moored like floating cottages, many with flowerpots on roofs and bicycles leaning casually against railings, dogs playing alongside. You pass painted doors, tiny gardens, and friendly people who seem to have discovered a different rhythm of living altogether.
Above Jericho Wharf rises the campanile tower of St Barnabas Church, unexpectedly Venetian against the Oxford sky, with trains rumbling occasionally nearby, but even they seem subdued here, as though respecting the stillness of the water.
Further on, the canal narrows and at Frenchay Bridge murals brighten the walls, and many of the areas around the canal are designated Conservation Areas.
And then comes Wolvercote where you climb up a few steps out into the ‘real’ world for a short period. Port Meadow opens beside you like an ancient green sea, and it is hard not to pause here, we certainly did. The meadow has reportedly been grazed continuously for more than 4,000 years, Romans, Saxons all took advantage of the area, horses and cattle can be seen today.
This is where the walk subtly changes character as the canal gives way to the River Thames, broader and more open, and the river path feels expansive after the intimacy of the towpath. Swans with cygnets in tow patrol the current with effortless authority. A red kite swooped above us as we stood on the twin arched Godstow bridge and took in the views.
Near Godstow lie the remains of Godstow Abbey, founded in the 12th century. The ruins carry the faint memory of old England, stone walls softened by moss, history dissolving slowly back into meadowland. Nearby sits the Trout Inn, once part of the abbey itself and later made famous through the Inspector Morse TV series. It feels exactly the sort of place where walkers could stop for lunch and end up staying much longer than intended, but we had a different destination in mind today and so pressed on.
The return stretch beside the Thames is perhaps the most reflective part of the walk, both through the landscape and the conversation. Water has a way of rearranging thoughts, problems that seemed large in the morning shrink somewhere between the reeds and the rhythm of footsteps. Perhaps that is why canal and river walks feel different from ordinary walks. They don’t simply move you through landscape, they move you inward too.
A few random facts about the walk:
- Oxford once had fierce rivalry, The River Thames and the Oxford Canal competed for commercial trade in the 18th and 19th centuries with canal companies and river authorities constantly argued over tolls, access and profits.
- ‘Isis’ is another name for the Thames in Oxford, the name comes from an old shortening of the river’s Latin name, Thamesis, which is why places like Isis Lock and the Oxford rowing team still use the name today
- Port Meadow beside the river has been used for grazing animals for over 4,000 years and has never been ploughed, that means the meadow existed long before the famous University of Oxford was founded
- Before the canal arrived in the late 1700s, coal was expensive in Oxford but the canal dramatically reduced transport costs by bringing coal from the Midlands directly into the city, changing everyday life for residents and businesses
- Writers including Lewis Carroll, J. R. R. Tolkien and Philip Pullman all spent time walking beside the rivers and waterways of Oxford, and many believe the dreamy atmosphere of the city’s waterways influenced their imagination and storytelling
- The Benedictine nunnery within the Godstow Abbey ruins is the burial place of ‘Fair Rosamund’, mistress of Henry II, her adventures leading to the writing of the Ballad of Fair Rosamund by Thomas Deloney (1612)
Whilst this walk can be a circular walk by continuing and turning left into Sheepwash Channel (farmers used to bring their sheep here for dipping) we decided to exit at the sign for the Perch at Binsey for a most refreshing cold beer and a very good lunch.
A wonderful relaxing and mind clearing walk indeed.
