Book info

• Title From Source to Sea
• Author Tom Chesshyre
• Year 2017
• Genre Travel

Over the years, authors, artists and amblers aplenty have felt the pull of the Thames, and now travel writer Tom Chesshyre is following in their footsteps. He’s walking the length of the river from the Cotswolds to the North Sea – a winding journey of over two hundred miles. Join him for an illuminating stroll past meadows, churches, palaces, country (and council) estates, factories and dockyards. Seeing some familiar sights through new eyes, and meeting a host of interesting characters along the way, Chesshyre explores the living present and remarkable past of England’s longest and most iconic river.

Thoughts

Obviously, I picked this up because of my obsession with long distance paths, and the Thames Path being one particularly high up the list. This was a really good read, but it did have me wondering in places - what is it trying to be? There’s a lot of discussion about pub prices and hotel hospitality, alongside slightly bizarre meanderings around the fallout from Brexit. But then there are great river anecdotes, meeting random people and setting up interviews and tours along the way. It’s well written, atmospheric and enticing, but then sometimes frustrating and (as admitted by the author) purposeless. Worth the read, though, for sure.

Rating: 4 / 5