A Pillbox walk to Radcot Bridge

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A Pillbox walk to Radcot Bridge

This was the first proper trip I have managed this year. It has been a few weeks in organising due to I needed to get a friend to come along with me so we could leave a car at either end, it was about 6 miles and I did not want to walk there and back. I enlisted the help of Tony who knows a thing or two about the stoplines which were built during the war.
We met up at Radcot Bridge and parked up in the hotel car park after asking if it was ok to leave a car there. The trip to Tadpole bridge too us through Faringdon and on the way out along the London road we stopped by an entrance which had some interesting gateposts that were made from stacking ant tank cylinders on top of each other . These had been left over from the Second World War and would have been used to narrow the road down on the approach to Faringdon whilst being covered by a pillbox which was a little down the road.
From here we drove to Buckland and a quick stop to log the Fundamental Benchmark which is opposite the junction to the road leading down to Tadpole Bridge . We parked beside the road near the bridge and went looking for any signs of defences used in WW2 but all I found was an eroded benchmark on the bridge parapet . We stared the walk along the Thames path passing a pillbox which I had seen on my last visit. I nearly lost my new camera at this point but lucky it landed on the lens hood from short distance so no damage seemed to have occurred and the camera still worked ok. Our next stop was Rushley Lock which had one of the few weirs which had big paddles that were pulled out to increase the flow , it also had a building that looked like it was a bullet for the Upper Thames Patrol that operated during the Second World War. We left Rushley and headed towards Radcot passing two pillboxes that were on the opposite side of the river and on this occasion little chance of a visit at this time due to a shoot going on.
The river meanders a lot along the stretch from Newbridge and this part has some great horseshoe bends which seem almost imposable to navigate round in a boat . Just before you get to Radcot lock there is a footbridge called Old Man’s Bridge that takes a path over the river , we crossed here to visit a pillbox that was nearby . Radcot lock was not far away so after taking to the lock keeper we headed off towards Radcot Bridge and the last of the pillboxes. This was where we came across the find of the day, not one but two WW2 Anti Invasion Defences or Breastworks . Unfortunately they were full of rubbish that had been built up over the years so there was no chance of looking at the inside. We checked the two pillboxes nearby and walked over the last bridge where Tony disappeared off as he notices the second defence works which were a “V” shamed version backing on to a stream . The whole lot had been filled in so there was no chance again of checking out what the inside was like. We finished at the Hotel with a coffee a reward for a great walk along another section of the Thames Path .
Geo-Trip can be viewed here Link