Blue Umbrella Walks
oxbridge on thames: walking the boat race
Every year, Oxford and Cambridge Universities come together on the River Thames to row from Putney to Mortlake as quickly as possible in the Boat Race, but this stretch of the Thames has a fascinating history and so much to see along the towpath. This walk shows you some of the highlights.
We start our walk from Putney Bridge Station and make our way over the Thames where we'll see the matching churches and hear how the English Civil War's Putney Debates changed English history forever. We'll tell you the story of the butcher's son who rose to prominence as one of Henry VIII's most powerful fixers.
Walking along the towpath we'll see the stone where the Boat Race starts and pass the home of London's oldest football club at Craven Cottage.
Making our way down through Barnes we'll see one of London's biggest wildlife homes, the home of one of the world's great composers and eventually end at Mortlake where the Boat Race ends.