Inspired by the authors and historical figures who have been influenced by the river, Paul Goldsack, who lives on the Thames, takes the reader on a series of walks in the footsteps of such diverse characters as Oliver Twist, Inspector Morse and Ratty. Both circular and linear walks lead ramblers, cyclists, river-boaters, day-trippers and the motorist-walker from the Thames Barrier to the river's source deep in the heart of the Cotswolds.