ABSTRACT
2 3Taunt’s lifelong and intimate relationship with the Thames began in 1859, when, inspired by the recently published Book of the Thames by Mr and Mrs S. C. Hall, he undertook a journey from Oxford to Cricklade during his Christmas holidays. The journey, in an outrigged dinghy, was a hazardous adventure for a lad of seventeen. The river was in full flood, and the upper reaches with many old locks and weirs proved difficult and sometimes dangerous to navigate.
