Canal boats, skiffs, passenger steamers, and rowing eights are all found on the River Thames, England's finest river, as it flows from its source in the heart of the Cotswolds through a rural idyll above Oxford, characterised by water meadows and cattle grazing, down to meet the Oxford Canal at the 'City of Dreaming Spires' with fabulous views. Beyond Oxford the Royal River Thames links many beautiful and some famous waterside towns and villages fronted by historic buildings and monuments. United Kingdom.