A 20s and 30s Ramblers group.
Jack L.
The Thames Path is a 182 mile National Trail stretching from London to Gloucestershire. This year, the group will aim to cover the whole trail from start to finish! Following the success of our London legs, the following 4 walks in this series will take us through our humble county of Berkshire from Windsor to Goring!
To add some fun to our adventure, you are encouraged to purchase the Thames Passport where we will collect stamps at over 30 stamping stations along the Path. Collect stamps at all the various stations and you can receive a Certificate of Completion for doing the whole trail from start to finish! The link to purchase the passport is here: https://walkthethames.co.uk/thames-path-passport/
Today’s leg sees us arrive in the main focal point of our beloved county of Berkshire!
Heading out from Henley station, we will make our way through Mill Meadows before we have to take a diversion from the Path owing to a boardwalk closure. This will take us through Harpsden Woods and a portion of the Chiltern Way before we arrive in Shiplake for an early pub stop at the Baskerville Arms pub to collect another stamp for our passports.
Once refreshed, we will pass by Shiplake lock and onto the banks of Shiplake College for our lunch stop. Afterwards we will pass alongside a few fields before arriving in Sonning where we may take the opportunity to have another pub stop at the Bull.
The last stretch of this leg will see us pass Sonning Lock and eventually to a large meadow with some views of the company buildings of Thames Valley Park. We will cross the mouth of the Kennet & Avon canal before entering King’s Meadow and onto Caversham Lock before concluding another leg just after the Thames Water building. Note that the walk leaders will be heading to Reading Museum at the walk’s conclusion to collect another stamp for their passports, feel free to join!
To get to Henley from Reading, please get the 10:29 train from Reading station changing at Twyford to get the 10:45 which arrives at Henley at 10:57. The 28 bus leaving Friar Street at 10:00 and Westfield Road in Caversham at 10:10, arriving at Norman Avenue at 10:38 may be useful for those who are Caversham based. Parking is available at Henley station where charges apply, although you will need to either get the train or bus back to Henley to collect your car after the walk. Both trains and the 28 bus run every 30 minutes.
