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/
Our final Berkshire leg of our Thames Adventure! Meeting at the north side of Reading station, we will head out towards Caversham Bridge, past Reading rowing club and alongside the fields which host the annual Reading festival.
Just after Tilehurst station, we will leave the river at the Roebuck Hotel and enter Purley. For those who have done the Path from Woolwich, you are at the half way point! Owing to an access dispute dating back to the 1780s, the Path passes through some residential streets before we venture slightly off the Path to Mad Duck Café for a café stop and to collect another stamp for our passports.
After refreshment, we will return to the Path with views of Hardwick House on the other side and through Mapledurham Lock before our lunch stop at or just before Pangbourne Meadows.
Following lunch, we will briefly head into Pangbourne to the Pangbourne Café to collect another stamp before crossing into Whitchurch for the final stretch of this leg. We will head up the hill and into Hartslock Wood where we will see the river down below. Eventually we will make it back to ground level and into Little Meadow, with a view of the Goring Gap hills on our right, before arriving in Goring for the conclusion of the Berkshire section of our Thames Adventure! The leaders plan to head to the Miller of Mansfield pub for a celebration drink and to collect another passport stamp so please feel free to join them after the walk!
As this walk starts in Reading, if coming from further afield there should be plenty of public transport options available. If coming by train, it is suggested to get a return ticket to Goring if coming from Maidenhead/Wokingham/West Berkshire direction and a return ticket to Reading if coming from Oxfordshire direction. Note rail replacement buses are running on the Wokingham line to Reading this day. For those driving, parking is available at Goring station where charges apply although you will need to get the train to Reading for the start of the walk.
