Thames Path – Day Eleven –Henley-on-Thames to Reading

Having not done any legs of the path for over nine months, suddenly we have done three in the space of six weeks, and we have, finally, reached our home port!

We headed out from Reading on what promised to be a beautiful day once again. This time we got the bus from town to our start point of Henley-on-Thames. We are blessed with an excellent bus service both within the environs of Reading and slightly further afield. Three quid for a single from Reading to Henley seemed a bit of a bargain.

Another Week, Another Diversion

We headed straight out of Henley and almost immediately came across the long standing diversion at Marsh Lock.

As you can probably see from the picture above, the rebel ramblers have clearly had enough of the delay in reopening this stretch and have made their feelings known in black marker pen. However, I think that it is unlikely that the Environment Agency is monitoring these fingers for messages ready to leap into action!

We knew about the closure as it has been there years and so were prepared but it was a bit frustrating as it was another 90 minutes and four miles along the diversion before we saw the river again. It was, however, an attractive route even if there was an uphill bit!

Shiplake to Reading

The diversion ends roughly at Shiplake, and at the start of the Shiplake to Reading stretch, we had done a couple of years ago. Because I am lazy, I am repeating what I said of that stretch here, as it hasn’t changed, albeit with improved punctuation!

There were some interesting things along the way, including a railway bridge that was so low that even Helen had to duck down to get underneath it. There was also a stretch where the public footpath went through the back gardens of some very posh-looking houses. Given that these were big and expensive houses, the gardens were long, and you were quite away from the house. Even so, a number had seating areas towards the bottom of the garden, and it must be odd to be sat out there and have a load of hikers stroll through.

It was nice to get to the end of the walk and not then have to catch a train back to Reading meaning we were able to get straight on the bus back home.

We feel we are on a bit of a roll now so have penciled in the next leg, Reading to Pangbourne, in a couple of weeks time. Hopefully, the weather will remain as fine as it was for this leg.