🥾 Walk 145 - Thames Path, Reading to Pangbourne

Twelve of us turned up on Valentine's Day for this linear walk along the Thames Path from Reading to Pangbourne. We met outside Reading railway station and started our walk by using the underpass beneath the station and making our way via Reading Bridge into Christchurch Meadows.

We followed the riverside path for a short distance until construction works forced us to divert through a children's play area and onto a temporary path, which brought us back to the Thames a bit further along. After passing the War Memorial, we crossed Caversham Bridge and joined the Thames Path heading west past the Reading Rowing Club.

As we followed the river with Reading behind us, the landscape soon turned from urban to rural, but the river remained busy with numerous canoeists quite some way from the rowing club. We continued on our way, following the course of the river until we reached Tilehurst. Here the Thames Path leaves the river for a while.

The River Thames at Christchurch Meadow. Caversham bridge can be seen in the distance.

Crossing a railway bridge, we followed the A329 Oxford Road for a short distance before taking a new footpath that led us through woodland to a housing estate in Purley-on-Thames. This new footpath would appear to be the work of the West Berkshire Ramblers group and shortens the walk along the main road.

Next we navigated through the Purley Park housing estate, emerging on to Mapledurham Drive, which we followed to Mapledurham Lock. Here we stopped for our picnic lunch. Some of us sat on the bank with a view of the weir and water mill, while other sat on benches by the lock.

After lunch we re-joined the Thames Path and continued our walk, pausing to put on waterproof jackets as a brief spell of rain light began. This walk had been relatively mud-free until now, but this last section between Mapledurham Lock and Pangbourne provided a few squelchy experiences to make up for it, but nothing compared to last week's walk.

A number of canoeists out rowing on the River Thames.

Soon the recently refurbished Whitchurch Bridge came into view, signalling our arrival at Pangbourne. We walked through Pangbourne Meadow and into the village. Crossing the B471 Whitchurch Road, we took a footpath to the railway station, which gave us a view of the weir along the way.

The walk officially finished by Pangbourne Railway Station, with a train journey back to Reading, but some of us wandered a little further up the road to the Swan Inn for a post-walk drink before catching a slightly later train.

See our route on Bing Maps.

The Thames Path leaves the river at Tilehurst to go inland.

The path got a bit muddy as we approached Pangbourne Meadow.

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