🥾 Walk 398 - Reading to Pangbourne

This weekend, our walk was on a Saturday - partly to have a change from all the recent Sunday walks, but also to make better use of public transport. This was a linear walk I'd led before, starting at Reading and finishing at Pangbourne. A train journey was required to return from Pangbourne back to Reading.

Twelve of us (including a few people from Meetup) met up in the square outside Reading station. Crossing under the station, we then joined the Thames Path by the Thames Water building.

We crossed the Thames on the relatively new footbridge into Christchurch Meadows. We followed the Thames on the northern side, through the park, to the war memorial, where we crossed the river again on Caversham Bridge.

Back on the Thames Path we passed the Reading Rowing Club, where we saw a few rowers, but many more swans and geese. Next, we passed through Rivermead Park and then into open countryside.

As we approached Tilehurst, we left the open fields for a wooded corridor between the Thames and the railway. From here it was difficult to have a good view of either. This frustrated me when I heard a steam train passing by, which was so close but completely out of sight. The Thames Path left the river bank at Tilehurst and passed through a housing estate in Purley-on-Thames.

Emerging from the built-up area, we were soon at Mapledurham Lock, where we stopped for lunch. At the lock, we saw some cows that had somehow got into a small inlet by the side of the lock and were paddling around in the shallow water.

After lunch, we continued along the Thames Path until we reached Pangbourne, arriving about ten minutes before the next train to Reading. A couple of us decided to take that train, whilst the majority chose to stop off at The Swan pub for a drink on the river-side veranda, watching the boats go by before getting a later train back. See our route on Google Maps.

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