Reading to Twyford
A station-to-station walk
A largely riverside route following the River Kennet and then the Thames Path for a long stretch and with open fields and shaded paths. A narrow path past Sonning Lock with barbed-wire fences can become muddy in wet weather; the approach to Twyford is on a metalled road and through a country park. Follows the Thames Path and the Oscar Wilde Memorial Walk past the walls of Reading Gaol; passes Reading Abbey ruins and Abbey Gardens. A detour through Charvil Country Park gives respite from the main road.
Waterway: two thirds along the River Thames.
Reading Abbey: the ruins of a major medieval abbey founded by Henry I, beside the former Reading Gaol where Oscar Wilde was imprisoned.
Lunch: Refreshments available at Sonning, roughly midway.
Warnings: An unavoidable stretch of the A3032 Old Bath Road has a narrow pavement near Twyford, and there is an annoying crossing of the A4.
Credits
Walk details: Slow Ways.