Walk, Reading to Newbury, 20.4 miles

30 April

This walk was meant to be the dress rehearsal for the actual BHF trek on 13 May (which was yesterday – more in a later post). I’d wanted to find a route that was about two-thirds of the actual event distance, as I’d been advised that was the thing to aim for beforehand in terms of distance covered. Ruth and I had intended to start from Newbury and walk back, but mis-timed the trains so in the end just set out from Reading. The walk improved once we were out of the initial rather tedious stretch through Katesgrove and the environs of the A33 (enlivened by Ruth calling an inattentive teenage cyclist an arsehole - we don't think he heard, thanks to earphones), though the canal-side gardens in Elgar Road always provide some attractive interest.

As on our boat trip with Ray from Reading to Newbury in 2012, we found it a disconcertingly long time before we passed under the M4 and felt as though we were getting out of Reading (about six and a half miles into the walk). We stopped for a snack near Burghfield Lock and observed some ducks. Although we'd taken some leftover pasta salad with us, planning to have that for lunch rather than go to a pub, we did in fact end up going to a pub, stopping for lunch at The Rowbarge at Woolhampton, about 13 miles into the walk. We sat in the garden - although it was a bit breezy - and I had an excellent steak sandwich (actual pink chunks of meat rather than thin brown slices). After lunch we trudged the remaining miles on into Newbury.

Somewhere near Sulhamstead, I think	Ruth in the garden of The Rowbarge
Woolhampton Swing Bridge being operated	One of the many locks on this stretch - Widmead, I think

This walk proved more of a slog than our 16-miler a few weeks earlier, even though it was over less hilly terrain. Could have been lack of as much attention to diet the previous week, or just one of those things. Also, the canal-side scenery, though pleasant, is a bit samey after a while. The elevation diagram shows the steady ascent between the two towns, explaining the relatively large number of locks along the route.

Map of the route is below – the endpoint indicated isn’t accurate as I forgot to stop the tracker until we were about two miles into the return train journey, so the last section of red line leading back out from Newbury can be ignored.