This walk starts from the centre of Henley on the north bank of the river. Initially it tracks the river to the wooden bridge that joins the north bank to Marsh Lock island and then in normal circumstances joins the lock with the north bank again. Back on the towpath again, after a short distance the official Thames Path takes to the streets of Lower Shiplake before rejoining the river at Shiplake Lock. From here the path follows alongside the river as far as Sonning where it crosses to the south bank and continues all the way to Reading. A few miles beyond Reading at Tilehurst, the walk comes to an end. The official distance covered is 12.4 miles.       

 

To get to the start of the walk I decided I’d get the train to Henley. The Elizabeth Line to the east of Paddington had opened a few days before my walk, so I was excited to use it, even though I’d been using the service to the west of Paddington for ages. My Thameslink train from Huntingdon stops at Farringdon which is one of the new Elizabeth Line stations. I used the new line to get to Paddington very quickly. Excitement over, I arrived at Henley station just before midday and set off in the direction of Marsh Lock.

  

I was aware that since earlier in the month, the bridge at Marsh Lock had been closed on safety grounds beyond the lock. A short diversion was been in place over land owned by Urs Schwarzenbach (a name that crops up a lot in the area around Henley) and this diversion is likely to be in place for the rest of 2023. Mr Schwarzenbach threatened to stop this access in late 2022 as the repairs were taking too long. However, since then he has thankfully agreed to allow the access until further notice. The diversion was very well signposted and before too long I was back on the Thames Path. Whilst the official Thames Path is through Lower Shiplake, there is another right of way alongside the river just beyond Shiplake Station and I chose to use this. Both routes bring you to Shiplake Lock.

 

The Elizabeth Line and the Marsh Lock diversion were the only highlights of this walk. This isn’t to say the walk was boring – far from it but I’ve covered it in great detail in 2020. You can see from my photos that it was an exceptionally beautiful spring day, just perfect for walking. I reached Tilehurst at about 17:00 where I left the river, walked through the industrial estate to the main Reading road and then on to Tilehurst railway station. A fabulous day!  

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