Reading Waterways Circular

Start : Reading Railway Station (RG1 1LZ) Grid ref. SU 715 739

(S/E) Leave the station on the north side and keep ahead to the right of the bus station. Cross the main road at the traffic lights.

(1) Turn right and left down Norman Place towards Christchurch Meadows on the footpath and cycleway. Bear right to reach the bank of the River Thames. Turn left.

(2) Cross the footbridge over the river and turn left and left again along the river bank. Pass the children's playground and go under the road bridge where Wittington's tea barge may be open for refreshment. Continue beside the waterway and at the path junction turn right and cross over the wooden bridge.

(3) Double back, now with the water on both sides. To visit View Island wildife haven, turn left to circumnavigate the island. From the river bank there is a good view of The Clappers weir (A).

(4) Regain the main path and turn left over the Clappers, then continue across Caversham Lod. Turn left along the towpath and keep to the river bank until reaching the horseshoe bridge at Kennet Mouth.

(5) Go over the bridge and turn sharp left under the bridges towards Reading, passing the Jolly Anglers, Blakes lock, the Fisherman's Cottage and the weir. At the road bridge climb steps.

(6) Turn right over the bridge, keep right and turn right again along the next minor road. Turn left before the green-painted iron bridge

(7) Then, turn left along the canal side to go up the road bridge, then cross it right. At the end of the bridge, turn right to walk back down the canal side and right under the bridge to walk along the canalside again but this time with the water on your left. Past the now defunct Reading Jail, where Oscar Wilde was once famously incarcerated.

(8) Turn right and pass through the ruins of Reading Abbey. Go under the bridge into the Forbury Gardens and keep ahead. There is a public convenience behind the refreshment kiosk. The old Abbey Gateway is on the opposite side of the road.

Pass the bandstand and the Maiwand lion with its impossible gait and leave the gardens through the arch at the north west corner. Bear left on the cycleway across the road, turn right and cross Forbury Rd at
traffic lights. Turn left to reach the station. (S/E)

Start : Reading Railway Station (RG1 1LZ) Grid ref. SU 715 739

Find more information and walks at Round Reading Walks website here.

(A) In 1896 Amelia 'Annie' Dyer was hung in Newgate prison for the serial killing of new-born babies. She charged a one off payment for unwanted or illegitimate offspring, promising to put them forward for adoption. Instead she strangled the infants using white tape that she had bought from Heelas (now John Lewis and threw the bodies over the Clappers weir. Two of the bodies were found downstream at Kennet Mouth. After her
death, a waxwork of Annie Dyer featured in Madam Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors.