Day 12: Pangbourne to Reading

Wednesday 19 April

Back to Pangbourne Activity Centre to start our walk out across Pangbourne Meadows on the Thames Path.  This is the spot where I went to playschool when I was a toddler!

Almost immediately we spotted a random rhino in a garden across the river, I've tried to research why it's there or who made the sculpture, but no luck, if you know - please message me!

Looking back at the bridge crossing from Whitchurch into Pangbourne.

The River is sweeping past at this point, it's really wide and we noticed it was much slower than last week when it was moving so fast after all the heavy rain.

It was a bit of a grey day but ideal walking conditions, we had packed a towel this time incase we had flood waters and needed to remove our boots and socks.  So pleased to report we didn't need to!

Below is a cormorant high in the trees, there was another nearby having a chat.

Robert Gibbings (Irish author) described this section of the Thames in 1939 (Sweet Thames Run Softly) as so crowded with views "they might have dropped from the gold frames of the Royal Academy".

This is Hardwick House, believed to have been built by Richard Lybbe, who purchased the Manor from the Hardwick family in 1526. With many additions over the centuries the south wing was rebuilt in about 1660 to replace part of the house damaged by bombardment from Cromwell's troops during the Civil War.

I found this research from Steve Turner on the Historic England website:

"During the mid 1500s, Hardwick hosted Queen Elizabeth 1st on one of her many grand tours of the Kingdom. To mark this Royal visit, Lybbe had the Queen’s bedchamber richly decorated with magnificent plasterwork, which survives to this day.

 In 1643 the house was sacked by Reading Parliamentary troops who removed £800 worth of goods that included a £200 plate, and a bed with velvet hangings. 

King Charles 1st reportedly visited the house while he was a prisoner on escort from Oxford, to drink ale and play bowls on the green.

In 1672 Anthony Lybbe borrowed £500 in order to restore Hardwick, presumably when the south wing was rebuilt. The debit was repaid by his son in 1676 after his death.

Sir Charles Day Rose bought it in 1909, and he is thought by many to be the inspiration of Toad in the book 'Wind in the Willows', as it was written by his fellow banking contemporary Kenneth Grahame who lived in nearby Pangbourne.

The Rose family continue to own and run the Estate to this day, there are many enterprises run from it, they also have camping, moorings and an organic farm.

Shortly after this we arrived at Mapledurham Lock, linked with the Mill throughout the ages, and it's the only Mill working on the River Thames today.  The Mill appears in the Domesday Book so there was either a dam or a weir here in 1086.  

An interesting fact is that the lock is located in the Berkshire village and Parish of Purley-on-Thames on the south bank of the river where we were, rather than in the Oxfordshire village of Mapledurham on the other side of the river.

In 1956 it made history by becoming the first lock on the River Thames to be mechanical.   It wasn't that successful though and was changed to a hydraulic one in 1974.

The Eagle has Landed film was partly filmed at the Mill in 1976.

We had so many geese around us today and the occasional swan along this quiet stretch.

At this section we left the riverbank and walked upwards towards the town, where we crossed over the railway and walked through some peaceful residential areas and up onto the A329 pavement for a short while.

We spotted our first cowslips

Our first 'Welcome to Reading' sign, although we are still quite a way from the centre at this point!

This is the Roebuck Inn, which marks the half way spot of the Thames Path (from Source to Thames Barrier).

It's on the Purley/Tilehurst border, it was a popular pub in Victorian times when it was the nearest pub for most people due to Purley being strongly teetotal.  The Red Lyon pub was closed around 1800 and the owners of Purley Hall and Purley Park were strong supporters of the temperance movement. (complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages).

In 1882 it was expanded to accommodate boaters and anglers arriving at Tilehurst's new station.  A pedestrian bridge was built with very steep steps to give access to the tow path, ferry cottage and the landing stage, which is now part of the Thames Path.

It achieved fame when it was one of the stops for the boatmen in Jerome K Jerome's "Three Men in a Boat".  This book was published in 1889 and is a humorous book about 3 men (and their 'dog') and a 2 week boating holiday on the Thames from Kingston upon Thames to Oxford and back again.

We had to take a selfie to celebrate our half way moment!

Here we are welcomed again into Reading ...

There are various houseboats along this stretch.

And of course Lara Croft!

We were getting hungry at this point and I knew there was a Waitrose a short walk away from the Thames path.

(definitely a restoration job below)

Into the comfort of Waitrose where we had a great lunch followed by our customary order of cake, cappuccino and hot chocolate.

We had walked 5.95 miles to Waitrose, 13,397 steps and it had taken us just over 2 hours, we noticed how much faster our walk was going today as we weren't negotiating flooded pathways or uneven fields, we were on a much flatter/easier walking surface.

Along this stretch there were quite a few rowing crews out.

Through the trees I spotted Chazey End, a redeveloped property, £4.5 million.

We were coming into Caversham where there were some lovely houses on the other side of the river, many with their own boathouses and moorings.

Unlucky tree!

We reached the Thameside Promenade area with Reading's high rise buildings and cranes seen through the trees in the distance (having passed the fields and area where Reading Festival is held).

Beautiful fritillaries in the lawns.

You can see Caversham Bridge in the distance.

(This is a designated swan sanctuary, 200m up and down stream, and pleasure cruisers launch from here)

There has been a bridge between Reading and Caversham since the 13th Century.  The old bridge was breached during the English Civil War so that the Caversham half was supported by small stone arches and the Reading side was a wooden structure.

By the 1860s both sides were inadequate and unsafe, so groups from the two sides came together to plan building a new iron bridge.  This iron bridge was again replaced by the current concrete bridge in 1926.

Below is the view from the bridge pointing in the direction we need to go.

We crossed the bridge to walk through Christchurch Meadows and by Fry Island, there were ducks and geese everywhere!

Fry's Island is also known as De Montfort Island, a natural island with the only access to it by boat.  Home to a private house, a boatyard with a residence and a private bowling club.  It is knows as De Montfort Island following a famous duel on 8 April 1163 between Robert de Montfort and Henry Earl of Essex.

De Montfort had accused Essex of cowardice and treason. This followed a battle with the Welsh, where De Montfort alleged that Essex had dropped the King's Royal Standard and called out that the King was dead in an attempt to demoralise the English troops. Essex vigorously denied the charges and the two protagonists were always quarrelling. 

Whilst this was happening the Royal Court was in temporary residence at Reading, Henry II decided that he had suffered enough of the constant bickering and it was decided that the dispute was to be settled by a combat between the two on the island in the middle of the river.

The duel was watched by thousands of spectators from the riverbanks. 

Robert de Montfort won and the King ordered that the body of Essex was to be transported to the local Abbey for burial, but when the monks arrived they noticed he was alive with serious injuries, they looked after him until he made a full recovery.  But he was judged to be guilty of his crime and was stripped of his lands. The King let him live as a monk, so he spent the rest of his time in exile at the Abbey.

We spotted Mother Coot on her nest by the riverbank ..... and a little further on we saw Father Coot swimming back with more nesting material in his beak .... aaaaaah!

They produce 2 broods a season in their floating nests.

We could see the sloping roof of Reading station coming into view our final destination for the day and our route home to Newbury.

We crossed Christchurch Bridge and completed our walk.

We had walked a total of 8.5 miles today, 21,000 steps in 3 hours and 40 minutes.

PS: Following this walk Susan has developed a really sore hip, so we have pressed pause until she has some treatment.

Day 11: Moulsford to Pangbourne

 Monday 3 April 2023

It was great to be back out on the Thames Path, we had missed the walking, the river, the countryside, the fresh air, the chat, the heron spotting and the food found en route!

We were dropped off on the main road before taking Ferry Lane down towards The Beetle & Wedge a beautiful riverside inn and restaurant.

It's where I took my husband for his 30th birthday all those years ago when we were dating!  They had a small motor boat for pootling along the river, which you could hire and was one of the reasons I booked it, but that morning they messaged to say it had to go for a service.  He has never forgiven me passing him some oars and making him earn his birthday cake.

They have a stunning terrace which was very peaceful when we arrived, but already we could see how full and fast flowing the River Thames was.  We had expected it after all the rain, and we were walking not quite sure if we would actually make Pangbourne or whether it would be flooded and some pathways closed.

We were off to a good start with this interesting house!

This is Sphinx Hill or The Egyptian House by 'architectural terrorist' John Outram, it was finished in 1999, a modern interpretation of an ancient Egyptian home, it boasts richly coloured interiors, beautiful gardens and sweeping views down to the river. 

good article here about him in The Guardian

and the owners who commissioned the John Outram to design the house Here

It was for sale last Summer, here are some more photographs from the sales details

And hello welcome to the mud, early on in our walk.

Below is Cleeve Lock and Weir, where you could hear the water rushing through, the first lock here was built in 1787.

Weather wise it was a lovely sunny day, and we had decided to leave our coats in the car, which is good as we would have been carrying them otherwise.

It started to get much muddier as we walked into Streatley, branches and fence posts helped us cling to the sides, most of the other sides had just disappeared into the river.

You can see the amount of water lying around Streatley.

At this point we saw the gate we needed to reach! ....

Susan managed to spot a Heron, but we didn't have our cameras ready, it was chased off by two other birds.

There was only one thing to do; socks and boots off, trousers rolled up to knees and a deep breath as we walked into the freeeeezing water.

Eldest should always go first 😄

Between us we had wet wipes and tissues, so sat on the pathway and got ready to walk again.  Our feet felt very refreshed after that, I think all feet should go into freezing water before starting a long walk, I usually do it at the end.

We met a few people out for a stroll, who we had to inform they wouldn't be having a very long stroll on that section of the path.

Around the corner we came across St Mary's Church, beautiful with the blue skies and the daffodils.

Above the door is a blue plaque from The Gap Festival Heritage Trail which reads: Lewis Carroll 1832-1898 (real name Charles Dodgson)  the author of Alice in Wonderland, preached in St Mary's in 1864.

After 1066, Geoffrey de Mandeville was made Lord of Streatley Manor for his valour at the battle of Hastings.  He made a generous gift of land to support the priest.

The present church and chancel were practically rebuilt in 1864.

Finally we made it to this beautiful terrace for a much needed hot chocolate and cappuccino.  It's the Coppa Club at The Swan, it's next to the bridge that goes across into Goring.

Lots of lampshades and lighting inside, it was very nice.

And onto the bridge where we stopped to read the Danger Water Pollution sign alerting us to the raw sewage currently in the Thames ....

The map below shows the shape of the River Thames and where we are currently walking to and from.

This area is called The Goring Gap, it marks the change from the flat, wide Oxfordshire plains upstream to the steeper sided valley downstream.

The Gap between the Berkshire Downs and the Chilterns, through which the Thames flows, was formed by meltwater from an icesheet.  For thousands of years huge volumes of water wore away the soft chalk.

This section of the river at Goring and Streatley is perhaps the oldest crossing of the Thames, The Ridgeway (which is also a National Trail and thought to be the oldest road in Britain) and Icknield Way provided a pre-historic trade route from Dorset through to East Anglia, which crossed the river at a ford at the end of Ferry Lane.

Villages grew by the crossing and in Anglo-Saxon times Streatley was in Wessex and Goring was in Mercia.  Streatley was the larger village and remained so whilst the coaching route to Oxford passed through it.  The railway was built on the opposite bank so while Goring expanded, Streatley, hemmed in by steep hillsides, did not and is still much as it was 100 years ago,

(Thank you to the very useful sign full of information just down from the bridge!)

As soon as we joined the pathway we saw we could be in trouble!

A great 'floating' dining room above the opposite river bank, if you click on the photo it should come up bigger for you.

Lost pathways and river banks!

OK, decisions needed to be made, so the map came out ...

From the map we could see there was a bridlepath that ran parallel to the Thames path, so we headed up for that, we attempted several walks back down to the river but it was flooded for quite some way.

We could see across the river some building works for The Grotto, this is a property I'd read about before we started our walk, it's a Grade II Listed building, set within 8.5 acres with 400m of waterfront.  

It was originally built in 1720 by Viscount Fane for his wife Mary, it was a fashionable retreat designed for a lady's recreation and leisure. Lady Mary was a Maid of Honour for Queen Anne.  The house was much smaller and had an attached annex to it which was known as the Grotto as it was elaborately decorated with shells for Lady Mary.

Over the years it became Basildon Park and Manor, in 1875 it was bought by a long term tenant who went on to become the High Sheriff of Berkshire, Arthur Smith. 

It stayed a family home until 1953 when it became the Institute of Park and Recreation Administration, who used it as their head office and training college until about 2007.

I did read that it was then sold very quickly above the asking price after appearing in Country Life to someone who used to go past it daily on the train to London, but sadly over the years it has gone into disrepair and then even worse a fire in March 2021 which was attended to by 8 local fire stations.

These PHOTOS show the house before the fire in 2018 when it was derelict.

And now, it has it's own new website, planning permission and is on it's way to becoming a small luxury hotel with eco lodges in the grounds, a wellness spa, restaurant etc

THE GROTTO NOW

We went under the railway bridge, we had had the trains close by for most of our walk today, and started our climb, we had the lovely Downs and river to the right of us and then the Chilterns with their beech trees up to the left.  

It was lovely and peaceful, we spotted a few butterflies as we headed through Hartslock Wood

Susan wasn't happy to see the steps! But we made it to the top of Hartley Steps, according to the map Beale Park was over on the opposite side of the river but we couldn't see through the trees.  A place we both visited many a time when our children were small.

We then followed the perimeter fancy fence of Coombe Park on our right, I knew there had to be a story about the fence ...

Coombe was an amazing estate, built in 1865 as a private residence with hundreds of acres, which at one point also included a Stud Farm, it's horse Willonyx won the Ascot Gold Cup in 1911.  

In the Second World war it became an US Air Force rehabilitation centre and the Red Cross ran it until the end of the war.  Then due to restoration costs a large part was demolished.

It had beautiful gardens designed by Humphry Repton, who also landscaped Longleat House and The Royal Pavilion in Brighton.

Fast forward to 1982 it's entrepreneur owner created a football pitch in the grounds where Reading Football team came to train!

In 1994 bankruptcy happened and it languished until 2016 when it was repossessed.  The current owner bought it in 2018 for about £10 million.

brochure here

newspaper article here

*

We then found ourselves past the Church Cottages and Church in Whitchurch-on-Thames ready to go through the toll booth (free for pedestrians, 60p for cars) and over the bridge into Pangbourne.

An iron bridge built in 1902 - Whitchurch Bridge

We were headed for The Swan pub in Pangbourne that according to it's website served food from 12-8pm, but no, not any longer, when we arrived at 3:10pm they had stopped food between 3-5pm.  We were starving due to our diversions between the Thames Path and the bridleways.

We pushed on into town and found La' De restaurant open with food, thank goodness!

Lovely friendly staff and great food.

I then headed along the Reading Road to find the house I'd lived in when I was little!

Susan had this great image on her phone of our walk today, you can see where we kept walking to the flooded riverbank and then back up to the bridleway, then down again!

This did result in today's walking being further and longer than planned, we had covered almost 9 miles, 20,000 steps and 4.5 hours of walking.

We are now 86.8 miles into our walk, almost half way!

This swan was happy balancing on one leg, Yoga Swan, but now I've seen the photo it makes me think of the Two Ronnies and me signing off!

Thanks for reading.