Henley to Staines: four days reviewed

The main difference with this leg of the walk was that we had decided to stay overnight in one place: in this case the Premier Inn at Slough. The advantage of this was no longer needing to carry everything with us, and also a little extra flexibility as to how far to walk each day. We did in fact use that flexibility, varying our itinerary slightly from the original plan. That all worked, but while the Premier Inn was good for our purposes, we wished we had chosen a hotel closer to the station, as we quickly got bored with the walk between one and another, done twice a day. Slough also is not a wonderful place to dine out.

This was all possible of course because we are getting closer to London and the rail network connects up our stops. As we approach London, and Heathrow Airport, the aircraft get more frequent, closer and noisier. Not surprisingly, the walk itself has become less rural. Although there still are plenty of stretches where we were walking through open fields, away from traffic noise, we didn't really spot any of the more interesting wildlife  - that is, beyond the usual geese, ducks and swans - that we had seen higher up the river.

Best lunch stop was the Flower Pot, a place with real character, and the best evening meal was one we had at some friends' house on Friday evening.

Windsor to Staines

For the last day of this leg, we started with breakfast in Windsor.

The path starts on the former towpath round Windsor Park, then "for security reasons" crosses the river to the Datchet side. This substitute path wanders away from the river, and we found ourselves at times treading a careful line between shoulder-high nettles either side. After some stretches on the road as well, we eventually crossed the river again to a more established way. Despite increasingly close and frequent aircraft overhead, it could be tranquil here.

Soon we approached Runnymede, where the Magna Carta eighth centenary has been celebrated this year. This was busy with tourists and picnicers, and we had to queue for our planned break at the Magna Carta tearoom. We also saw a pop-up exhibition by Brunel University on the Magna Carta.

The path got busier as we approached Staines - now passing under the M25 and past the London Stone: signs that we were entering London. 

The London walks must wait for the next instalment.

Maidenhead to Windsor

From Maidenhead the path passes under the elegant brick arches of Brunel's 1839 railway bridge. A good quality path continued on the left bank all the way, but somehow this turned out not an especially noteable or eventful day's walk, with more in the way of architecture than nature to see. We had hoped to see more of Dorney Lakes, the Olympic rowing venue, but had walked almost all the way round before we could actually see them.

The weather forecast had mentioned the possibility of rain today, but was dry, sunny and hot by the time we arrived at Windsor.

Marlow to Maidenhead

After getting back to Marlow by train, we did a bit of shopping before starting the walk. To start off, the journey to Bourne End followed closely, not only the river, but also the railway line we had just taken - even crossing the Thames by the same bridge.

The walk continued to Cookham, passing the church made more famous by artist Sir Stanley Spencer. You could almost imagine The Resurrection.

We had to choose where to have lunch - the Ferry, the Bel and Dragon, or the King's Arms? The B & D looked like it had lots of lobsters, truffles, etc. - but walkers need something simpler, so we chose the King's Arms, and were very happy with our choice.

Next was the Stanley Spencer gallery, a planned highlight. Not large, but packed with his works (now more so than usual because of additional loans).

We had toyed with the idea of visiting Cliveden as well, but this is on the opposite bank, with no
access from the Thames Path. It would have been a long diversion by taxi. Instead, we continued along the path, with just a few glimpses of the Cliveden estate opposite. Past Boulter's Lock (ice cream kiosk), we arrived in Maidenhead, where the railway station seemed too far away from the river.

We saw one possible Great Crested Grebe and a pair of low-flying kestrels and the usual geese and ducks today.

Henley-on-Thames to Marlow

We set out to do Chapter 9 of the 'Thames Path in the Country' guidebook. Unfortunately, while manipulating bag, hat, sunglasses and guidebook right at the start, the book fell in the river! A passing boatman fished it out for us, and it did eventually dry out enough.

The first leg of today's walk took us right past the Henley Regatta course. There were rowers everywhere preparing for next week's event, and others too getting facilities in place. We had to take care not to get in the way of coaches following their crews by cycle along the path, but once we were past the rowing course, things quitened down.

We stopped for lunch at the Flower Pot Inn in Aston. This was a nice break - ploughman's with a pork pie that they had to explain was really a gala pie - which we had outside.

Walking on, we had an ice-cream from the tearoom at Hurley Lock. The path crosses to the north bank at Temple bridge, then passes Bisham Abbey and its ancient church (pictured) on the other bank.

From time to time on today's walk, we were passed by worthy participants in the Thames Ring: runners who had started at Goring on a 250-mile run which they aim to do in just a few days.

From Marlow, we took a train back to our temporary base in Slough.

Resuming...

So, we're back on the Thames Path again from Tuesday, continuing our walk from Henley, where we left off last year. This time, as train connections are better, we'll be staying in one place (Slough), returning there by train at the end of each day's walk, and resuming the following morning. This is going to be more flexible than having to walk to wherever we had booked to stay the night. We aim to get to Staines on Saturday.