Day 10—Reading to Hambleden.

Yesterday was the worst of times and if not the best of times it was at least pretty good times.

The worst came first. 

At the end of yesterday’s walk into Reading we left the Path and walked to our hotel in the center of town.  On our way to our hotel we saw two tents under a bridge jammed with clothes and pots and pans. We saw abandoned buildings with boarded up windows. The stone buildings in the center of Reading were black and grey with soot. 

Our hotel fit in perfectly with its bleak surroundings. It was old and dingy. I dragged our suitcases up two flights of narrow stairs. In our hotel room a large patch carpet in the middle of the room was torn away. The furniture was worn and mismatched. The mattress was lumpy. The room needed a good scrubbing. Compounding our misery was off-key karaoke singing blasting from the hotel bar until midnight.

There was good in Reading as well. We had a surprisingly good dinner in a lovely restaurant just blocks from our hotel.

On our way out of Reading this morning we walked by Reading Abbey, formerly Reading Monastery.

During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a kind of 16th century DOGE, Henry VIII destroyed Reading Monastery and executed the monastery head by hanging, drawing, and quartering him outside the monastery gate. A historical example of a leader bent on destroying institutions and perceived enemies.

Back on the trail outside Reading we saw rowers on the Thames.

We passed by the village of Sonner. 

We almost never walk through the villages on the Thames, which are almost always perpendicular to the river and not along it.

There are many gorgeous houses along this stretch of the Thames. This is one outside the town of Shiplake.

The Thames Path is closed along the river outside Shiplake and diverted inland. Our hotel booker recommended that we get on the train in Shiplake and take it to Henley to avoid a not-very-pleasant two-mile walk. Which we did. 

Henley was preparing for its big rowing regatta. Even though the regatta is more than a month away, preparations were in full swing. On the right, you can see competitors’ tents being set up.

The river is unusually straight for over two miles outside of Henley. Perfect for rowing.

Along the race course was Fawley Court, also said to have inspired Toad Hall.

Temple Island is at the end of the long straight stretch of river and at start of the regatta’s race course.

Our lodgings are in the village of Hambleden, which is a mile from the river. We crossed the river at the Hambleden Locks and walked up a valley to the village.

We walked almost 12.5 miles today, including the walk from the river to Hambleden. We are both feeling pretty good. We have worked out a routine—walk for a couple hours, stop, stretch, and have a snack. It seems to be working pretty well. We both have some minor aches and pains. We hope that they stay minor and don’t flare up into something more serious.