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Thames Path Route News
There are no new diversions to report. In fact, the list of diversions has gone down in that the bridge at Pinkhill Lock has been repaired!
Work continues on the Richmond diversion. You can watch a short video of the works here. Although work is nearing completion on the Benson weir, it’s not scheduled to reopen until the end of the year.
We reported in our last newsletter that the Environment Agency had earmarked £500,000 to progress work on both Temple Bridge and Marsh Lock bridges in Henley-on-Thames. This was mentioned in Parliament last month when local MP Freddie van Mierlo said “I welcome news from the Environment Agency that money has been identified to begin design work, but it is only partial funding, and the future is still uncertain.” This reaffirms our belief that little will happen soon. The total cost of repairs of just Marsh Lock bridge is estimated at £1.3 million. So this £0.5 million will probably only cover design work for possibly both bridges.
In the meantime a number of walkers have struggled with the Shiplake to Henley diversion, caused by the closure of Marsh Lock bridge, as some signs appear to have been removed, or, worse still, turned around. The National Trails office has issued route guidance here. Those on a package with us will have full details in their booklets.
The Runnymede diversion was the scene of a battle where barriers would be erected by the council only to be dismantled by locals wanting to keep the path open. The council finally won the battle by erecting an impregnable fence which would not have looked out of place at Fork Knox – see photo below.
As always, all of these are listed our route alerts page on the website. A question was asked on social media as to how up-to-date the content is. Well, we keep it as up-to-date as best we can given that this is a free service and we have limited resources. Some confusion arose over the fact that we include flood alerts on the page, of which there have been none for some months. We leave these on as it’s much quicker to update the status rather than create a new one – explained on the page. But all have status updates saying “all clear”. Nonetheless we plan to split the alerts into two pages: one for flooding and one for diversions. Watch out for that soon – we hope!
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Kennet and Avon Canal Walk
This walk went live in our last newsletter and we’ve already had our first walkers on the route, walking from Reading to Bristol. With just one exception the accommodation all worked out and we have since tweaked the itinerary.
We mentioned in the last newsletter that we would have two different grades of accommodation: standard and superior. Both options are now on the website.
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Ridgeway News
We’ve had quite a few walkers on The Ridgeway so far, either on packages or on bag transfers only. Interestingly the overwhelming majority, 92%, walked in a west to east direction! One pair ran all 90 miles of The Ridgeway in just three days!
Speaking with a pair of walkers who were approaching the end, they found the western tough-going with the chalk soil being very hard underfoot. The eastern section was preferred as being much more shaded .
One day, whilst dropping bags at the Rose and Crown in Ashbury, we came across the local postie who was conducting business there. This is a weekly event for those unable to get to the nearest “bricks and mortar” post office in Shrivenham. Such a great idea.
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Ready to book?
