Another section of the Thames Path.

Last March myself and the East End Girls started the Thames path national Trail at the Woolwich Foot Tunnel with the aim of walking to the source of the Thames about 184 miles away.

Due to the shorter winter days and the distance we have to travel to start walking, we stopped in September having done 6 sections of the walk covering approx 114 miles.

Here the girls are at the start of the walk at the Woolwich Foot Tunnel.

Walking the Thames Path has been a fantastic experience and it's amazing to watch a river change as you walk along it's length. We started back on the track last month and are now over half way.

On Sunday, we were walking a 10 mile stretch between Shiplake and Tilehurst and here are the motley crew at Shiplake Station rearing to go.

On this occasion, we were walking along a much more rural part of the Thames with interesting obstacles on the path almost as soon as we joined it. It required careful concentration as to where you put your feet!! not something we encountered on the Central London part of the walk.

Here, as well as house boats there were numerous cabin cruisers and a boat that caught my attention right at the start of the walk and continued to do so as it travelled the same direction as us.

Here's the Baltic Bear at Sonning Lock. The lock keepers cottage here was very pretty covered in Wisteria as you can see from the photo.

The lock provided a much needed loo stop and the opportunity for refreshments but on this occasion we were pushing on as we were only about an hour into the walk. Here are some of the girls checking out the map.

As you can see the sun was shining on us, something we normally achieve and my legs had their first outing of the year.

From Sonning it was on along the Thames to Reading sometimes walking on narrow paths such as this one below and at other times on wide expanses of meadowland.

On approaching Reading, office blocks appeared to our left and we were reminded of the industry, mainly new technology, along the Thames corridor and the interesting juxtapositioning of the gently, lazy Thames and the fast pace of the new technology and pace of life going on in these buildings.

Modern buildings, both residential and commercial appeared while on the river numerous people in family groups and couples enjoyed the sun and the river lazing on the banks, running, flying kites, cycling etc.

We were now starting to think of lunch and set our sights on one of the many cafes and pubs at Caversham Bridge and as usual we found just the right one. Thanks here to Lindsey, who being a local lass had done her research. In fact here's Lindsey looking happy and relaxed (some of the rest of the group in the background) - she's hoping to win the raffle we bought tickets for as the prize is a trifle!! This girl likes her food.

Only two and a half miles further to go from here which we walked in less than an hour and viewed the many amazing properties en route. Some were huge, one even had it's own helipad!!

We finished at Tilehurst at the station and the sight of next month's start then it's on to Cholsey another 11 3/4 miles further on and closer to the source. Figure with a long weekend in September that we can finish in September.