Reading to Heathrow (via Windsor) and back

02/03/23 Reading to Heathrow via Windsor

Left around 8.30. I was going to cycle with Joseph as the route is on his way to work but he was not going to the office that day.

Took 2 water bottles, a banana and a cereal energy bar. The plan was to head for the Witherspoons in Windsor for a full English breakfast.

Usual route out through Reading that I know so well: Along the Bath Road, down Castle Hill, past the Sally (sic) Army with all the drunks with their morning hangovers, through the Oracle Riverside then bypassing the town centre via the Kennet and Avon canal to where it meets the Thames. 

Horseshoe Bridge Reading

I was hoping to see a black swan at horseshoe bridge but only white swans today.

I followed the Thames for 1/4 mile then head inland through the Oracle Corporation campus (Thames Valley Park) and through the Shepherds House Lane tunnel. Shepherd's Hill was hard work today. It was sunny but there was an easterly headwind which was cold and in my face all the way to Heathrow. 

 

At the top of Shepherd Hill is the start of one of my favourite detours; the Old Bath Road. It runs parallel to the (New) Bath Road which is a dual carriageway and not at all suitable for cycling. One can follow it all the way to the Sonning/Woodley turn off. Teresa May (ex. UK Prime Minister) lives very near there in Mustard Lane. I cycled past here house a few years ago when she was Prime Minister. The multiple black range rovers in the driveway made it pretty easy to identify where she lived.

At the Sonning turn off you cross over the A4 and travel on a cycle path (on the north side) which runs to the left of the road to the next junction, the turn-off for Twyford (also the old bath road). I did not like this section and had a bit of a close pass with a car. I think it was an Audi soft-top. It always seems to be those kind of cars; they always seem to be in a hurry to get everywhere. I came across something I might try in the future.  Its a magnetic sign to attach to the pannier of the bike which looks like the image below. It is called PassPixi and looks interesting.

 Cycled through Twyford and on the eastern side stopped in a local churchyard where there were lots of spring flowers; crocuses and daffodils just starting to bloom.

The next milestone was a place called Paley Street but it was alot further than I had remembered. One has to travel passed Waltham St. Lawrence and White Waltham before approaching a bridge which crosses the M4; just after that is Paley Street.

There used to be a pub there called The Royal Oak but it closed at the start of the Covid19 Pandemic in 2020. I stopped there about 5 years ago - I had cycled to Harrow Middlesex and was returning quite late. It was early autumn and the night was closing in. I cycled as hard as I could to see if I could make Twyford but at Paley Street had to abandon the attempt. The dark was closing in and I had no lights. I had to get my wife to drive out from Reading and rescue me while I took refuge in the Royal Oak with a pint of Guinness and a bag of crisps.

Apparently, then-Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron had lunch there in 2018. Now it's boarded up!

next - the massive heads (picture) Fifield

 

Oakley Green - right turn

Dedworth

Weird underpass (clarence road)

Clarence Road/Victoria Street

Got a bit lost in Windsor, ended up walking through a park and a tunnel which came out next to Witherspoons. Had a full-english and coffee there.

Decided to head for Heathrow next. I had planned to take the Datchet route but changed my mind and decided to go through Windsor Great Park (no bikes! even walking with a bike).