London to Reading via canal and backroads and the King Alfreds Way

[lancewhitner]

I am coming over from the US to ride the Kind Alfred's Way first week of June 2023. Got a route on cycle.travel website from London to Reading via the canal path and backroads, abt 50 miles... wondering if anyone has any thoughts/suggestions for riding from London to Reading as well as riding the King Alfred's Way. Thanks!

[al_yrpal]

I have ridden parts of it, it meanders a bit and you have to go through towns sometimes rather than on a towpath.
Places for an American to see...

Syon House

Hampton Court Palace (Henry VIII)

Reading Museum ..full sized reproduction of the Bayeaux tapestry.

Back to London on the frequent trains takes 25 minutes.

Never ridden King Alfreds Way but have been to all the sites mentioned. Should be a great route.

Al

[Jdsk]

You might like to include Runnymede:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runnymede

And there's a thread on King Alfred's Way:
viewtopic.php?t=145571

Jonathan

[Sweep]

I rather like NCN4 (runs from Oxford to London through Reading) but I guess that the cycletravel route which the OP has found already uses a lot of that.

Other places.

Kingston - coronation stone outside town hall as used to crown several British Kings I think. not far from Hampton court, as is Bushey Park which is nice to ride through for the deer.

Bushey Park also a must for an American I think - it's where Eisenhower was based for much of the time when planning D day and the liberation of Europe. There is some sort of small memorial I think on the site of the encampment. Also maybe a flagpole which maybe has something to do with the site.

PS - Runnymede as referred to by JDSK has the Kennedy memorial.

[mjr]

The canal does not go to Reading. It will get you to Slough, where you could take the Thames Path to Maidenhead and then either follow the Thames Path on a long meander or switch to NCN 4 (a 4 in a red box) for a more direct ride on small roads.

Where in London will you start? If central, the canal is easy to join near Paddington where London Cycleway 3 (green or pink box numbers) runs past the west of the station while the canal is on the east side.

[mjr]

I rather like NCN4 (runs from Oxford to London through Reading) but I guess that the cycletravel route which the OP has found already uses a lot of that.

Oxford-Reading is NCN 5, where it joins NCN 4 to London.

[Sweep]

I rather like NCN4 (runs from Oxford to London through Reading) but I guess that the cycletravel route which the OP has found already uses a lot of that.

Oxford-Reading is NCN 5, where it joins NCN 4 to London.

ah thanks - assume you are right - must have misremembered unless they have rejigged/rationalised the numbering.
I have ridden the NCN route/s Oxford to London through Reading a couple of times - enjoyed it.

[st599_uk]

King Alfred's way is great - just need to be careful with your map reading through Salisbury Plain. We missed an unmarked gap in the hedge and ended up on a beautiful concreted road with a Challenger.

London to Staines via Richmond Park, Teddington Lock, Bushey Park, then along the Thames Path is lovely, but busy at the weekend. Then you need to get across the M25, then through Egham, Runneymede, Windsor Great Park, Ascot and in to Reading.

[Coaster531]

Are you going to Reading to enter the circular King Alfred route? If that is the case, then you could join it more easily elsewhere. You could join the route in the Farnham area and use the off-road River Wey and Basingstoke Canal to get from London to there. Then do the King Alfred circle, going through Reading, and return to London via the way that you came.

[simonhill]

Out of interest, what is this canal from London to Reading?

I know the Thames which goes from London to Reading, the Kennet and Avon but that starts at Reading, and the Oxford, but that goes from Oxford.

Which canal goes L > R?

[Richard Fairhurst]

You can get as far as Slough on the Grand Union towpath. But there’s no canal from there to Reading.

[ossie]

You can get as far as Slough on the Grand Union towpath. But there’s no canal from there to Reading.

Indeed and that towpath isn't great fully loaded. From Slough to Reading is a bit of a mess but doeable, approaching Reading the diversion up to Crazies hill isn't good. Taking the Bath road is taking your life in your hands.

[DaveReading]

You can get as far as Slough on the Grand Union towpath. But there’s no canal from there to Reading.

Indeed and that towpath isn't great fully loaded. From Slough to Reading is a bit of a mess but doeable, approaching Reading the diversion up to Crazies hill isn't good. Taking the Bath road is taking your life in your hands.

The A4 between Maidenhead and Reading may not be very scenic, but it isn't particularly intimidating.

[ossie]

The A4 between Maidenhead and Reading may not be very scenic, but it isn't particularly intimidating.

Its a fast A road. Hare Hatch and Knowl Hill aren't exactly places for a US cycling tourist expecting a canal Perhaps the OP can make their own mind up with what they're comfortable with. I hate it

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.50783 ... 384!8i8192

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.50242 ... 384!8i8192

[Richard Fairhurst]

You can get as far as Slough on the Grand Union towpath. But there’s no canal from there to Reading.

Actually, slight correction: there is a "canal", of sorts, from Slough to Maidenhead. It's called the Jubilee River and was built as a relief channel for the Thames c. 2000. It's not navigable in practice (though IIRC it counts as "main river" and part of the Thames, so is navigable legally) so you won't see narrowboats moored up as you would on a proper canal. There's a waterside path along its full length which is cyclable as part of NCN 61. I've never done it but I think it's a bit gravelly.