This walk starts from Windsor Racecourse which you wouldn’t expect. The reason for this is that myself and 3 of my siblings had signed up for the Macmillan Cancer Support Thames Path Mighty Hike. This hike was taking place on July 16th and is 26 miles from Windsor Racecourse to Henley. I’d never walked his far in 1 day before so I wanted to prove to myself that I’d be able to do it.

 

Anyway, from Windsor Racecourse the walk heads into Windsor and crosses Windsor Bridge into Eton where it enters the Brocas and then follows the river all the way round to Maidenhead. After crossing Maidenhead Bridge the walk continues alongside the river before leaving it briefly just before reaching Cookham. After walking through Holy Trinity churchyard in Cookham, the walk rejoins the river and then follows it as far as the bridge at Bourne End where it crosses once again. From Bourne End the walk continues to Marlow, crosses the river at Temple Bridge Hurley and finally continues alongside the river to Henley. The official distance of the Thames Path completed from Windsor Bridge to Henley is 23 miles. 

 

When I did the walk in March the clocks hadn’t yet gone forward, so I had to start it as early as possible to avoid finishing in Henley in the dark. I arrived at the racecourse at 08:15 and it was quite cold and misty. Amazingly within 15 minutes the mist lifted to reveal a clear blue sky – perfect walking weather. I stopped for a coffee at Boulters Lock and when I reached Bourne End I treated to myself to fish and chips which I ate by the riverside. I arrived at Henley as the sun was setting after 9.5 hours – not too bad bearing in mind my stops for food, drink and taking photos. Strava told me I’d walked for 7.5 hours and covered over 60,000 steps and I was very happy with this. I don't think I'll ever tire of the Bourne End to Henley section of the Thames Path. I felt confident that I’d be fine for the Mighty Hike in July. 

 

July 16th was at the start of the July 2022 UK heatwave. On 19th the UK recorded its highest ever temperature of 40.3°. Needless to say, it was very hot for our charity hike but thankfully there were loads of water and food stops and we also included a pub stop – after all our team name was ‘The Sneaky Pinters’! Bearing in mind the average age of our team was 64, the fact that we finished way down the list didn’t bother us at all. The organisers of the event were so concerned about the heat that they cancelled the next day's half distance walk on health grounds. 

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Please click or tap Flickr button for many more photos of this walk.

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