Reading to Southampton via Winchester
Berkshire is home to the St James Way a historic pilgrimage route and the Thames Path National Trail, both which criss-cross the Berkshire landscape, providing the chance to discover fantastic places along the way, to follow in the footsteps of history, and fulfil your own personal goals and challenges. Whether you choose to head out for a an afternoon stroll and just walk part of a route or enjoy a whole walking holiday in the South East, these waymarked trails provide a great way to get out and explore the South East on foot.
The St James’ Way is one of the UK legs of the world-renowned pilgrimage route, the Camino de Santiago. It is designed for modern-day pilgrims and walkers interested in retracing this historic pilgrim route and can be walked in stages or over 4-5 days. The route links to the ‘Camino Ingles’ and one of the main seven official Camino de Santiago routes. The route starts at St James Church, Reading and continues down through the edge of Berkshire to Hampshire, finishing at God's House Tower in Southampton, where pilgrims in the Middle ages would then have sailed to France and Spain on their way to the shrine of St James in north-west Spain. The route is around 68 miles long and is mostly flat or undulating, but passes through some of most beautiful West Berkshire and Hampshire countryside, and visits some of the South East's historic towns, cities and villages including Basingstoke and Winchester.
The route is waymarked with 500 blue and yellow scallop shell signs marked with Camino Inglis to Santiago. Walkers can collect pilgrim stamps and pick up a guide to St James' Way and a pilgrim passport from Reading Museum. Pilgrims who continue on to Spain can present their passports filled with stamps obtained at churches, cafes and hostels to the Pilgrim Office in Santiago to receive a “Compostela” certificate.
Find out more and download the St James Way Reading Map.
A waymarker is a sign or series of signs used to mark a route. Often these are simple symbols like acorns, windmills or arrows, but they can also be official plagues with the name of the walk on, normally they will point you the way and are used in conjunction with a map on long-distance walks or trails.
The Thames Path National Trail is a long-distance walking route covering 184 miles following alongside the UK's best known river. This national trail stretches from the source of the River Thames in a Cotswold's meadow to the sea, passing beautiful towns, water meadows and famous landmarks along the way. The route is fairly flat and is suitable for all ages and abilities and can be completed in around 14 days or broken into smaller sections if you are looking for a weekend wander or an afternoon stroll. The path is waymarked by an acorn sign with Thames Path National Trail on it. The final part of the route linking the Thames Path to the sea was completed in January 2022 when England's Coast Path from the Grain to Woolwich was opened. Try the smaller section from Marlow to Henley (8.5 miles) as an introduction or explore one of these 12 walks along different parts of the trail.
Find out more about walking along the River Thames or visit the National Trails website. The Thames Pilgrim Way which follows much of the Thames Path and stretches 104 miles from Radcot in West Oxfordshire, down through South Oxfordshire and Berkshire and finishes at Runnymede was inaugurated with a ten-day pilgrimage in 2014.
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