Sperea two

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

The route from Reading to Spencers Wood mostly uses traffic free footpaths. It is surprisingly green and quiet, apart from the section in the second third part of the route where you walk close to M4 and then over Junction 11/A33.

The first third of the route from Reading town centre to Green Park mostly follows the beautiful Kennet and Avon Canal towpath until you turn off at Fobney Lock on another footpath towards Green Park. In this middle section at Green Park Village there is a cafe, convenience store, and Reading Green Park Train Station. The route continues through the landscaped business park with its shady wildlife lake and streams.

As described in previous reviews , the route leaves Green Park along a long narrow fenced-in public footpath between a Tesco depot and the M4 with the roar of motorway traffic. This path joins a pavement beside the motorway junction where you take a pedestrian crossing (by the entrance to Reading International Campus) and then the follow pedestrian signs to Three Mile Cross. This is safe and totally segregated from traffic with an unexpected pond in the middle of the junction.

After this you leave the A33 and take a series of rights of way to avoid the main road through Three Mile Cross. These were once rural paths but now run through modern housing developments and pleasant open spaces, until you reach the end of the route in Spencers Wood near Warings Bakery.

Spencers Wood to Reading (Sperea 2) review.

This is certainly one of the more idiosyncratic Slow Ways.

Spencers Wood has a pub, convenience store and a bakery. The Basingstoke Road towards Reading is avoided by a looping route that instead takes back streets, a byway and a footpath by playing fields and a building development.

The route briefly meets the main road, but then takes a quiet footpath to flank the A33 to the M4 Junction 11. The walk across the junction is straightforward via footbridges (Photo 1).

The route heads west between the Reading International Business Park and the motorway (Photo 2). There is not much to see as the park’s perimeter fence presses aggressively close (Photo 3). I hurried through this noisy section, which was also rather overgrown with brambles.

(Photos are blurred from now on. Showers became a full rainstorm with hail by the time I’d reached Reading).

The Slow Way emerges into an extensive Green Park business park. A well-maintained path crosses the Foubry Brook and there are benches beside a lake (Photo 4).

A leafy footpath heads north from the park. I could hear the mechanical hum from the Reading Sewage Treatment Works, hidden from view. A heron joined me on my soggy walk (Photo 5).

A lane takes the Slow Way to the River Kennet (Photo 6). There is then a pleasant walk alongside the river into Reading (Photos 7 & 8). The route ends at the Oracle riverside shopping precinct and an urban walk to Reading Station.

Sperea 2 adds an extra mile to the earlier Sperea 1. The loop avoiding the Basingstoke Road is arguably skippable. I certainly preferred the business park and Kennetside walk to the alternative. It’s a pity the footpath by the M4 is so grim (Reading Council footpath 11A). It’s divided between Wokingham and Reading councils which might be part of the problem.

I walked this route from Spencers Wood to Reading on the same day as I walked Sperea 1 from Reading to Spencers Wood. This route is much more pleasant to walk and I will probably walk it again.

It starts in Spencers Wood on the B3349, near the excellent Warings Bakery, and soon heads into quieter roads and then takes a byway (photo 1). After crossing the B3349 it goes along quieter roads and reaches a footpath which is wide and well maintained (photo 2). There is a lot of building work here (photo 3) but the footpath is clear.

After crossing the Basingstoke Road in Three Mile Cross and entering Grazeley Road I had the only navigation difficulty on the route as the footpath sign was a little hidden (photo 4). Following the footpath through the housing estate and the alongside the A33 I came to the pavement beside the A33 and over M4 junction 11 which was loud, but safe. Even Junction 11 has its compensations (photo 5) with large wildlife areas within it.

After Junction 11 the route follows a footpath sandwiched between the M4 and the Tesco warehouse (photo 6). This was the least pleasant part of the route; the path is narrow and sometimes overgrown, it also felt quite oppressive. However, I was soon in Green Park, which has been landscaped well and is a pleasure to walk in. Photo 7 shows Longwater lake.

I left Green Park by the footpath between the sewage works and the dump - it's much nicer than it sounds but can get very muddy in winter - and then to the Kennet and Avon canal (photo 8) which I followed all the way to Reading.

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