Day 2. Reading to Pewsey

 74km, 300m climb.

The Waterside Centre at Reading is a place with two sides to it. At the front a stunning view of the Thames and water meadows, all very peaceful and beautiful.  At the back a couple of hundred metres from the camping field is Brunel's Great Western railway. In between the camping area and the railway is a car park. When we arrived the car park was empty, but later in the evening it became clear that this was the place to come on a Monday evening if you wanted to see how quickly your back-firing, badly-tuned car can accelerate from 0 to 60! The train noise paled in comparison!

Most of these noises had died down by midnight and we did sleep reasonably after that. We were up fairly early and packed up to get away asap as Charlie and Nigel had very kindly invited us to breakfast. Another lovely time and we left well fortified for the route ahead. 

We thought it would be easy following the Kennet and Avon Canal out of Reading, so I didn't bother with the Garmin and we promptly got lost and wasted half an hour wandering around a new business park. Eventually we got back en route and enjoyed the waterway, even if the towpath was quite bumpy at times. 

At one point it was even blocked by a herd of cows which took some shifting!

By the time we got to Woolhampton we felt quite peckish and had a lovely meal at the Rowbarge right on the canal. Then more bumpy path to Newbury - coffee stop here.

Soon after Newbury route 4 leaves the canal and uses minor roads. That was quite a relief, but the bumps were now replaced by a series of substantial hills. The scenery was lovely with expansive green views, lots of wild flowers and pretty villages.

Rural rest spot near Hungerford

We're camping behind a pub, The Bruce Arms near Pewsey. It's a pleasant field and  at the moment I can hear more birdsong than revving cars, so we hope for a more peaceful night!