The first three hours

Today was my longest run for a while - a full three hours. I ran through reading and picked up the the Berkshire extension of the Chiltern Way, something I had failed to find on a previous run. Armed this time with a map I found it. It is in fact extremely well marked, aside from the one place where I tried to pick it up, where the sign is obscured, and the path not obvious.

Still, once on it navigation was easy and the running pleasant. I ran through Crowsley Park which is quite intriguing. A high security centre, surrounded by ariels and with a trio of large satellite dishes. Most suspicious, until I fished my phone out and Google maps presented me with the wikipedia link.

Anyway I wasn't running quickly and hadn't planned a route home, so after Crowsley decided to pick a way back to the Thames and run back along the river. I eventually realised the trails looked familiar because I have biked them at night with the CTC. I followed a route a I remembered, however I neglected to factor in quite how much rain has fallen in the last week or so, quite how saturated the ground was anyway, and quite how high the tributaries to the Thames were.

The lane I planned on following to the Thames looked like this:

Hmm. I didn't fancy the longer route round on a busy road so decided to give it a go. After about ten metres, there was a style into the fields on the left. Whilst also being flooded it wasn't as deep as the lane and I was able to get through. It was cold though!

I made it to Sonning, and the Thames Path, encountering only one further flood on the way back into Reading. At least my trainers were clean by the end.

Rob