View to Conway’s Bridge from the Thames Path

Start & Finish: Shiplake Station, Lower Shiplake, Henley-on-Thames RG9 3NU
Distance: 8.8 km (5.5 miles)
Elevation change: +/- 80m
GPX File: get via Buy Me a Coffee
Other routes touched (walk): Thames Path, The Wokingham Way, The Chiltern Way Berkshire Loop
Other routes touched (cycle): Chilterns Cycleway
Pubs / Cafes on route: Several in Henley Town Centre and The Baskerville at Shiplake Station
Map: OS Explorer Map (171) Chiltern Hills West, Henley-on-Thames and Wallingford
Links: Shiplake, Shiplake Station, Henley-on-Thames, Henley-on-Thames Station, Harpsden

This short walk continues both our Thames path based circulars and is the latest in the Chiltern Rail based walks. You’ll pass both Henley-on-Thames and Shiplake Stations. I’ve started the walk at Shiplake Station but it can just as easily be started at Henley. Both are on the same train line and have good parking close by. The guidance below will help you navigate but don’t use it as a fully accurate turn-by-turn guide. Always take a map and/or a GPX route and prepare well for the weather and terrain.

From Shiplake station pick up the Thames Path and follow it north to the north-western end of Mill Meadows park in Henley. Follow the paths that route by Henley-on-Thames Station and onto Station Road. Take a left onto Station Road, another left onto Reading Road, then a right onto Hamilton Avenue. At the end of Hamilton Avenue take a left onto Vicarage Road, heading south-east. Just after passing Singers Lane on the left, take a footpath between houses on the right. This path cuts diagonally through housing in a south-westerly direction for 600m before reaching Peppard Lane. Take a right onto Peppard Lane then the first footpath on the left. This path will take you steeply downhill to Harpsden Village.

Take a right onto the road through Harpsden, then first left onto Chalk Hill, then a left onto a footpath. Follow this steeply uphill until you join Upper Bolney Road and the Chiltern Way Berkshire Extension. Take an left onto Upper Bolney Road and follow it for 1.5 km until the A4155 Reading Road. Cross the main road and take a footpath that runs diagonally through a farm to the south-east. The path will take you onto Northfield Avenue to the junction with Station Road and Mill Road. Follow Station Road back to Shiplake Station.