Having previously reached Reading on the Thames Path, Day 4 marked the first day on the Kennet & Avon (K&A) canal. It was supposed to be the first of four consecutive days but would be followed by a rest day given that I had a ticket to see Birmingham City in the Verthu Cup Final at Wembley on Sunday 13 April. There aren’t many things that would interrupt a long-planned run, but seeing the Blues at Wembley is one of them.

The K&A canal is made up of the canalised river Kennet navigation, which joins the K&A canal at Newbury for 57 miles to Bath where it connects into the canalised river Avon navigation. Originally opened in 1810, it fell into disrepair in the 1920s and 30s following the opening of the Great Western Railway but was refurbished in the second half of the twentieth Century by the K&A Canal Trust and loads of volunteers. The route from Reading to Bristol was re-opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990.

Today’s section would start at Horseshoe Bridge at the junction of the Thames Path and the K&A canal, @100.75 miles and 105 locks from the Severn Estuary, according to the Nicholson Ordnance Survey Guide to the Waterways (South), a detailed map book carried partly for information and partly to increase my load for training purposes. And for the avoidance of doubt this ‘New’ Edition is from 1992 when I first had the idea for canal running. While a few pubs may have closed, I can’t imagine that there are any significant changes…..

After an early drive to Reading I started from Horseshoe Bridge at 7:45am, as I needed to get back home by mid-afternoon. A feature of the first 19 miles of river navigation to Newbury would be the weirs adjacent to each lock to deal with the flow.

As with most towns and cities, run-down areas were quickly replaced with smart waterfront developments, in this case the Oracle full of bars and restaurants and an interesting map showing what lay ahead.

And similar to most canals the urban landscape was soon replaced by countryside including water meadows and flooded gravel pits which encouraged wildlife and brought out anglers, birdwatchers and joggers. At Garston Lock, just before Theale, repairs to the gates had closed the canal, but luckily the towpath remained open and no diversion was necessary.

Carrying on to Newbury I saw an increasing number of solo and double / tandem / pairs (delete as appropriate) canoeists, stopping at various digital checkpoints, which I later found out was part of a Questars Adventure Race which included bike and run legs (Questars: the ultimate adventure racing experience in the UK).

Getting to the outskirts of Newbury after @18 miles in 3.5 hours I need some food so stopped off at the Tesco’s for a Meal Deal which I ate walking into town but wished I had bought two of them. Newbury was very pleasant with it’s scenic waterfront and abundance of swans, which post-run research revealed have been entering canal-side cafes looking for food (Swans are entering canal cafés in Newbury looking for food – BBC News). I think that they should stick to synchronised swimming. Bottoms up.

So that just left a final 6 miles of long straight canalised sections to Kintbury and the challenge of catching the 12:51 train back to Reading. With my watch (yes, I still wear one) showing 12:49, the station eventually appeared on the right (opposite the Dundas Arms where I would be staying on Sunday evening, after the football). However the level crossing was closed, as the train was approaching. I thought that I’d missed it but dashed over the level crossing at the earliest opportunity, sprinted up the platform and managed to jump on before the doors closed, ticketless, which I rectified, thankfully without a penalty, when I changed in Newbury. I don’t like hanging around.

So that was @24.5 miles in just over 5 hours, which was reasonable going. While I would have liked a leisurely coffee stop, there were few opportunities and time was of the essence. Being man-made structures, with long straight sections, canals are different to rivers, but it had still been a great day and left me looking forward to more.