Reading: Milkmaid's Bridge and Holy Brook

Milkmaid's Bridge

This is a surprisingly pleasant 4 mile walk which never strays far from the centre of Reading and begins in the car park of a retail development and passes through a former council estate! From this inauspicious start, you quickly join the towpath beside the River Kennet and follow it first south and then west for a couple of miles to reach Milkmaid's bridge and then Southcote Lock. Milkmaid's bridge is the more distant of the two bridges in the photo.

The return route then goes through Coley Park and returns along the narrow Holy Brook.

Rating: three stars.

From: Rambling for Pleasure: Around Reading second series by David Bounds for the East Berkshire Ramblers’ Association Group.

Map: Explorer 159 (Reading, Wokingham & Pangbourne).

Southcote Lock