Leg 5 – Purley on Thames to Cookham (overnight in Henley)

Our canoe outside the St George & Dragon pub, Wargrave

Leg Distance: 25 miles

Number of Locks: 8

Time Taken: 2 days

Overnight Accommodation: Swiss Farm Campsite, Henley RG9 2HY

Overall Distance Covered: 112 miles (10 days)

We parked our car at the campsite in Henley and took a taxi to Purley on Thames. Reading Festival was taking place, so we saw lots of welly-wearing music fans making their way to that laden down with camping gear and crates of booze!

Temporary bridge for the Reading Festival

We had lunch at a lovely pub, The Bull Inn in Sonning, where the bar staff were hard at work cleaning lots of very old silver trophies. 

Cows coming to say hello

We stopped for a late afternoon drink on the terrace overlooking the river at the St George & Dragon pub in Wargrave before heading on to Henley.

Camping in Henley

The campsite at Henley was a bit of a walk from the river which meant lugging the gear up a small lane and across a road. We had dinner in Henley (curry I think!) and also visited a couple of pubs including The Angel On The Bridge, plus we saw one of the 2012 Olympics gold painted letterboxes.

Henley viewed from our getting in point

The following day we met my parents' friends, Terry & Joan, at Hurley Lock. They gave us a guided tour of Hurley before inviting us to their home for a great lunch with some fine Spanish wines!

View of Marlow and its bridge

After lunch we carried onto Cookham and got out using the slipway by The Ferry pub, on the right hand side just after Cookham Bridge. We then took a taxi back to our car in Henley.

Slipway beside The Ferry pub and Cookham Bridge

If you would like to download detailed information on the river please see this blog entry.