Riverside Rambling near Reading

Ramblings

BBC

Science, Nature, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.6 • 732 Ratings

🗓️ 8 June 2023

⏱️ 25 minutes

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Summary

Two friends, Karen and Emma, who say they met when both were post-Covid slumped on the sofa and doing no exercise, take Clare for a walk along the Thames Path near Reading in Berkshire. Their friendship is based on walking and they’re notching up the miles, including the Grand Union Canal (188 miles), the Ridgeway (72 miles) and 150 miles of the Portuguese Camino.

Karen says that “Emma has gone from a neighbour I sort of knew to my very best friend. We have laughed so hard together we could barely stand; we have howled with pain together; we have picked each other up when the other could barely go on; we have gotten so grumpy with each other that we could barely speak to each other but always found a way back to friendship”.

Clare hears their inspirational story of building a supportive and healing friendship as they ramble riverside one morning in late Spring. They start at the end of the Kennet and Avon canal and walk for around 9 miles to Henley on Thames. This is a section of a long distance route the friends are completing, coast to coast, from Bristol to the Isle of Grain on the Thames Estuary.

Producer: Karen Gregor

Transcript

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0:14.0	He just flew out into Devoid and he was gone.
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0:31.8	Listen to the full series now.
0:33.4	First on BBC Sounds.
0:36.1	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:40.1	Look at this for traffic.
0:42.3	These are boats, one after the other, on a constant stream.
0:47.7	There's an appropriate traffic, but river-based word.
0:51.4	I've come to Reading.
0:53.0	It's a beautiful, sunny, early summer's day. I'm in shorts,
0:57.0	and that hardly ever happens. I've put sun tan lotion on, I've got dark glasses on, and everyone
1:03.0	who has access to a boat is out on the River Thames to enjoy a glorious Saturday. We don't often walk at weekends, but that's what worked out.
1:13.6	And I've come here to join Karen Ironside and Emma Courtney. And you, this is just a small section of an epic walk that you are taking on.
	...

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