Lace Up Your Shoes: Reading’s Best Week of Walking is Back this May

26th March 2026

How to encapsulate the Reading Walks Festival in three words? Well, the key ingredients are nature, history and water, combined with passionate walk leaders and like-minded walkers. Welcome to 7 days of guided walks in and around Reading.

Nature

Encounters with nature in green spaces isn’t probably what immediately springs to mind when people think of Reading, but perceptions can be deceptive. Reading was recently named the UK’s greenest urban space and a number of walks in our Festival will be showcasing this greener side of Reading.

‘The early bird catches the worm’, so they say. Why not be the early worm that catches the bird? Get up early to bask in the spectacular birdsong at Fobney Marsh and learn how to identify birds by their song in the company of Adrian Lawson and the Marshians. Plant lovers should join Philippa Sanders to discover plant-lore just a short ride from the town centre. Her Nature Notes walk starts at Peppard Common and celebrates our relationship with trees and wildflowers. Alternatively, join her for a sociable Sundown Saunter early evening to find deer, owls and hidden wildlife on the outskirts of Caversham.

As Reading grows, it is fascinating to see how nature and green space is being incorporated into new developments. Richard Hatton is leading a walk to explore the new Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspaces (SANGs) on a walk around Spencers Wood that marries nature, history and modern Reading.

The creation of nearby Lower Earley predates the Spencers Wood developments by 30-40 years and is a good example of how nature has been successfully integrated into a residential area. The Earley Environmental Group are leading a walk around the ‘Herbs and Spices’ area to showcase the tree and plant species that exist close to habitation.

Heritage

The Reading Walks Festival started out four years ago as a way to tell the stories of the town through guided walks. Our heritage remains a key feature of the Festival. There’s no better place to start than wandering through 1000 years of history on the Reading Town Centre Heritage Walk. Start at the medieval abbey ruins, skirt the civil war and plunge into the industrial revolution and modern Reading, all in 90 minutes.

Many of our finest buildings are linked to communities that have made Reading their home over the centuries. On the Spiritual Heritage walk, you’ll visit the great architecture of places of Christian worship, the Goldsmid Road synagogue and the modern religious architecture that represents multi-cultural, multi-faith Reading today. Reading’s impressive pilgrim history dates back to medieval times.  The Caversham Pilgrimage Trail links the Abbey precinct to the pilgrim shrines on the north of the river in a history walk going back 900 years.  

A walk to celebrate local memories as a living archive in the Memory Lane Trail, which uses audio and signs to bring to life the stories of local residents in Whitley. Nature Nurture will be leading around The Cowsey in South Reading.

This year marks the Centenary of the University of Reading. The University has created an extensive walks programme as part of the celebrations including a walk following the route of former RAG parades in Reading and a guided walk of the many works of art on the University’s Whiteknights campus.

Water

Another landmark for 2026 is the 30^th anniversary of the Thames Path National Trail. Reading is a waterways town, located between the Kennet and the Thames. As part of the celebrations, the Thames Path’s Engagement Officer, Clare Jarratt, leads two walks along the river in central Reading - Lock ‘n’ Roll from Caversham Bridge to View Island and Lock to Lock, from Central Reading to Sonning and back. Or join a walk that follows the routes of both Reading’s rivers on the Thames and Kennet walk.

Nature, history and water are all ingredients of the Reading Walks Festival 2026 programme. Book a walk from 9-17 May via readingwalksfestival.org to see for yourself.