a short loop

I've been being a bit slack about cycling into work recently, and even when I do it's only 15 minutes each way, so I thought today I'd go for a slightly longer ride. I started by going through town, thus knocking off another todo list item: see whether there's still an oriental supermarket in Whitley St. Sadly it looks like it's disappeared. I then went past the supermarket on Rose Kiln Lane to pick up the Kennet&Avon towpath that heads out towards Newbury. This is now part of the National Cycle Network route 4. It was pleasant enough to cycle along, except that the surface is rather rocky, which makes for an uncomfortable ride.

As I was passing over a bridge I spotted this weir, one of a row of V-shaped notches. I think the photo came out quite well and I'm happy to say I didn't have to crop this one after the fact either.

I bailed out of the towpath at Burghfield Bridge and came back into town via Southcote, which meant the whole thing was just under 8 miles. That's not very long, but on the other hand my map said that if I stayed on the towpath the next exit wouldn't be until the far side of M4 J12. Maybe I'll try to push the distance up next weekend :-)

ETA: gmap-pedometer map of the route.