When you reach Sonning lock going downstream you feel that the hustle and bustle of big town life has passed by and you are now entering a genteel version of the Thames. The lock is at the end of a reach that has seen a change from riverside homes to open countryside. Before narrowing to the lock cut, the main body of the Thames splits left to travel over a weir and rejoin us after Sonning Bridge. Sonning lock is at the tip of a series of inter-connected islands that span the river at this point and is also a drop-off point for cruises from Reading and Caversham to Sonning, leaving a short walk along the towpath to the village itself.
