Where the Thames squeezes between the Chiltern Hills and the Berkshire Downs, the river has had to cut a passage through a chalk ridge, and the result is the Goring Gap. It is the sort of place that looks very English from a distance and even better up close: willows, pastures, narrow locks and a weir, with the brick railway bridge at Moulsford that Brunel built crossing the water.
The river is the reason this stop is marked for a swim. On a warm day the banks upstream of the locks fill up with picnic blankets, paddleboards and children in the water, and the Thames here is clean enough that the small swimming spots by the meadows are well used. Take care near weirs, where the current is stronger than it looks, and remember the river is also a busy navigation channel.
There is a good deal of quiet history in the neighbourhood. The Ridgeway, said to be Britain's oldest road, crosses the river here between Goring and Streatley, and walkers have been using it for thousands of years. Pangbourne is where Kenneth Grahame, the author of The Wind in the Willows, lived in his later years, and the riverside scenery has more than a little of the book about it. Nearby Cholsey is where Agatha Christie is buried. At Whitchurch-on-Thames, a small toll bridge still takes your coins to cross the river, which is a fine thing to do on two wheels.
The roads here run along both sides of the valley, with a mix of fast A roads and winding lanes. Climb out of the river onto the Downs and the lanes become narrower, with wide views over the Vale of the White Horse and old beechwoods, and traffic drops away. Weekends in summer are crowded near the river, so go early or late.
For practical matters, Wallingford, with ten thousand people, has fuel, a market square and plenty of cafés, and Goring has a couple of good pubs and a railway station. The way home to London is either the quiet road along the Thames or a faster run on the M4, depending on how much daylight you have left.