Ian's Audax Pages: Boulters Bash Marlow to the Finish

In Marlow turn left - you should have a car dealer to your right - and turn right at the obelisk topped mini-roundabout and keep on to the bridge.

The Market House and obelisk, Marlow

Marlowites seem to have a particular need to park their car directly outside the shop they are visiting and the High Street offers a constant display of reversing in and pulling out. There are several places here for a snack.

Marlow is an old town, so it has quite a lot of history. Cheating slightly by mentioning something off the route, Jerome K. Jerome wrote most of the comic classic Three Men in a Boat at the Two Brewers pub. It was he who first said "I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.” The pub is on St Peters Road: turn left at the double mini-roundabout a bit over halfway to the bridge from the obelisk and then soon right. Incidentally the end of the road offers a good view of Marlow Bridge.

Two Brewers where much of Three Men in a Boat was written

There was a Marlow Bridge as at least far back as the 14th Century. The current suspension bridge was designed by William Tierney Clark and was built between 1829 and 1832, replacing a wooden bridge further downstream which collapsed in 1828.It is only used by cars, pedestrians and cyclists. In 2016 a lorry crossed it, forcing the bridge to close for three months. You can stand in the middle and feel a big wobble with every car.

Marlow Bridge, south side

On the right, just across the bridge is Marlow Rowing Club. This is Steve Redgrave's rowing club and also a centre for paralympic development.

Just over the bridge turn left following Quarrywood Road,signposted to Cookham Dean. You cross a plain and then encounter the one serious hill of the route up the side of the escarpment. There is a hairpin bend about a third of the way up, make sure you are visible before you enter it as the vegetation makes it a blind bend. You then descend to Cookham, keeping straight over a series of mini-roundabouts and a level crossing. This road ends in a T junction with the A4094. To your right at the juntion is a former chapel painted white that houses the Stanley Spencer Gallery. Sir Stanley Spencer (1891 – 1959), one of the most important British artists of the 20th century, was born in Cookham and spent most of his life in Cookham and nearby. The gallery has a small permanent collection but also runs exhibitions.