and continues westward. Here it crosses the River Kennet, the Holy Brook and the A33 relief road, which goes towards Basingstoke. In West Reading, the A4 becomes Berkeley Avenue, and then the Bath Road. It passes Prospect Park, and the suburbs of Southcote, Horncastle and Calcot, before reaching Junction 12 of the M4. The A4 heads south westerly through Theale and over the roundabout connecting it to the A340 which heads towards Pangbourne. Heading towards Thatcham, the road passes Aldermaston Wharf next to the Kennet and Avon Canal and through the villages of Woolhampton and Midgham. A large industrial estate is on the left as the road enters Thatcham. At the roundabout after the industrial Estate the route follows London Road and passes Thatcham towards Benham Hill and Newbury. At the Benham Hill roundabout it goes along Bath Road where it deviates from Turnpike Road. Bath Road is the original turnpiked road and the road now confusingly called Turnpike Road was originally called The Shaw Road. The turnpike then continues along London Road as it enters the outskirts of Newbury. Heading towards the centre of Newbury, the route passes the West Berkshire Community Hospital on the right. To the North of the town centre the road becomes part of an unusual junction with the A339 that links the new A34 by-pass to the north with Basingstoke to the south. The junction is a combination of a figure of eight roundabout with an elevated section that used to be the old route of the A34. Newbury to Marlborough (18.8 miles) After the junction, the road heads out of town through Speenhamland along Western Avenue and Bath Road to the junction with the A34 Newbury bypass, which was opened, after some controversy, on 17 November 1998, at a cost of £104 million. The route heads over undulating countryside in a fairly straight westward direction towards Hungerford, parallel to the Kennet and Avon Canal and crossing the River Kennet on the outskirts of the town at the same time as intersecting with the A338. The route does not enter the town centre, but continues through the northern part of town on its way to Marlborough, via the village of Froxfield and the northern edge of Savernake Forest. On entering the outskirts of Marlborough the road follows London Road. Crossing the River Kennet again it briefly shares the highway with the A346 which connects