Length: 22.1 km (13.8
mi)
Ascent/Descent: 120 m; Net Walking Time: ca. 4 ½ hours
Toughness: 3 out of 10
Take the 10.00 Paignton train from Paddington,
arriving Didcot Parkway at 10.41
From Ealing take the 09.35 to Reading and change there.
(Fast) return trains: 15.29, 16.03, 16.16, 16.29, 16.47, 17.16, 17.29, 18.00…hours (from
44 minutes)
This walk takes in an attractive part of the Thames
Valley south of Oxford, with a lunchtime stop in Dorchester-on-Thames. This
handsome village is now bypassed by the traffic but used to be an important
staging post between London and Oxford. It has retained a large number of
coaching inns and other pubs, so there's plenty of choice for refreshment. You should be sure to visit Dorchester
Abbey , one of the few large
monastery buildings to survive the Dissolution; it now functions as an
impressive parish church. In the afternoon the walk comes to the Wittenham Clumps, the name given to
a pair of Iron Age hill forts set in a nature reserve managed by the Earth
Trust.
The lunch pub will be any one of a handful in
Dorchester-on-Thames (11 km/7 mi), for details see the walk directions.
For tea in Didcot, the Prince of Wales, right by the
station, is the obvious watering hole to spend the time waiting for a train.
For walk directions, map, height profile,
photos and gpx/kml files
click here.
Next Week: Book1
Walk 43 Otford Circular 12.4 km/7.7 mi, 3/10 T=swc.44
10 comments:
Are we managing to sort out a programme of Christmas walks? jfk
The right place for this conversation would be the Forum or Walk Requests sections, or even the Crimbo Drinks Party on Dec 7 methinks, but...
Expect 3 walks on the Saturdays 24/31, 2 on 26/27/2, 1 on the Wednesdays, maybe 1 on NY. And if everyone is nice to their walk posters of trust (current and lapsed), they might even invest the extra work of posting walks on the intermittent days...
Funeral in the abbey at 2pm, suggest pre lunch visit.
hi thomas thanks for posting this. am i right in thinking its about 6 miles to Dorchester ?
is everyone doing the Didcot circular ?
thanks
wrong: (11 km/7 mi), as per the posting
Good to see that the Wednesday walks continue to be well attended. Unfortunately demand for my services is now running at 6 days a week at two different sites for the foreseeable future but will look forward to joining you all again after the New Year on my return from Cuba.
Do pass on our condolences!
Sorry dancing on 7th and tomorrow evening but as you say the Forum may be a place to raise the issue of programme of Christmas walks jfk
n=14 alighted from a very full train at Didcot to set out on today's walk in conditions on the gorgeous side of gorgeous for winter walking: w=sunny-cold-with-thick-frost-on-the-ground making it very atmospheric as the overnight fog had not yet fully cleared. The first mile or so of the walk was suburban but thereafter we were walking through pretty villages and beside the River Thames on a section undeveloped with property.
The whole walk took us through countryside steeped in history - dem Romans woz here - and later in the walk (but before in time), Iron Age forts.
Arriving in Dorchester-on-Thames, some of us visited the lovely abbey before joining the rest in the cosy Fleur de Lys pub, where six of us enjoyed good pub grub, served by friendly staff.
Five of the seven sandwich eaters set out on the afternoon leg whilst their colleagues were still eating in the pub, with the remaining eight setting out 40 minutes later.
Now arithmetic wizzos amongst readers will have spotted someone was missing. Our No 14 decided to do her own thing from mid-morning onwards and - presumably - return to London early for evening engagements.
The thick frost was still on the ground as our group of eight set out on the afternoon leg, soon crossing newly fenced-in-fields and then the Thames before a quick visit to the lovely Little Wittenham church preceded our ascent of Wittenhan Clumps, a pair of iron age hill forts. The panoramic view from the top was wonderful in the clear, cold air.
Descending the Clumps through Nature Reserves we became conscious of the diminishing daylight hours and sped up (not that we dawdled during any part of the walk). However, our walk leader and poster had judged the time to perfection and as we crossed the last of the fields the sun was setting behind Didcot Power Station.
Six of us enjoyed a drink in the pub opposite the station before another full train whisked us back to Paddington.
The very best of SWC days.
No 14 unfortunately got left behind after stopping for a toilet break. After being very lost in Long W after the museum she did manage to blaze a new trail to Dorchester on Thames where she took tea at Lilysl
Fantastic December weather and walk jfk
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