Didcot Circular t=swc.44
Train: Take the 9:47AM Hereford-bound train from London Paddington, arriving Didcot Parkway 10:28. Return trains are frequent -- 04; 09; 12; 46 and 56 past the hour. Buy a day return to Didcot Parkway.
Length: 22.1 km (13.7 mi)
Difficulty: 3 out of 10
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 .
Tea: the Prince of Wales (Greene King), right by the station and open all day, is the obvious watering hole to spend the time waiting for a train.
For more information and the walk instructions/GPX, click here .
1 comment:
I think it's quite likely that no one turned up for this walk. No one's filed a report. I happened to be on the designated train, to go to Oxford for an appointment. I looked out when it stopped at Didcot, curious to see how large a group would gather, and I saw no familiar faces at all. Happy to be told I am wrong.
Didcot doesn't sound glamorous, but you are soon out of it and the resulting walk is one of my favourites. The weather wasn't promising, which might explain the turnout. It turned out better than forecast.
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