DIFFICULTY 6/10
One of the best springtime walks anywhere near London. Lots of mature Beech woodland and pretty Home Counties villages linked by peaceful, shaded rural lanes. You can end it with a drink in a pub overlooking a weir on the Thames, which would be booked out months in advance if it were in Paris or Venice.
TRAIN Take the 10.08 DIDCOT Train from Paddington changing at TWYFORD (10.41/10.45) arriving at HENLEY at 10.57
Return trains from PANGBOURNE are half hourly around.50 and .20. You can shave a little off the return time by changing to a fast train at READING
FREEDOM PASS holders can travel free to TWYFORD in the morning and from READING in the afternoon on the Elizabeth line only.
TICKETS A return to Pangbourne plus a single from Twyford to Henley. You could venture to suggest to the train guard that the return alone suffices for the entire journey but it’s a difficult case to argue as we’ve seen in the past!
LUNCH Two pubs remain open on the walk and they both come a bit before the half way mark.
SHORTCUTS None really as it’s a linear walk but you can get an hourly bus to Reading from outside the Unicorn after approx 40% of the walk or a half hourly one from Cane End after approx 75%
TEA.
Near Pangbourne you’ll walk past an Alpaca farm where the animals are currently being sheared for their extremely valuable fleeces
Possible diversion :
A problematic part of the walk is the section on a busy road past the former Reformation pub (now Cherry Orchard Vets) on Horsepond Rd, Kidmore End.
Some pavement exists, though not consistently on both sides. This requires road crossings and there’s a short final stretch without any pavement. All rather pointless now the pub is no more.
However a go round could be devised using a map or GPS.
From point 23 instead of turning left downhill, you could continue straight ahead on woodland paths until rejoining the walk at the junction mentioned in point 27. An update along these lines is being considered by the new walk updater, but will not be in place in time for this posting.
T=1.51
L=1.51
4 comments:
For the single from Twyford to Henley, you could use Contactless pay-as-you-go (but not Oyster). It costs slightly less than a paper ticket with a Network / Senior Railcard discount. Contactless is not available for the return journey from Pangbourne to Reading.
Also there is the 9.53 Elizabeth line for those of us using Ealing Broadway station
The train from Paddington was cancelled at short notice yet some n=20 walkers reached Henley by a variety of means too tedious to detail.
(Much helped by our new WhatsApp
Wednesday group….take a bow JP)
The weather was w=bright_sunshine_yet_surprisingly_cold especially in the mature north facing woodland through which we passed.
Some dined in the Unicorn and took buses to Reading either from there or further on at Cane End. A pub report would be appreciated from any of the diners.
A pleasant diversion was negotiated to avoid the road at Kidmore End and most ended the walk with drinks in the Swan or a cafe in Pangbourne in time for a return train around 4.30.
The Unicorn pub was visited by 6 of us. Two only ate expensive and not very good meals but the service was immaculate and worthy of a better meal experience. No tea and coffee for lack of delivery and no other customers. Four caught the 25 bus to Reading in cerise pink livery, new and fast. Note that the shopping area and museum where I headed for needed a pass or ticket to cross over the bridge to the south side of the new smart station hub. Freedom passes do not operate the barriers and staff have to let you through manually. No problem with the trains home and I had a successful afternoon shopping and museum experience.
The Bayeux tapestry is housed here in the modern free of charge museum but guided tours are available for groups from £10 a head. The cafe is open for cakes and refreshments but you have to be a customer to use the toilets- access code required.
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