Train: Departure station of your choice on the Elizabeth Line based on the 9:20AM Maidenhead bound train from London Liverpool Street, stopping at Paddington at 9:31AM (also several in-between stops), arriving Langley at 9:57AM. Return trains from Cookham are at XX:14....Buy a day return to Cookham.
Distance: 13.7 miles/22 km
Difficulty: 3 out 0f 10
This is a map-led option based on the West Drayton to Cookham stretch of the Beeches Way (a well sign posted long distance path). This walk should provide some nice tree colour -- assuming some leaves are left on the branches.....We did it several years ago and it made for a nice walk at this time of year. Despite the length, we arrived safely in Cookham in daylight. The walking is level and generally on good paths. For more information on the walk and the GPX file, see here.
There are several refreshment stops along the way from which to choose.....please see the walk notes page....including a few options in Cookham.
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Given the rainy forecast, I thought there might be just two of us on this walk, but a third got off at Langley, and we discovered two more who had got slightly earlier trains. So N=5 it was: a nice little group.
(For the record, two got the train from Liverpool Street, one from Farringdon and two from Ealing Broadway: it was really useful to have the train times from Liverpool Street.)
We set off in very light rain but it did not last long, being basically w=dry-and-grey-and-mild thereafter. The autumn colour was spectacular. I don’t think I have ever seen such a riot of yellow, gold and copper. Burnham Beeches was particularly mouthwatering. It did not photograph well in the gloomy light, but we “feasted our eyes” as one of the party said. Definitely a very good choice of walk for this time of year, and thanks from all of us to the walk poster.
The ground was sometimes very muddy, though lots of other bits were on firm gravel. Stoke Common was waterlogged, so a bit of a paddle at times, but not impassable. It was dotted with golden birches growing out of golden grass. (I wrote the word “golden” a lot in my nature notes - golden beeches, golden birches, golden oaks and larches….).
There was some muttering about having lunch in Fulmer, but this defeatist talk was firmly suppressed. Instead we pushed on to Farnham Common, arriving there sometime after 1pm. The rather too prettified Forresters pub here had plenty of room - there was only one other set of diners - and four of us ate there. One dish was “Cod Tempura”, served with mushy peas and chips: yes it was that kind of place. It had no vegan options, having apparently never heard of the concept, though rustled up a reasonable offering after some nagging. Pleasant enough food, I guess, but I note there is another pub 150 metres up the road that I might be tempted to try in future.
Again seditious talk at lunch about buses to Slough. Again rebellion was nipped in the bud. Four of us ploughed on (sometimes literally due to the mud), avoiding various temptations in the refreshment line to get to Cookham just as dark was falling. It did not feel that we had done 13.7 miles, to be honest, perhaps because of few stiles and almost no gradients.
The bridge across the river at Cookham was closed, but luckily only for cars (it would have been a long diversion otherwise). Once in the village, in absentia stagazeris, we breezed past the pubs and went to the nearly deserted Costa by the station for tea. Arriving on the platform for the 17.14 train we met walker number 5, who had gone on ahead after having sandwiches in Farnham Common. He had enjoyed a pint in the King’s Arms, having arrived in Cookham just too late for the 16.14 train.
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