Length: 16.1 km (10 miles)
Toughness: 3 out of 10
Either
London Paddington: 09-57 hrs Great Western service to Didcot Parkway Ealing Broadway: 10-05 hrs
Arrive Twyford: 10-37 hrs Change trains
Leave Twyford: 10-46 hrs Great Western service to Henley-on-Thames
Arrive Henley: 10-58 hrs
Or
London Paddington: 09-43 hrs TfL Rail service to Reading Ealing Broadway: 09-51 hrs
Arrive Twyford: 10-31 hrs Change trains
Leave Twyford: 10-46 hrs Great Western service to Henley-on-Thames (as above)
Arrive Henley: 10-58 hrs
Travel note If you plan to travel from home to Paddington by LT u'ground do please allow plenty of time - on NYD there can be 15 minute gaps between trains on a number of the lines.
Return 01 mins past the hour
Rail ticket
If travelling on the Great Western service out of Paddington you will need to buy a day return to Henley-on-Thames (from the edge of whatever travel card you may possess). Holders of London Councils Freedom Passes may travel on the TfL Rail service out of Paddington "free of charge" as far as Twyford, leaving you to purchase a day return from Twyford to Henley-on-Thames.
After an absence of five years on New Year's Day (during which absence we twice visited Cookham, then Chalfont St Giles, before Covid intervened last year ) it is perhaps time to return to Henley for our traditional start to the New Year. As in previous years we do this classic Book 1 walk in reverse - or backwards - starting with the leg along the Oxfordshire Way before heading down through the Great Wood and on to lunch in Hambledon at the popular Stag & Huntsman pub.
Up on the Oxfordshire Way and early on in the walk we will stop to toast in the New Year with some bubbles - complying with whatever Covid regulations may be in place on the day. I will bring the basic supply of shampoo and perhaps one of you chaps could bring a back-up bottle. If the ladies could bring a few nibbles that should add to the enjoyment of our NY celebration.
I have reserved a limited number of places for NY regulars for lunch at the Stag & Huntsman but if others would like to have lunch here do please make your own reservation - asap - particularly if you are planning to come along with a number of friends. ETA at the pub is 1-30 pm. The Stag & Huntsman's telephone number: 01491 571227.
It is relatively safe to walk beside the River Thames on the tow path in the gloom or darkness (hence why we do the walk this way round in winter) so we do not have to leave the pub before 3 pm, which should gives us sufficient time to enjoy lunch without rushing it.
Back in Henley - if we arrive in time - our traditional tea stop is the Chocolate Cafe, within ten minutes walk of the railway station.
T=1.1
Walk Directions are here: L=1.1
15 comments:
I’m in ! Will bring both champagne and nibbles
Gabriella
Hi all,
just have found the club - the NY walk sounds fab!
Re booking a place The Stag & Huntsman: shall I need to know who has already made a reservation? (just to add me to the existing list - or is that senseless?)
Many thanks and looking forward very much to joining you!
Merry Xmas!
Margarita
Hi Margarita
Firstly, welcome to the SWC ! If you are the same Margarita who was on yesterday's Windsor walk - hello again !
Reference our New Year's Day Walk - West, I have no idea how many plan to show up or who wish to have lunch in the pub mid-walk. I will try to keep a place for you on one of my tables - I expect the pub is now fully booked. See you on the 1st.
and will bring nibbles. Is it alright if I take Adrian's place as he's gone to Hathersage?
Valerie
Hi Marcus! Many thanks for responding. Yes that's the same Margarita.
Happy new year and see you and all soon!
Forgot to say: I also have some bubbles - how many we are? I mean isn't it too much to have three bottles for four people?
Shall I brig some disposable paper cups for bubbles? I have some too.
Hi Rita. No need to bring bubbles but do please bring some paper cups (plastic champagne flutes better even if not environmentally friendly).
Sorry Valerie, I no longer have any spare places at the pub. But do bring some nibbles, and perhaps a sandwich for your lunch.
The Stag and Huntsman have over 100 people booked to eat inside and there is no outside table service. Anyone wanting to eat or drink outside where there are a few tables will need to queue up at the bar and the wait will be considerable but there may be some food available if arriving early. Sounds like a better and safer bet to take a festive picnic!!
Hi All,
Last-minute change: unexpectedly, I am leaving London for Kent, a place close to Ashford; this makes me rethink the New Year walk. I think I will join the Hastings group. Sorry, no plastic flutes from me.
Valery, I hope you can take my place in the pub - if I had it of course!
Have a lovely walk and let's meet up in 2022.
Happy New Year!
Noting Marion's comment below, I can confirm The Stag & Huntsman is fully booked. Due to Covid regulations I have not been able to make a sizeable block booking at this pub, as in previous years. Might I suggest those of you looking to go on a New Year's celebratory walk with the (almost) certainty of a pub lunch should consider going on the New Year's - Shoreham walk in Kent, where you have several pubs to choose from in both Shoreham and Otford. Otherwise, please bring along a sandwich if you plan to join me on the Henley walk. Thanks.
Thanks Marcus I was able to reserve a table for 2 however on line for 1.30pm confirmed but I shall take a hot meal in a vacuum flask plus a Stollen cake to share as I don’t want to hang around for an hour to get served if the service is too chaotic.
Thank you, Rita.
Is that OK Marcus?
I haven't been to Henley for 25+ years and am really looking forward to the walk :-)
Valerie
Yes - that's fine, Valerie.
“Nice weather”, someone said to me, staring up at the blue skies above Paddington station. But it was not to be. The grey permacloud had reasserted itself by the time we got to Henley.
N=23 assembled at the station. Most had come on the earlier TFL train. I didn’t know so many of us were that old….
We walked up onto the hill, cracked open the two bottles of champers kindly supplied by our walk poster - and then the rain started. Not heavy or persistent but w=bits-and-pieces-of-rain-till-lunch. But at least it was ludicrously mild - the warmest New Year’s Day since the last one that was this warm (107 years ago, apparently).
No New Year’s Day is complete without a paddle, and on our way to Great Wood we all got to splash about in some gloopy mud. But otherwise it was a pleasant morning in cheerful company.
At the start of the walk we established that we had collectively booked more tables at the Stag & Huntsman than there were people on the walk - so much for warnings about not coming on this walk if you want a pub lunch. In the end 15 ate there, ten of us at a big table by the windows (one of which I opened for extra ventilation and omicron thwarting purposes. Odd to eat on the first of January in a gentle breeze...)
A nearby table of non-walkers ordered after us and got their food first. Paying was a bit of a palaver. Otherwise no complaints: a nice lunch.
We left at 3.15pm and had time to finish the walk to Hambleden Lock and along the Thames before dark. The last stretch on the river path was in truth a bit more tedious in the gathering gloom than it is in the opposite direction in the daylight, but the Chocolate Cafe was still open to welcome us at the end.
I got my tea and cake at 4.45pm, at which point there was a mass rush for the 5.01pm train. Thankfully three of us were happy to wait for the 6.01 (though the cafe staff were perhaps less happy about this). We were efficiently whisked back to London to await whatever 2002 has in store for us.
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