11.4 miles 17.5km, or 9.6 miles 15.45km. Difficulty 6/10
A choice of two slightly different walks in the downland above Goring. The YHA‘s hand-drawn map (9.6 miles) or the SWC walk at 11.4 miles. Both have a similar morning and share the same lunch pub but the map version has a shorter afternoon. Feel free to mix and match. Both converge for a steep up and down near the end.
Trains
Get a return to “Goring & Streatley”.
Get the 9:28 Didcot Parkway train from Paddington (Ealing Broadway 9:37) arriving “Goring & Streatley” 10:38.
You can also catch the later 9:42 Hereford train and change onto the above train at Reading (arrive 10:10 platform 9, depart 10:26 platform 13)
A Freedom Pass is valid as far as Reading on the slower Elizabeth line (Paddington 9:09, Ealing Broadway 9:18). Arrive Reading 10:06 and, get the same 10:26 Didcot Parkway train. You need a ticket for the rest of the journey.
Trains return at xx:: 57 Change again at Reading for faster or Liz line services
Lunch
Your lunch stop, The Bell in Aldworth. has been in the same family for 250 years. CAMRA declared it their 2020 Pub of the Year, just in time for lockdown. More importantly, it’s one of Mr Tiger‘s favourites. Simple but pleasant fare – rolls, ploughmans’ and the like.
The well opposite is said to be the deepest in England. It’s well deep. Aldworth’s church is home to the Aldworth giants,once so famous that Elizabeth I made a detour to see them. They’re in worse nick since Basher Cromwell set the boys on them but worth a quick look.
Tea
Returning through Streatley, you pass a string of pubs. First, the Bull, then the Swan at Streatley. In Goring, you've got the Miller of Mansfield, the Catherine Wheel and the John Barleycorn.
Directions
Walk info here. The SWC Walk is on the “Download Walk”button
The easy-to-follow map walk is on the "YHA Goring via Aldworth" button. Anti-clockwise is suggested to tie in with the SWC walk. Although the length is given as 8 miles,, it's 9.6 miles including the station. Will work better printed out, but the afternoon stretch is on the GPS file.
The details below link the station to the YHA walk.
From the station: You can follow the others as far as the Swan…or… head right (Red Cross Road )for the High Street then turn left downhill. Cross the river and pass the Swan pub. Here you have a choice of 2 anti-clockwise starts, both depicted on the map.
• For the gentlest route, turn right about 45m after the Swan, following a sign for the Thames Path. Then follow the map route. (This is similar to the SWC start).
• The second choice involves a steep climb with a view at the top. Pass the Swan pub and continue ahead across the A329 onto a lane to turn right shortly afterwards, onto the map route.
Returning to the station: left along the A329 to the crossroads, cross the A road, then the river, head uphill on the High Street and turn right for the station after crossing the rail bridge. t=swc.17
Sunday, 4 September 2022
Sunday Walk: Goring Circular
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A select n=3 off the train, all harbouring some sort of affection for the lunch pub. The weather was w=Mostly-overcast-with-some-sun-later There was a slight sprinkling of rain at first but hardly enough to shake an umbrella at.
We followed the SWC route a.m. and the YHA route p.m.
The Bell didn’t disappoint. We dipped into the church and said Hi to the giants. We marvelled at the old yew stump.
Then on, picking blackberries, collecting windfalls, past the garden with the birds with hats on and the meerkats in the hedge. We sprinted up the last hill like a pack of gazelles then down the other side, back into civilisation.
In Goring we dropped into the John Barleycorn then, purely for the purposes of research you understand, the Catherine Wheel. Of the two, I liked the JB best with tinkly jazz piano wafting out of the speakers.
Enjoyable day out. Group Cohesion factor 100%
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