Length: 16.1 km (10 miles) If extending to Shiplake: 19.6 km (12.2 miles)
Toughness: 2 out of 10 (more when the Great Wood is muddy)
London Paddington: 10-27 hrs GreatWestern service to Didcot Parkway Ealing Broadway 10-35 hrs
Arrive Twyford: 11-07 hrs Change trains
Leave Twyford: 11-12 hrs GreatWestern service to Henley-on-Thames
Arrive Henley: 11-24 hrs
Return from Henley: 15-57, 16-27, 16-59, 17-36 and 18-07 hrs and later.
From Shiplake: 4 minutes after Henley
Covid-19 Compliance: please note the current guidance on this website and observe social distancing. You should all come prepared to exchange contact details for track and trace purpose. You can either pre-register for this walk (not essential ) by e-mailing me at swc-marcus@walkingclub.org.uk or, if you prefer, please write your name, e-mail address and contact 'phone number on a small piece of paper for handing to me on the train or when we assemble at walk start. Thank you.
It's back to basics today and the very beginning - Walk 1, Book 1. With a late start today, I suggest we do the walk the original way round - that is, anti-clockwise, with the River Thames path leg first - in order to get to the pub in Hambleden in time for lunch.
You will all be familiar with this walk so I am spared having to provide the details. But to summarise the walk, we head out along the River Thames and return to Henley via the Great Wood and hills above Henley. We stop for lunch at the usually very good Stag and Huntsman pub in the pretty village of Hambleden, with picnic spot options. After heading up and through the Great Wood we have a section of road walking which some find tedious, but we are soon on the Oxfordshire Way as we head back down to Henley, enjoying some fine views along the way. Back in town, a favourite tea stop for SWC walkers is the Chocolate Cafe, ten minutes before the railway station.
For those who would like a final, relaxing walk back alongside the River Thames, you can continue today's walk beyond Henley to Shiplake, which adds 3.5 km to the overall walk. Your refreshment stop in Shiplake, next door to the railway station, is the Baskerville pub.
T=1.1
Walk Directions are here: L=1.1
2 comments:
Some travelled to Twyford on LT Trains, some on GWR trains, and one by car to Henley, and outside Henley railway station n=9 of us assembled for today's walk on a w=very-hot-sunny-day, pushing 30 degrees C, and far too hot for most people's preferred walking conditions.
Henley was getting ready for next month's regatta with marquees being erected in the parks next to the River, and the town was busy, despite the heat. Fortunately there was a bit of a breeze off the river during our morning leg, which kept us from over heating, and it was lovely to linger when crossing Hambleden Weir, with its cooling spray, but then it was a slog over the fields in stifling heat to the village - and respite inside the Stag and Huntsman pub. I dined indoors, and enjoyed an excellent meal, whilst others found some shade in the pub's garden and took on liquid.
The afternoon was a bit trying although the Great Wood did provide some shade. I was alone, trying to book check, but found it difficult to concentrate in the heat, so eventually gave up, said "sod it" and just pushed on to the end.
On the outskirts of Henley I caught up with two stragglers who were heading for Wetherspoons to rehydrate but I just wanted to get home. At the station one other walker was waiting for the train, although at Twyford he waited for the LT Train service, whilst I was happy to get on the more comfortable air conditioned GWR train, and thought the few quid extra for the rail ticket was well worth it.
This is a lovely walk - and I might even post it for another New Year's Day extravaganza, when we do it in reverse - but it was hard work on a hot sweaty jockstrap of a day - and although our sun-buffs might have enjoyed their day, I did not.
For LT Trains, please read TFL Trains.
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