Full walk: 17 km (10.6 miles). Circular walk ending in Cookham 7 miles. Walk ending in Marlow 10 miles
Toughness: 3 out of 10
Either
London Paddington: 09-56 hrs GreatWestern service to Reading Ealing Broadway 10-05 hrs
Arrive Maidenhead: 10-30 hrs Change trains
Leave Maidenhead: 10-34 hrs GreatWestern service to Marlow
Arrive Cookham: 10-41 hrs
Or - for holders of Freedom Passes
London Paddington: 09-43 hrs TFL Rail service to Reading Ealing Broadway 09-51 hrs
Arrive Maidenhead : 10-24 hrs Change trains
Leave Maidenhead: 10-34 hrs GreatWestern service to Marlow
Arrive Cookham: 10-41 hrs
Return
Marlow to Paddington, changing at Maidenhead: 17-18, 17-47 and 18-24 hrs
Cookham to Paddington, changing at Maidenhead: 15 mins past the hour up to and including16-15, then 17-32 hrs
Maidenhead to Paddington: direct trains at 17-15, 17-24, 17-35, 17-45, 17-55, 18-05, 18-15 hrs and so on
Rail ticket Senior walkers holding Freedom Passes and travelling on TFL Rail trains: purchase an off-peak single from Maidenhead to Cookham. Everyone else - buy a day return to Cookham
According to the History notes, the last time this walk was posted was on New Year's Day 2018 - and I remember it well. No bubbly will be dispensed on Winters Hill today, but there should still be plenty left to enjoy on a longer, Summer's day.
Leaving Cookham we cross Cookham Dean then head into woodland and up to Winters Hill, with its fine views of the Thames Valley below. Then we descend to Cookham via a sweep of the River Thames before we enter the town, for lunch at the Kings Arms on the High Street.
After lunch we have a choice: to conclude the walk in Cookham, after maybe enjoying a more leisurely lunch, or heading for Marlow across meadows, or walking along the Thames and below Cliveden all the way to Maidenhead.
T=1.24
Walk Directions are here: L=1.24
4 comments:
N=20 set out. The weather was w=cloudy-with-sunny-intervals Your correspondent was surprised to turn round and find 19 people following him. Like a bellwether with its flock. This giddy moment didn’t last and soon I was jockeying for position at the back.
On we went through a wood that has changed its name (was Bisham, now Quarry). Eventually, Cookham was reached, but not before I encountered a wild beast in the churchyard. A snake! Big as a house it was, with slavering jaws. Well, maybe not quite that big but a good 3 feet long. Near Stanley Spencer’s stone. A grass snake I think but it didn't hang around.It slid off at quite a lick, anxious to avoid this paparazzo’s attention. I managed to fire off a few shots before it disappeared under a tombstone.
Still shaking with excitement, I ventured into the Kings Arms and asked if they had any walkers in. Would you believe the barman started rummaging through the crisp packets!
I counted about 8 in there (walkers not crisps). They seemed to be enjoying their food. Some were ending the walk there, and one went to Taplow (pleasanter ending apparently). At least one went in the gallery. I went on to Maidenhead and I presume others did too.
The first leg of this section was better than I expected (I usually find walking by the Thames a bit dull) but this doesn’t last. The walk gets progressively urban, and stays urban for a long way before the station is reached, some of which is along a busy road.
http://www.cleavebooks.co.uk/grol/jerome/3men12.htm
From 'Three Men in a Boat',set near Maidenhead. The chapter where our heroes try to open a tin of pineapples.
Great snake-spotting Mr T, sorry to have missed that.
Six of us headed for Taplow after having lunch in the churchyard or just before. I thought the quiet section of the river just between Cookham and the beginning of Maidenhead was very nice. Route-finding through "Taplow Village" was a bit tricky owing to a closed bridge at grid ref SU905817, leaving us picking our way through a Stepfordesque new housing development.
We had a pint in a roadside pub which was not quite as near Taplow station as we thought, and had to dash for the 1538 train.
If only I'd known. I could have found this for them after I found their snake. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-58258647
Post a Comment