14 km 8.8 miles, Difficulty 7 out of 10
This Chilterns walk, a shortened version of the Stonor circular, still has dramatic views.
Trains: Get the 09:42 Tfl Reading train from Paddington (Ealing Broadway 09:50). Change at Twyford for the Henley train (arr 10:31 platform 3, dep 10:45 platform 5) arrive Henley 10:57.
Get a return to Henley-on-Thames. Trains from Henley at xx:27 xx:57 till 16:59 17:36 18:07 18:42 (and later).
Freedom Pass holders can travel as far as Twyford on the Tfl trains but still need to buy a return from there to Henley.
Full ticket holders can (if they wish) change again at Slough for a faster return to Paddington.
Lunch: The Rainbow in Middle Assendon (01491-574879).
Tea: The Chocolate Café (tel 01491 411 412) on Henley’s waterfront, open weekends to 5pm. The station is 5 minutes away. Henley has plenty of pubs. The Angel is nearest the café.
Walk Directions: available here. We are doing the shorter version that heads left for Bix Bottom after the Rainbow (paragraph 22).
(Any dinosaurs thinking of using Ye Olde Book 2 through Lambridge Woods, don’t. The paths have changed. One of our dinosaurs did just that recently and is lucky not to be still missing). The online directions work fine.
If anyone is contemplating the longer walk via Pishill, note that the Crown 01491 638364 is currently closed. Their website, claiming they would reopen soon, disappeared recently. (With shorter daylight, this option not recommended anyway).
T=2.6.a
1 comment:
N=10 on a w=bright-and-sunny-if-cold day. Fshoom!! and we were off. Yours truly slightly slower than the rest. But not very. Trees almost bare but still some sparkles of colour. The slope down to Middle Assendon has been planted with saplings. Couldn’t help thinking that, soon, that particular view will be lost. 3 stopped at the Rainbow, 2 to eat, 1 to drink. Seemed good. Cash only today. Technical issues. Then off along the icy shortcut to Bix Bottom, kites circling overhead. A detour to the ruined church of St James for me. Still there. Still ruined. This put me further behind the others. Meanwhile, a drama was unfolding near Lambridge Woods. The dip in the road was flooded. Gasp! My spies tell me some managed to detour round. Others cadged a lift across in a range rover. My later attempt was only partly successful. Successful in that I got through. Unsuccessful in that so did the water. Nobody deserves wet socks, Not on their birthday.
And so to Henley where my spies observed 3 go to a Wetherspoons and 4 to the Chocolate Café. They had gone by the time I looked in. Most had got the 3:30. Just as well they went for that one because it was running. (There was only one an hour, not two as I had mistakenly posted). Caught me out, I can tell you . One walked on to Shiplake.
Good day out. Except for the socks.
Post a Comment