17.5km (10.9 miles) or slightly shorter for the map walk.
Difficulty 4/10
A choice of two similar walks in the downland above Goring.
Trains
Get the 09:45 Oxford train from Paddington (Ealing Broadway 9:53) arriving Goring 10:58.
Return trains leave on the hour. If you can be bothered, you can change at Reading for a faster train saving about 20 mins.
Lunch
Your lunch stop is the Bell in Aldworth – a pub that has been in the same family for 250 years. Don’t expect nothing fancy – just rolls, ploughmans and puddings.
The well opposite is said to be the deepest in England. Be sure to visit the church there, home to the Aldworth giants. Elizabeth I made a special detour to see them and you’re just round the corner. They’re in worse nick these days thanks to a ravaging by Roundheads but still worth a butchers.
There's also a 1000 yr old yew that has seen better days. As have some of us (sigh).
Tea
The Swan at Streatley is encountered first. You've also got the Miller of Mansfield, the Catherine Wheel and the John Barleycorn. Why not try them all? Don't bother with the Queens Arms, though. Although still mentioned in the notes, it is closed.
Directions
Info on the walk here . The main SWC walk is on the "Download Walk" button. The shorter hand-drawn map walk is on the "YHA Goring via Aldworth" button.
The latter is courtesy of Streatley YHA. Follow it in an anti-clockwise direction. If you opt for the map walk, note that the station isn't shown on it (it's off to the east). You can follow the others most of the way to the start, but in a nutshell, head for the High Street and turn left downhill. Cross the river and pass the Swan pub, but where the others turn right on the Thames Path, you continue across the A329 to turn right shortly afterwards, onto the map route. Coming back, cross the river, head uphill on the High Street and turn right for the station after crossing the rail bridge.
T=swc.17
2 comments:
If you go to the Bell at Aldworth a most interesting village associated with Elizabeth 1 st make sure you take cash. The last time I visited they did not accept credit cards .
very large sized rolls are served and puddings and ploughmans.jfk
N=7 5 set off on the proper walk and 2 followed the map.The map two were quickly separated. The steep climb up Lardon Chase saw to that. Most had sandwiches. I can report that the mild in the Bell is most drinkworthy.(Hope that’s a word). And I heard good reports about the Tyler. W=light-rain-heavy-mist-till-12-dry-and-mild-thereafter-with-hints-of-sun Any worries that I wasn’t going to achieve this winter’s mud quota were splashed into the long grass today. Plenty of the slippy stuff. (Mudlarks take note). This made for a treacherous descent into Streatley. Quite a strenuous walk but worth it for the Bell.
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