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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Wednesday 29 January 2020

Wednesday Walk Gerrards Cross to Cookham - Bulstrode Park, Burnham Beeches and the River Thames

Book 1, Walk 40 - Gerrards Cross to Cookham

Length: 15.4 km (9.6 miles)
Toughness: 2 out of 10 (a bit more if muddy)

London Marylebone: 10-13 hrs       Aylesbury service
Arrive Gerrards Cross: 10-32 hrs

ReturnCookham to Paddington, changing at Maidenhead:  15-15, 16-15, 17-32, 18-03 and 18-38 hrs
Marlow to Paddington, changing at Bourne End and Maidenhead: 17-18, 17-47, 18-24 and 18-54 hrs
Maidenhead to Paddington: regular trains (seven an hour)

Rail ticket: as the two stations are on different lines you cannot buy a return ticket for the full walk. Buy separate single tickets from and back to the boundary of your travelcard.

Today's walk has plenty of variety - parkland at the beginning,  then woods and a nature reserve as you make your way to Littleworth Common, where you have a choice of two good pubs for your lunch stop:  the Jolly Woodman and the Blackwood Arms, at either end of the Common.  Alternatively, stop for a short drink at the Jolly Woodman then continue on the walk to Cookham, where you take a late lunch at the excellent Kings Arms (recommended for those going "long" to Marlow or Maidenhead - see below).

After Littleworth Common, you walk through more woods and pass below the Church of St Nicholas perched on a hill above you. Then you head down to the River Thames and on into Cookham.  If you wish to extend your walk, you can do so - either across fields to Marlow, adding 3.5 miles, or beside the Thames with views of Cliveden and on into Maidenhead, adding some 4 miles to your walk (reversing the start of SWC 56 - Maidenhead to Marlow, the Wednesday walk on 18 December 2019). Otherwise, you can stop for tea in Cookham before your twenty minute walk to the railway station for your journey home.
T=1.40
Your Walk Directions are here: L=1.40

2 comments:

Marcus said...

Another good Wednesday turnout, n=12 today , for this pleasant walk which started in Buckinghamshire and ended in Berkshire by the River Thames in Cookham. Along the way we experienced a varied landscape which added to the enjoyment of the walk. Some snowdrops and patches of primroses were seen, plus some small pink jobbies.
It was w=sunny-for-most-of-the-day, on the chilly side when in the breeze and in the shade, but otherwise near perfect winter walking conditions. So far this year the weather gods have shone on us for my mid-week walk postings - but will it last ?
We encountered our first splodge of serious mud at the entrance to Bulstrode Park. Mudlarks would have taken delight in wading through it. Thereafter mud levels in the morning were as to be expected on this walk in January - manageable, and never spoiling the walk.
Five of us dined at the Jolly Woodman. One went for a pint at the Blackwood Arms. The staff at the Woodman made us welcome - they were quite jolly - and we enjoyed some classic pub-grub meals. At least four of the seven sandwichers joined us for a drink. Four of them set off first on the afternoon leg of the walk, leaving eight of us to follow on some thirty minutes later. One section of the route on the Beeches Way before Woolman's Wood was challenging as we did our best to get around flooded and muddy sections, at times climbing under, over, oops upside-down barbed wire fences to avoid the worst of the mud. Once through it, the going was easy as we descended the pleasant woodland track to the level with St Nicholas church perched on the hill above us. Then on into Cookham, where we said goodbye to our long-distance voyageur, who gamely set off alone on the riverside path to Maidenhead. I hope he did not find the path flooded along the way. The rest of us either stopped for tea in the town or picked up takeaways by the railway station. We met up with the sandwicher advance party in Cookham and all eleven us boarded the 16-15 hrs train at the station, having enjoyed another SWC mid-week adventure.

Sandy said...

The little pink jobs were cyclamens, if anyone is interested.
Thanks Marcus, great walk.