The stations on this walk are reachable from both Waterloo or Paddington. Paddington is a bit quicker, but Waterloo probably more convenient for many of you...
- From Waterloo catch the 9.30 train to Guildford, arriving 10.02, changing there for the 10.19 train to Blackwater, arriving 10.37. Please wait 9 minutes for the Paddington train to arrive...
From Clapham Junction get the 9.27 to Woking, arriving 9.46, to pick up the Guildford train at 9.55
- From Paddington catch the 9.50 train to Reading, arriving 10.13, changing there for the 10.24 train to Blackwater, arriving 10.46.
From Ealing Broadway your only option is the Liz Line departing 9.26 to Reading, arriving there at 10.12
Tickets:
- From Paddington get a day return to Blackwater ("Any Permitted").
- From Waterloo get a day return to Crowthorne if you have absolutely decided to finish the walk there, or Wokingham otherwise. This can be a "via Guildford/Ascot" ticket if that is available, as that is cheaper than an "Any Permitted".
For walk directions, GPX and map click here. The walk's home page also outlines numerous other options for the walk, which I will let you read yourself...
After writing all those train details, I can understand why this walk does not get posted that often.... Its last outing was in 2022, barring a very poorly attended one in January 2025. Yet my memory from 2022 is that it made a pleasant enough day out. There is some woodland and also a fair number of water features, whose plant life may still be lush and green (and flowering) as a contrast to the wearisome brown of our fields at present (if this week's rain has not fixed that).
Lunch is 6 miles in in the village of Finchamstead. The Queen's Oak got a good write-up last time: an alternative is the Greyhound.
For tea or something stronger there is a craft beer/coffee shop called The Hive in Crowthorne. If you persist to Wokingham, you will find a pleasant town with lots of pubs and stuff.
Trains back (Gawd: here we go again...) from Crowthorne are at 12 past to Reading, where you change for Paddington (46 minutes journey time), or 38 past to Guildford, where you change for Waterloo (1 hour 14 minutes).
From Wokingham there seem to be direct trains to Waterloo at 23 and 53 past, or 18, 27, 46 and 57 past to Reading, or 03 and 33 past to Guildford. Journey times roughly the same as from Crowthorne.
#2026-08-29T09:30 T=swc.83
3 comments:
W=Light-rain. I checked my diary, and the only other dates when it has rained on a Saturday this year are 7 February, 2 May and 6 June. Today’s precipitation was never too serious and frankly felt rather refreshing after the drought. So nice to be damp and to see greenery starting to return to the countryside.
8 got off the Waterloo/Guildford train and we very nicely waited nine minutes for the Paddington/Reading one. Just one walker on that and we nearly missed him. (He was on the verge of going home when we located him.) No one materialised later, so N=9 of us.
The morning of the walk was OK. The long road section around Sandhurst is a bit of a drag, and whether due to the rain or the scintillating conversation the lakes later on were mostly unnoticed. But it was all easy underfoot.
Some discussion about whether to go to the Greyhound pub or the slightly later Queen’s Oak. We chose the latter and were pleased we did. A homely and friendly pub with food that was a little more original that the standard burger, fish and chips and sea bass menu that has taken over so many establishments. Five of us ate, 3 had drinks. (Did I miscount or did we lose someone?)
It would be nice to report that while we ate, the rain hammered down and then as we left the pub the sun came out. But it was the reverse. We sat inside during a dry interval and emerged to find the rain restarting. Despite this I thought the afternoon, with its complicated twists and turns, was the loveliest bit of the walk, going through pleasant woods filled with golden bracken and across small heaths where some heather was still in flower. It would make a nice autumn walk.
As far as I know all of us ended at Crowthorne, though one at lunch had floated the idea of carrying on to Wokingham, so maybe he did. Six of us were relieved to find The Hive still operating, a charming and cosy bar-cafe serving tea, Swedish Jaffa cakes and craft beer.
The big topic of conversation here was whether to go the Guildford/Waterloo way home or to take the Reading/Paddington route. The latter was much quicker, the former more convenient for the South Londoners. We split three-three, the Waterloovilles getting the 16.38 and the Paddingtonites the 17.12
Very interesting and surprising stat about rain on just 3 saturdays. Is your diary recording any rain on the day or just heavy rain ?
7 Feb: “Rain first thing, then grey”
2 May: “Sunny to 3pm: then a bit of rain”
6 June: “Rain to start: sun 11am-5pm: then rain”
So last Saturday was really the first proper rainy Saturday this year!!!
In the first half of the year (ie largely BEFORE the summer drought) 14 Saturdays were sunny or mostly sunny and 4 more sun and cloud. 6 were mostly or entirely cloudy.
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