Guide to walking in the Thames Valley, southern England
Walking in the Thames Valley
by Steve Davison
Walking in the Thames Valley offers 25 challenging circular walks around the River Thames and River Kennet in the south of England, taking in the Southern Chilterns, the Berkshire and North Hampshire Downs, Southern Oxfordshire and the eastern edge of Wiltshire. All routes are within easy reach of Reading, Newbury, Abingdon and London. More...
Buy from Cicerone
Activities
Walking, backpackingSeasons
Spring and autumn offer the best walking conditions and clearer skies. In winter some paths may Read More... become impassable after heavy rain due to flooding, especially along the Thames.Centres
Reading, Newbury, Abingdon, LondonDifficulty
Walks range from 10 to 18 miles, with one 26-mile, 2-day option, all on good paths. Many routes Read More... also have shorter options.Must See
The Chilterns and North Wessex Downs Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the World Heritage Site Read More... at Avebury, the Uffington White Horse, lots of cosy pubs and ancient churchesExtracts from the Ordnance Survey Landranger series of maps, at a scale of 1:50,000, are used throughout this guidebook, with overlays showing the routes. However, these maps do not give the same level of detail and clarity as that found on the Ordnance Survey Explorer series, at a scale of 1:25,000 – for example, the location of a path in relation to field boundaries. For this reason walkers may find the larger scale mapping of value on some of the routes. Details of the relevant maps are given with each route description. The Explorer maps that cover the walks in this guidebook are:
• Explorer 157 Marlborough and Savernake Forest
• Explorer 158 Newbury and Hungerford
• Explorer 159 Reading, Wokingham and Pangbourne
• Explorer 170 Abingdon, Wantage and Vale of White Horse
• Explorer 171 Chiltern Hills West, Henley-on-Thames and Wallingford
• Explorer 172 Chiltern Hills East, High Wycombe, Maidenhead and Rickmansworth
• Explorer 180 Oxford, Witney and Woodstock








