Walking in the Thames Valley

The River Thames flows through some spectacular areas of countryside including open chalk grassland, broadleaved woodland and farmland. The area is also home to two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty: the Chilterns and the North Wessex Downs. The 25 adventurous walks take you through the Southern Chilterns, Berkshire, Lambourn, the North Hampshire Downs and Southern Oxfordshire, all within easy reach of Reading, Newbury, Abingdon and London.

For those of you with children, the Thames Valley walks are all fairly long and although the terrain is not too hilly, they can be quite strenuous. It’s advised that only children who are used to longer walks should attempt these routes, although 10 trails do offer shorter alternatives.  However, if you fancy a longer and more testing walk several long-distance routes pass through the Thames Valley, and all of them are visited by at least one of the walks described in this book.  Extra information on 10 of the longer distance walks is also mentioned.

The routes all offer fantastic sites to visit, both historic and modern, from Iron Age hill forts to the Wilton Windmill and the Kennet and Avon Canal. The two-day walk covers 22 miles by following the line of ancient tracks across southern England, many dating back more than 5000 years, and includes an overnight stop at a youth hostel near Segsbury Castle.  The route can also be modified into a long day walk of 18 miles by following alternative directions that are also described in the guidebook. 

•     Each route offers key information about the route: distance, time, grade, map, start/finishing places
•     Key information on transport and refreshments.
•     Detailed route descriptions, OS mapping and vibrant colour photographs.
 

Extracts 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
 

February 2016

Walk 4 At Point (4) the grid reference is SU339565 (not SU339505 as stated)

Walk 9 Revised route description (changed text shown in bold):

(1) SU398879: From the Market Place walk west down Mill Street passing the Bell Inn, later passing Limborough Close on the right (car park). Just after crossing the Letcombe Brook, turn right along The Wharf for 20m and fork left along the tarmac path beside the Sackhouse Museum. Keep to the left-hand path to cross over Denchworth Road. Go north along St Mary’s Way and then left into Wasborough Avenue to take a path to the right past Stockham Farm. At Stockham Bridge go left, following the course of the Wiltshire and Berkshire Canal, for just under 2 miles (3.2km), passing East Challow (detour to the left along the A417 for 100m to visit medieval St Nicholas’ Church).

On reaching West Challow Bridge, leave the canal and follow the road to the right towards West Challow.

Keep left at the junction passing St Laurence’s Church and where the road bends to the right keep ahead towards the village hall. Ignore the bridleway off to the left, but take the left-hand path at the Y-junction across the fields and footbridge to rejoin the canal towpath and reach the B4001.


Walk 19 Map: This walk is covered by OS Landranger map 164 (not 163 as stated)

Walk 20 Map: This walk is covered 183 OS Landranger map 175 (not 174 as stated)

Walk 25 Revised route description (changed text shown in bold):

(4) SU892871: Cross the bridge and then continue along the riverside path downstream towards Cookham.

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