Twelve of us set off from White Waltham on Sunday 11th August for an 8 mile circular walk that would include Shottesbrooke Park and Woodlands Park.
We started our walk at the industrial park east of White Waltham and walked west through the village and past the cricket ground before heading cross country toward Shottesbrooke Park, which is between White Waltham and Waltham St Lawrence.
The Retro Festival was taking place at White Waltham airfield over the weekend and we saw a number of interesting old vehicles drive past as we started our walk.
Walking though Shottesbrooke Park we passed a pond, a church and a manor house, whilst being frequently overflown by vintage aircraft. We exited the park along a tree lined avenue that brought us onto a quiet lane next to an unusual house that appeared to be built onto the remains of an old church.
Continuing north along the lane, we crossed a railway bridge and then left the road for a footpath heading north toward Littlewick Green, where we turned east toward Woolley Green.
The planned route would have followed Breadcroft Road over the railway bridge into Woodlands Park but our leader had discovered during his recce that the bridge was closed, so we took a detour across a field and joined another road that crossed the railway further to the east.
Heading south now, through the village of Woodlands Park and then through fields further south, we saw some more aerial acrobatics as aircraft left coloured smoke trails above us.
By now the weather was quite hot and sunny, so we took a slight detour to find some shade where we could stop for our lunch.
While we were eating our packed lunches, another walking group passed us. It was the Berkshire Walkers 20s & 30s group! As our group was founded by members of the Berkshire Walkers (hence the similar names) some of their group know some of our group quite well, so they stopped for a quick chat.
After we'd finished lunch we headed west, back to White Waltham. Arriving at the industrial park where we'd started, a few decided to go home while the rest of us walked back into White Waltham for a drink at the Beehive pub. We sat outside the pub with our drinks and watched a bit of the cricket being played on the green opposite. See our route on Google Maps.
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