# 🥾 Walk 133 - Whitchurch-on-Thames

Sunday 23rd November was wet. It had been raining quite heavily since Saturday afternoon and hadn't stopped overnight. But the weather hadn't put everyone off. There were five of us on this walk, armed with waterproofs and determination.

On leaving the car park in Pangbourne, we crossed the recently refurbished toll bridge into Whitchurch-on-Thames. From there we followed the B471 through the village and up the steep hill the other side until we found the turning on to the lane that took us to the Thames Path. Once off the lane, there were some steep footpaths, which had become quite muddy with the rain.

The Thames Path on the Whitchurch side is quite hilly. It takes a steep dip and rises again before it becomes parallel with the Thames. As the Thames comes into sight, the path is 35m (100ft) above the water with a steep tree-lined bank.

![Crossing the recently refurbished toll bridge from Pangbourne to Whitchurch-on-Thames.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume10/images/whitchurch_bridge.jpg)

The path gradually descends as it follows the Thames and was only 5m (15ft) above the water when we left it and took the steep path up to Hattonhill Shaw. There is a bench at the top of the hill, so we stopped to admire the view of the Thames, with Lower Basildon on the opposite side and Rottendown Hill Plantation visible behind the railway bridge.

We followed a quiet lane uphill to Primrosehill Shaw and then to Great Chalk Wood, where we stopped for our picnic lunch. We ate our packed lunches while standing as the ground was too wet for sitting. Then we continued our walk, past Stapnall's Farm and on to Cold Harbour, where we missed our turning, distracted by a large puddle through which we were wading.

We had to wade through the puddle again to get back onto our route, which crossed Furzemoor Plantation and then along a narrow fenced path through a private wood before emerging by Beech Farm. Crossing the farm, we came out onto the B471 again, just north of Whitchurch-on-Thames.

![The <i>Thames Path</i> takes a dip and rises again before reaching Hartslock Wood.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume10/images/thames_path_whitchurch.jpg)

From here we retraced our outgoing route through the village, over the toll bridge into Pangbourne and back to the car park. See our route on Bing Maps.

The plan had been to stop at a pub in Pangbourne for a post-walk drink, but the thought of hot drinks was more appealing after our wet walk. Stopping at the car park to just change out of muddy boots, and remove rucksacks and waterproof over-trousers, we then walked back into Pangbourne to visit Little Henry's Café

The tea, coffee, hot-chocolate and slices of delicious cake were well received by us as we sat around our table and gently steamed in the warmth. Ironically the rain stopped once the walk had finished.

![View from Hattonhill Shaw, with the Thames and Lower Basildon in view.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume10/images/hattonhill_shaw.jpg)

![Following the B471 back down into Whitchurch-on-Thames. There is a footpath under all those leaves.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume10/images/b471_whitchurch.jpg)

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