Sunday 19th April saw the first walk led for us by Julia, and despite the relatively cold and dull weather, we had twenty-five people turn up. These included a few newcomers and visitors from other groups.
The meeting point was the Moor car park on the B4447, however when I arrived I found Lawrence (one of our regular visitors from the Chiltern Weekend Walkers) directing traffic as half of the car park had been dug up and fenced off. Those of us that couldn't get into the car park managed to find parking spaces elsewhere, nearby in Cookham.
The walk started by heading into Cookham and then out again along the Thames Path. This we followed, first north then west past The Bounty pub and the fronts of some expensive riverside houses on Cock Marsh, before leaving it to head up the sloping footpath to Long Copse and Winter Hill.
We travelled along the ridge-way for a short while before descending onto the Cookham Bridleway Circuit and entered Quarry Wood. Following a fairly level path through the wood we then began to ascend again, this time to High Wood, between Quarry Wood and Fultness Wood. Here we stopped for lunch, sitting on some large logs.
After lunch we continued to follow the Cookham Bridleway Circuit along a loop through Fultness Woods, emerging onto Cookham Dean Common. Crossing the common, we entered the village of Cookham Dean and made our way to the Jolly Farmer for a drink.
Leaving the pub, we weaved our way through the village and then through a hamlet called Halloween. From there we joined the Chiltern Way, which gently descended through Winter Hill Golf Course and eventually down to the Moor car park where we started the walk. See our route on Bing Maps.
This enjoyable and picturesque 9½ mile walk contained a total of 655m (2150ft) of ascents, so it was a good workout as well.
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