🥾 Walk 256 - Hurley and Burchett's Green

Sunday 8th January didn't look promising as we gathered in Hurley for our first walk of the year. It was raining and the journey to the starting point had been along wet roads, thick with spay.

Nonetheless, eighteen of us turned up and the rain stopped at 10:30 just as the walk started. A nineteenth person turned up just after we set off but easily managed to catch us up.

The first section of the walk crossed the River Thames at Hurley Lock and followed the Thames Path eastward as it passed the lock and crossed back onto the Hurley side of the river.

After the rain had stopped, a mist seemed to linger over the river. We soon left the Thames Path, just before the next bridge over the river, and headed south and then west back towards the High Street in Hurley, not far from when we started.

Following the High Street southward, we crossed Henley Road and began to climb Prospect Hill on a steep and slippery footpath. At the top, we followed the footpath that skirted High Wood and headed toward the Berkshire College of Agriculture.

Here we met a diversion that took us on the road through the college. Leaving the college, we crossed a field into Burchett's Green before joining the Chiltern Way, heading west and up Ashley Hill. We stopped off for our picnic lunch in the woodland at the top of the hill before descending on a steep and muddy path.

At the bottom of the hill, we left the Chiltern Way and joined the Knowl Hill Bridleway Circuit, which took us north and back to the Henley Road.

Crossing the road, we followed another footpath that took us past Frogmill Farm and then through someone's front garden, back onto the Thames Path. This we followed eastward, until we reached Hurley, where we had started. See our route on Google Maps.

This walk was a repeat of a walk that Sue had led for us before, but the route was noticeably different due to a number of footpath diversions and because it didn't include Warren Row. Last time we did the walk, we stopped at a pub here, which has since closed down. This time had a pub stop in Hurley after the walk.

Thank you to Julia for providing the photographs.

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