# 🥾 Walk 309 - Sherfield on Loddon and Rotherwick
On the first Sunday in December, fifteen of us (including two visitors, trying out the group) showed up on a rather dull day for an 8 mile walk. This was a new walk that I'd devised only a few weeks ago, which follows the Brenda Parker Way for part of its route. We had followed another section of this long-distance path on a walk last month and I wanted to explore a bit more of it.
We started from the car park by the sports field in Sherfield-on-Loddon and followed the old Reading Road up to the newer A33 between Reading and Basingstoke. Crossing this busy road took a little patience, but we were soon on a grassy footpath that followed the River Loddon past Longbridge Mill.
Leaving the river and crossing a rather muddy field, we joined the Brenda Parker Way, which followed the edges of several crop fields before joining a lane by Hays Farm. A short walk along this lane brought us to Mill Farm, where the Lyde River ran alongside the lane. We crossed it on a narrow footbridge and crossed a field to follow the River Loddon again.
The Brenda Parker Way led us away from the Loddon, through woodland and fields, past Summerstead Farm, and through the grounds of Rotherwick Church. Here we left the long-distance path, at the same point that we'd reached on my Hook, West Green and Rotherwick walk, last month.
We headed west, out of Rotherwick and past the northern edge of the Tilney Park Golf Course before crossing Summerstead Farm and Wildmore Farm. We had not needed to cross a single stile while we were on the Brenda Parker Way, but now we were making up for it, with stiles on every field boundary.
Soon we found ourselves in Long Copse, where a couple of fallen trees provided us with convenient benches to sit on while we ate our packed lunches.
After lunch we continued crossing fields and stiles until we reached the woodland by Moulshay Farm. The woodland path became a grassy path between hedges and eventually a lane as we approached A33, south of Sherfield-on-Loddon. Crossing the busy road again, we walked up to St Leonard's Church, round the back of Sherfield Court and then north to Goddard's Farm. We then followed quiet roads back into Sherfield-on-Loddon, crossing Sherfield Green. See our route on Google Maps.
After changing out of our boots, some of the group went home, while the rest of us visited the Four Horseshoes for a post-walk drink. A nice walker-friendly pub with wooden floors and hot drinks available.
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