🥾 Walk 353 - Sonning Common and Henley-on-Thames

We were much more lucky with the weather on Sunday 21st October when Mike led his walk. Sixteen of us, a mix of regulars, newbies and visitors from other groups, met up under the clear blue sky in Sonning Common.

Leaving the village, heading up Widmore Lane, we passed Widmore Pond with it's royal duck-house Duckingham Palace in amongst a floating carpet of autumn leaves. Stopping briefly to take off fleeces that were no longer necessary, we were soon crossing fields of crops and then of horses, stopping to say hello to a friendly equine local.

Heading toward Henley-on-Thames, we passed through a recently constructed and rather up-market housing estate. Skirting the edge of Henley, we turned north-west and back into countryside, through the valley of Lower Hernes. Then there was a bit of up-hill as we made our way toward Rotherfield Greys.

At the top of the hill, we stopped for our picnic lunch, with a good view across the valley we'd just walked through. The sky was still a clear blue and the sun felt warm on our backs as we ate our packed lunches. After lunch it was a short walk to The Maltsters Arms in Rotherfield Greys.

Here we stopped off for refreshments and drank them in their beer garden. There were plenty of other people sitting outside, as it was such a nice day.

Fully refreshed, we set off again, heading south-west, through Crowsley Park Woods. Then down-hill into Stony Bottom where we passed Sedgehill Spring, which is protected by an ornate brick structure featuring a stone carving of an elephant.

It was up-hill again, back into Sonning Common. A little bit of road walking was required to get us back to the main road, from where we had started. See our route on Google Maps.

Thank you to Mike for leading the walk.

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