# 🥾 Walk 422 - Hurley and Ashley Hill

On Sunday 12th July, six of us met up in Hurley Village, which was remarkably crowded. It was a warm, sunny day and I expect people were keen to get out now that it is permitted as lock-down is being eased. Luckily most of our walk would be away from the crowded areas.

We started off, heading eastward through a static caravan park and then through fields toward Temple Park. Then we joined the Thames Path near Temple Lock, heading west, towards Hurley Lock. The Thames Path was crowded but we managed to maintain social distancing most of the time. The path got wider as we headed away from Hurley.

We came across an elderly gentleman feeding the swans. I think he must do this regularly, as the swans and their cygnets headed straight toward him as he arrived.

![Feeding the Swans near Hurley.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume33/images/feeding_swans_hurley.jpg)

We left the Thames Path (and the crowds) at Frogmill Farm, taking a track up to Henley Road and crossing it to join a footpath heading south and uphill. We diverted onto some very well-kept permissive paths through Juddmonte Farms (a horse breeding farm, owned by Prince Khalid bin Abdullah of Saudi Arabia) and then joined the Chiltern Way.

We sat down to eat our packed lunches by Channers wood. Following the edge of the wood, we made our way to Top Farm before heading up Ashley Hill. We pass the Dewdrop Inn on our way, but we're not going into pubs on our walks at the moment. After a pleasant walk down the east side of Ashley Hill, we turned north and followed a track into the expansive grounds of the Berkshire College of Agriculture.

Passing the rather grand Hall Place and walking through the BCA zoo, we then took a small detour to see the statue of Diana the Huntress. Next we followed a wide and grassy path up to High Wood, which enjoyed views of Ashley Hill to the south and Speen Hill to the east. After crossing through the wood, we then had views to the north, looking over Hurley and the Thames to Danesfiled and the Chiltern Hills the other side.

![Part of the zoo at the Berkshire College of Agriculture.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume33/images/bca_back_lot.jpg)

A steep path took us down to Hurley Bottom. We cross Henley Road again before returning to Hurley Village, which was as crowded as ever. See our route on Google Maps. The walk had been a good eight miles that had included a total 515 metres of ascent - and it felt like it once I'd got home!

![On our way from the Berkshire College of Agriculture to High Wood.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume33/images/approaching_high_wood.jpg)

*Thank you to Lawrence for leading this walk.*

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