Sunday 9th August was in the middle of a six-day heatwave, with daily afternoon temperatures in the thirties Celsius. Sensibly, Jane decided to lead her walk starting at 9:30, an hour earlier than originally planned, so that we could complete the walk before it got too hot to walk in comfort.
Eleven of us met up at Cookham railway station for a six and a half mile walk that would include 470 metres of ascent. It seemed both strange and familiar to be in a group of eleven walkers, as group sizes have been limited to six (including the leader) since our walks restarted in July. The Ramblers decided to increase the limit in August to thirty! We feel that thirty is far too large a group to lead, while still trying to maintain social distancing, so we imposed our own limit of twelve for this walk.
The sky was a little hazy and there was a pleasant breeze as we left the station at Cookham Rise. We crossed the recreation ground and followed footpath signs through a housing estate, coming out into the countryside at Lower Mount Farm. Next, our route took us through several large fields before entering some woodland, where the shade was much appreciated.
Emerging from the wood, we crossed Cookhamdean Common and some farmland before getting back into the shade of Inkydown Wood, Fultness Wood and Quarry Wood. A few steep slopes took the path up high, occasionally giving views across the Thames to Marlow, and bring us out of the wood at Winter Hill. There is usually an ice cream van waiting in a lay-by here, but sadly not today!
We ate our packed lunches here, sitting on the ridge with views of Westhorpe Park boating lake and Little Marlow, before heading south into the picturesque hamlet of Cookham Dean. We turned off the road by the church and followed a track down the hill and back to Cookham station, this time passing by some of the more up-market houses in the village. See our route on Google Maps.
The early start to this walk had paid off, as we finished the walk at about 12:45, before the real heat of the day had built up. I think we may do a few more early starts before the summer is out. It's easier to get up early this time of year and an early start means less traffic on the roads and fewer people about. Also, an early finish means there is more of the day left to do other things - if it isn't too hot!
Thank you to Jane for leading this walk.
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