Holly led her first walk for us on Sunday 4th October. It had been a very wet weekend, with Yellow flood warnings issued by the Met Office and over 100mm of rain having fallen over the past couple of days. Nevertheless, twelve of us gathered at Wargrave station to do this seven mile walk, in which muddy fields and waterlogged paths would be guaranteed!
We started with some road walking from the station and through the village. This wasn't without hazard as there were large puddles in the road that cars would spray high into the air. From the High Street, we followed School Lane and turned off into Dark Lane - not as sinister as it sounds, just a quiet residential road. This led us to Blakes Road before we took a very straight road with a high hedge along one side called Crazies Hill (the road, not the hedge).
Behind this huge hedge was a large ornamental pond and behind that was Wargrave Manor, but we couldn't see either of them. We turned right into Highfield Lane and then onto a footpath through fields that took us to, and then through, Hennerton Golf Course.
A steep uphill section led us away from the golf course and onto Worleys Lane, which we followed briefly before passing through a footpath enclosed by trees, like a green tunnel, emerging at Crazies Hill village. Here we joined the Chiltern Way, which led us into High Knowl Wood. This mixed woodland was picturesque, despite the dismal weather, but we noticed more than the usual number of streams flowing through it.
We stopped off to eat our packed lunches when we'd reached a crossroads quite near the top of Bowsey Hill. It seemed an opportune moment to do so, as the rain had stopped. The occasional passing dog took an interest in our lunch before being called away by their slightly embarrassed owners.
The path back down the hill was muddy and occasionally divided by a stream. One or two of these needed a bit of concentration to cross. Once we were out of the woods, we crossed an extremely muddy field near Highfield Park. The leader assured me that this had been a nice solid path through a field of maize only a few weeks before, but the crops had gone and the rain had arrived.
Back on Blakes Road, we retraced our steps through Dark Lane and School Lane back to the High Street. See our route on Google Maps. Here, half of the group stopped off at The Bull for some refreshment while the other half made their way back to the station car park. We were the only people in the pub garden. Hardly surprising in such weather, but at least we were suitably dressed for it.
Thank you to Holly for leading this walk and to Lawrence for recording the route on his GPS. I forgot to do so myself.
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