![\"Sheep](\"https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume40/images/sheep_starveall_farm.jpg\")
Saturday 21st May started off a little cool and cloudy but soon warmed up as five of us set off from Cholsey railway station on one of Ian's walks. We briefly had six on our walk as another walker, who's route merged with ours, joined us for a short while.
\nHeading under the railway, we made our way to Westfield Farm where our sixth walker went his own way as we continued south-west to Lollingdon Hill and then south-east towards Moulsford - a place name that Ian seemed to struggle to get right.
\nStopping short of Moulsford itself, our route now took us through fields of wheat and barley. We spent much time debating which was which until Anderson settled the matter using an app on his phone that identified the crops by way of the camera in the phone. Very clever! What will they think of next?
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Next we joined the Fair Mile which we followed for slightly too long, having to double back to take a turning down to Starveall Farm, where we closely observed by some sheep and their lambs. Then we began to cross a field of peas. The crops were quite new and easily trodden on, so we did our best to follow a path of least damage. These turned out to be tractor tracks and not the actual footpath, so corrections had to made a couple of times as we crossed through Unhill Bottom.
\nNext came a steep uphill lane, which led to Town Copse on the edge of Unhill Wood. We stopped at the top to admire the view (and get our breath back) before entering Town Copse and finding a place to have our packed lunches. A handy fallen tree made a good bench for us to park ourselves.
\nAfter lunch, we joined The Ridgeway for a short distance before leaving it to head up Lowbury Hill. It is believed that a Roman temple once existed on this hill, and if you look closely at the Google Maps aerial view of the hill, you can just make out a slight discolouration of the ground in the shape of a large rectangle. Roman coins and pottery have been found at this site.
\n![\"Crossing](\"https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume40/images/unhill_bottom.jpg\")
Heading north, we were back on the Fair Mile, at the other end this time. Following it westward for a short distance, we turned north-east to cross the Aston Upthorpe Downs, Oven Bottom (ouch!) and Langdon Hill. A zig-zag in our route swapped from one footpath to another, leading us toward Aston Tirrold.
\nCrossing the main road into Chalk Lane, we saw a car that was awkwardly parked and the driver was standing in front of it with a gloomy look on his face. We asked if everything was okay and he directed our gaze to the front of his car. He'd misjudged the turning and buckled the nearside wing and front valence on the bank. He had our sympathy.
\nTaking a short-cut across a recreation ground, we were heading away from Aston Tirrold on a bridleway, having barely entered the village. This long path was the same path that we'd originally used at the start of the walk, but to add variety, we left it at Lollingdon Farm and took a footpath to the north. This led us back into Cholsey at a point further north-west, so a bit of road walking was required to get us back to the station. See our route on Google Maps.
\n![\"Posing](\"https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume40/images/unhill_group.jpg\")
![\"On](\"https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume40/images/lowbury_hill.jpg\")
Thank you to Ian for leading this walk.
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