Eight of us gathered outside Henley-on-Thames railway station on Saturday 11th March for a 13.4 mile walk that promised hills and a variety of animals. It was a frosty start to the morning, but the sun was shining and there wasn't much of a breeze.
We started by walking along the edge of the River Thames to Henley Bridge, which we crossed and headed up White Hill. Leaving the road, we crossed through Remenham Wood and continued upward to Remenham Hill.
Now going downhill towards Culham House, we came across a herd of white deer. Not a common site on our walks, and just the first of many types of deer and other animals that we would see on this walk.
Heading down to the Thames Path, we saw a flock of Guinea Fowl strutting across a small field. Passing through Aston, we saw that The Flowerpot pub was being refurbished. We'll have to make a visit once the work is finished.
We crossed the Thames at Hambleden Lock on a long metal bridge over the weir and made our to Hambleden Village, were we stopped to eat our packed lunches. A few of us popped into the local shop, which does teas, coffee and some excellent cakes. We also took the opportunity to have a quick look around this picturesque village after lunch.
Next, we skirted around Ridge Wood and then headed uphill to Fawley. There is an animal sanctuary at Fawley Hill, where there are 'spare' animals from London and Whipsnade Zoos as well as a deer park. They also look after a number of three-legged deer that have unfortunately lost limbs in road accidents.
We passed a field where we saw a couple of emu, in with a heard of fallow deer. In another field there was a herd of red deer. As we reached the road, there was a small field containing two concrete cows!
Crossing through Fawley village, we then passed the other side of the animal sanctuary, where we saw what looked like a gazelle in a field with some roe deer and a llama. We also witnessed a red kite land on a fence post not far in front of us!
We joined the Oxfordshire Way, which we followed back to Henley, crossing through Henley deer park on the way. Our leader stopped us in the deer park to point out an interesting ground feature that is practically invisible from ground level. If you look at aerial photography of the park, the Australian flag can clearly be seen, made up of carefully planted tree and shrubs. Take a look for yourselves on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/j5DNM33vfryuGAtDA
Back in Henley, we took a rather indirect route back to the station, which passed by Friar Park - once home to George Harrison. See our route on Google Maps. In our 13.4 mile walk we had done 741m (2,430 ft) of ascent in total. A good workout.
Thank you to Chris for leading this fascinating walk.
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