The walk on Sunday 29th September was 9.5 miles with an option to finish after the first 5 miles and return to the starting point by train. Twenty-three people and a small dog attended the first half of the walk, which started at Pangbourne and was supposed to follow the Thames Path to Goring. Eighteen of us continued for the second half of the walk, following the Chiltern Way through Great Chalk Wood, then heading through farmland and back through Whitchurch to Pangbourne again.
We followed the Thames Path over Whitchurch Bridge and up the hill into the village of Whitchurch-on-Thames, passing the church of St Mary the Virgin on the way. While crossing the bridge, we noticed that the Thames had slightly overflowed into Pangbourne Meadow, which was unusual at this time of year. The Thames Path took an undulating route through Coombe Park and Hartslock Wood, high above the river, from which vantage point it looked rather brown and fast-flowing today - a warning of what was to come.
My planned route avoided a section of Thames Path near Gatehampton Manor, which is usually quite muddy, and joined further upstream nearer Goring. However when we arrived at the towpath, it was completely underwater, so we had to double back and walk into Goring by road.
Our lunch stop was by the river, not far from Goring Lock. The benches and grass were dry enough to sit down for lunch, but we could see a number of narrowboats moored to an invisible towpath! We spoke to a couple who were on a boating holiday and they'd had to wade along the submerged towpath to get off their boat.
After lunch we walked into Goring, stopping to say goodbye to those returning by train and to make use of the local facilities. Next, we followed the Chiltern Way through a residential cul-de-sac and across a playing field before a more rural footpath took us up and into Great Chalk Wood.
Leaving the Chiltern Way we passed by Stapnall's Farm at Cold Harbour, re-joined it at Coombe End Farm only to leave it again at Beech Farm. A well-maintained footpath took us through the farm and back to Whitchurch village. It was then a matter of retracing our outward steps back to Pangbourne. See our route on Google Maps. Despite the recent rain, we were not very muddy at the end of the walk.
Thanks go to Emma and Rob for leading this walk and Rob for the write-up.
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