🥾 Walk 698 - Cholsey and North Moreton

Saturday 15th March was much colder than the previous weekend, reaching only 8°C by the end of the walk. Nine of us set off from Cholsey railway station, passing under the railway bridge, heading south-west towards Westfield Farm and then west through Lollingdon Farm towards the village of Aston Tirrold.

Skirting the edge of the village, we made the short but steep ascent onto Blewburton Hill, where we had a 360° view of the surrounding area, including Wittenham Clumps, Brightwell Barrow, and the remains of Didcot Power Station.

Descending the hill and heading north, we made our way to South Moreton, with Wittenham Clumps visible ahead of us for most of the time. We crossed a farm in South Moreton, where there were some young lambs.

Following the road from South Moreton into North Moreton, we stopped for a drink and lunch at The Bear pub. It was warm enough to sit in the pub garden.

After lunch, our route crossed farmland and many footbridges before following Mill Brook into Wallingford. Passing an industrial estate we came to the Wallingford station of the Cholsey & Wallingford Heritage Railway.

It was too early in the year for it to be running, so we walked along footpaths that followed the line into Cholsey. However, to get to the line, we had to take a long diversion to the original public footpath that used to cross a field, which was now being developed into a large housing estate.

We left the Cholsey & Wallingford railway line near the church and followed roads and alleyways back to where we'd started at Cholsey station. See our route on OS Maps. We did 14 miles in under 5 hours, which is a good pace. I felt it when I got home!

Thanks go to Ian for leading this walk and Rob for writing it up.

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