Howbery Hikers - A review of the walks so far (2008 to 2025)

 

Prompted by memories of walks past when we visited Silchester the other day, T has looked back at the Google Earth plots of all the walks that Howbery Hikers have done since 09 May 2008 up until 10 July 2025.

Oxfordshire Way

The first long distance walk we did was the Oxfordshire Way (Bourton-on-the-Water to Henley-on-Thames) to confuse matters we did the last leg from Watlington to Henley first which turned out to be the longest section at 11.9 miles. We managed the 75 miles in total in 8 walks from 9 May 2008 to 28 November 2008, 9.4 miles per walk.

Ridgeway

Our second long walk was the Ridgeway (West Kennet to Wallingford) and we started backwards from Goring to Aldworth on 30 January 2009 for the first leg due to the weather. We reoriented ourselves and set off from West Kennet on 13 March 2009. We finished with a walk from Goring to Wallingford on 7 December 2009. This was 75 miles in total, completed in 7 walks, 10.7 miles per walk.

Shakespeare Way

Emboldened by our success in previous years we decided to do the Shakespeare Way from Stratford-upon-Avon to the Globe Theatre in London. Here again we started out of order at Woodstock on 5 February 2010 and in several stages went through to Watlington before taking the train to Stratford on 7 May 2010 and filling in the Stratford to Woodstock sections. We completed the walk by arriving at the Globe Theatre on 18 March 2011. We extended the walk to the Thames barrier on 8 April 2011. In total, Stratford-upon-Avon to the Thames barrier was 150.3 miles, completed in 16 walks, 9.4 miles per walk.

Roman Way

We had a desire to get back to the Oxfordshire countryside. P discovered a walking route called the Roman Way from the site of a Roman fort at Chesterton near Bicester to Cirencester and then to the site of the Roman town near Silchester and then back to Bicester. A big triangle. In actual fact we missed out a couple of small sections. We started at Stonesfield on 13 May 2011 missing the stretch from Chesterton to Stonesfield because we had walked that section in the other direction as part of the Oxfordshire Way. We also skipped Ampney St Peter to Cirencester because it was raining / late/ tiredness and we also avoided the flooded path near Dorchester-on-Thames on 4 May 2012. Overall we managed 159.5 miles in 15 walks and arrived into Bicester on 29 June 2012, 10.6 miles per walk. (Officially the walk is 174 miles).

Seven Shires Way

The Roman Way was originally researched by Elaine Steane and published by Reardon Publishing in 2010 as “The Roman Way”. An earlier work by the same author and walker was “The Seven Shires Way” also published by Reardon in 2002. This posed a challenge that we couldn’t resist, a 234 miles walk around the county boundary of Oxfordshire starting from Moreton-in-Marsh and going clockwise. We set off on 3 August 2012 and eventually returned to Moreton on 7 August 2015, three years later after 26 walks and clocking up 236.6 miles (9.1 miles per walk). We soon realised that using buses to get to and from the start and finish of each walk was to become increasingly difficult as bus services were being cut back and that many routes tend not to cross county boundaries. Also there aren’t many towns and villages on the boundary and opportunities to find refreshments were limited. We managed to follow the route in order until the winter of 2013/2014 and had to defer the sections from Henley-on-Thames to Cholsey until the early summer of 2014 because of floods on the Thames. It took ages but demonstrated the amazing diversity of landscapes from “Ironstone” countryside near Banbury to the beech-wooded Chilterns and the open “Downland” near Wantage and Swindon.

Route 66 

Our walks now get a bit complicated. Before finding and setting off on another long route we thought we would try and fill in some of the gaps on the map so we invented our own walk which roughly followed the route of the then #66 bus from Oxford to Faringdon. Actually we started at Wheatley on 6 March 2015 over Shotover to Oxford and then onto Faringdon finishing there on 22 January 2018, missing a bit near Southmoor. It took that time because we fitted it in with other walks. In all it was 25.4 miles and we managed it in 4 stages (6.3 miles per walk). Pleasant views and easy to do in the winter months.

Cross-Cotswold Way

We had always fancied doing the Cotswold Way but P suggested following this route from Banbury to Bath as it appeared to be easier to access from our respective home bases. Our colleague A joined our group from Cirencester onwards. We did 85.1 miles of this route, missing North Cerney to Cirencester (winter: lack of light) and Sibford Gower to Chastleton because we had done that section during the Seven Shires Way. We arrived in Bath on 15 December 2017 after 12 walks (7.1 miles per walk). Great fish and chip dinner to celebrate the end of the walk.

Cotswold Way

Well as we are in Bath why not try to do the famous Cotswold Way back to Chipping Camden. We started on 9 April 2018 and reached Painswick (north of Stroud) on 11 November 2019. We have yet to complete this tougher walk – (one day). So far we have managed 8 walks and 54.6 miles (6.8 miles/ walk), for most of them we used trains to Bath, Yate and Stroud and then local buses or taxis. Further north access may prove more difficult. As I said “0ne day”.

Oxford Green Beltway

To walk near to our respective homes we also started the Oxford Green Beltway which as it says is a walk around Oxford starting at the Thornhill Park & Ride to the east of the city and moving in a clockwise direction. We set off on 14 January 2019 and got to Elsfield and then a walk into Marston on 26 October 2020. We have yet do the final section Elsfield to Thornhill P&R but so far the 8 walks have covered 54.6 miles (6.8 miles per walk).

Training walks

There were many times when it wasn’t possible to do one of the longer walks due to illness, work commitments, weather etc. so we undertook a range of shorter walks in our “Middle England” area. We term these “training walks” – training our bodies for more strenuous longer walks? The first one was a circular walk around Wytham Woods to the west of Oxford (8.9 miles) on 25 June 2010 but we didn’t really start to do them until 2015. There are too many to describe in detail but here is a summary.

2015 Four walks totalling 22.4 miles. 2016 Eleven walks totalling 65.5 miles. 2017 Five walks totalling 30.1 miles. 2018 Five walks totalling 28.8 miles. 2019 Three walks totalling 14.3 miles. 2021 Three walks totalling 18.3 miles. 2022 Three walks totalling 12.5 miles. 2023 Four walks totalling 18.4 miles. 2024 One walk of 3.9miles. 2025 Two walks of 10.8 miles (so far). This yields 234.6 miles.

Summary of 2008 to 2025 (so far)

So far Howbery Hikers have managed 1142.7 miles (1828km).

Ramblings about our rambles

Time to catch up 

It was in early 2023 that your reporter (T) reviewed the previous year’s “Middle England” rambles and since than we have been rather quiet. P and T did four short walks in 2023 (which are briefly reported on below) but our good friend P died in August 2024 which meant that the only walk we did that year was to celebrate and share our memories of him.

We met up at the Miller of Mansfield (SU5990 8078) in Goring-on-Thames on 28 October 2024 for a pub lunch and gentle walk to Pangbourne station through the Goring Gap a distance of 3.9 miles (6.3km) on a cool cloudy day. We have agreed that we will try and meet up for a walk every 3 to 4 months and recognising the fact that many of us are now living away from the Oxfordshire “Middle England” nexus of our previous walks we agreed to try walks in other parts of the country, depending upon ease of access, business and family commitments. 

By the way our use of the phrase “Middle England” was purely geographical, i.e. that we were walking areas in the middle of England. Internet searching seems to bring up sites offering alpaca walks!

 

Walks in 2023 

As said above, T and P did four short walks in 2023. On 23 March 2023 they did a circular walk from the Sonning Common base to Rotherfield Greys stopping for a drink in The Malsters Arms (SU7261 8237). The main memory of this 4.9 mile (7.9km) walk was that it was wet, very muddy and we had our packed lunch in the bus shelter opposite the pub. Give the pub its due they provided covers (like plastic bags) for muddy boots though it does make one feel like a complete “plonker” having a drink with a plastic bags on your feet!

The next walk on 31 May was a big contrast. It was sunny and hot on the circular walk from the start of the Ridgeway near Streatley (SU5673 8125) via St Mary’s church in Aldworth (SU5540 7938) to see the “Aldworth Giants” (grave tombs in the church of the De La Beche family which are meant to be life size. If so, then these chaps were all about 7 foot (2.13m) tall! After that a welcome drink or two at the famous Bell Inn in Aldworth (SU5558 7965) which is a firm favourite of ours and has been visited many times before. The round trip was 5.42 miles (8.7km) but T felt he had walked much further as he had had walked from Goring Station which added at least another 2.5 miles to his total!

Our third walk was another hot day, 13 July and involved a circular route of 4.2 miles (6.8km) from the Sonning Common base through the beech woods of Peppard Common and Rotherfield Peppard. Can’t remember much other that we sat on a bench on Rotherfield common for packed lunches and were back at the SC base in time for a much needed cuppa.

Our last walk of 2023 on 23 September was from Goring-on-Thames to Pangbourne making use of the train stations to get to and from the start/finish of this linear walk through the Goring Gap and above the river Thames as it cuts through the chalk hills of the Berkshire Downs and Chilterns. A bit damp and there was a touch of autumn in the air. This was the last Howbery Hikers walk that P did which we recognised 13 months later when, T, A, N, E and D retraced the walk.

 

Howbery Hikers – 2025 

Here we are half way through 2025 and T has finally got his act together to record the next steps that we have taken. Sticking to our agreement to widen our horizons and armed with the excellent publication from Cicerone “Walking in London: Park, Heath and Waterside” T, D and A agreed to meet at Hampton Wick Station (TQ1745 6975) on 10 March and do a circular walk through Bushey Park skirting Hampton Court Palace and then along the Long Water and back to Hampton Wick.

Spring was certainly in the air and while the trees in the deer park had yet to sprout leaves the spring bulbs were out with a great display. We found the café at the Pheasantry (TQ1566 6977) and had a snack lunch to share news of family and friends. Actually despite being a sunny spring day there was quite a chill wind and by the time we arrived back in Hampton Wick we were in need of a sit-down and some refreshment. We found a pub (The Swan) to quench our thirsts before heading back the station.

We returned home via various complicated train routes through south-west London’s suburbs; T and D back to Reading via a long wait at Twickenham and A back home via Twickenham and Clapham Junction. Overall, a very pleasant 4.7 miles (7.6km) on easy paths which made a change from hacking our way through overgrown footpaths and squelching through mud!

Our next walk was planned to be near Reading but accessible by train if possible to accommodate travel from further afield. T suggested a linear walk from Bramley station (SU6552 5944) to Mortimer station (SU 6722 6411) which could take in the site of Silchester (Roman Town “Calleva Atrebatum”. We agreed to meet on Reading Station before taking the half-hourly train to Bramley. Unfortunately N had to withdraw so that just left T, D and A. Due to GWR delays out of Paddington A just missed our planned train so we decided to rejig the walk and start from Mortimer station and head to Silchester and only if we had enough time to head on to Bramley. 

In the ampitheatre

It was very hot and it had just gone midday so the welcome shade afforded by hedgerow trees was put to good use. Amazingly we made good time and got to the site of the Silchester Amphitheatre (SU 6447 6260) in 75mins. A stop for water and cool off in the shade. There were several people around including school-age children and we were asked if we knew anything about the amphitheatre which was surprising as all that we knew was clearly stated on the information boards! Silchester Roman Town is quietly impressive apparently in the middle of nowhere but perhaps benefits from that isolation by not being “developed”. 

 

At Calleva

 

After a short stop we carried on and walked along the top of the walls that used to enclose the whole town. Apart from the walls there is nothing to see as all the excavations over the years have been covered over. The walls are well defined and clear to see even if much of the good building stone has been robbed out over the centuries, the core of flints and sarsen stones is still up 5 m high in places. The area has been excavated over the years by Reading University and often features in the TV programme “Digging for Britain” (BBC). We, (T, N, P and S) were last here in February 2012 as this was the southern-most extent of the “Roman Way” walk.

 

Roman walls

South gate

We took a few pictures near the South Gate (SU6390 6206) but were keen to get out of the sun and heat as soon as possible. The route to Bramley involved a bit too much tarmac walking which was not a pleasant experience during this third heat wave of the year. Luckily there was a bit more shady woodland as we skirted a big electricity sub-station near Bramley. There was quite an area of land to the west of Bramley that had been fenced off. We suspected it was for a large solar farm, being close to the National Grid sub-station was probably an advantage. Further research revealed information on this website https://ensoenergy.co.uk/projects/bramley-solar-farm/. 

We also noted that we were on the route of the Camino Ingles to Santiago! It links Reading Abbey in Berkshire, with the coastal port of Southampton in Hampshire before presumably heading off to northern Spain by ferry. Apparently walking this section qualifies one for Camino certification with the appropriate stamp in the Camino passport.

Camino sign post

 

As it worked out it had been a good idea to do the walk this way round because by 15:20 we had found the open Bramley Inn and were able to get in some rehydration before heading back to Reading on the next train from Bramley station. As it was we did the walk of 6.1 miles (9.8km) in three hours including a half hour break at Silchester, not bad in that heat. Where next? Back to London and possibly a circular walk into Epping Forest starting and finishing at Chingford station some time in October.