Walk 3: Beaconsfield Circular

Date: 23rd January 2011
Route: Beaconsfield Circular via Hodgemoor Woods, Chalfont St Giles, the river Misbourne, Jordans and Seer Green
Distance: 12.2 miles

So far you may have noticed me being quite positive about the Time Out Book of Country Walks. There are two volumes and they are pretty detailed in terms of directions - it is usually quite difficult to get lost.

Today was the exception.

I'm not sure how far we walked but I can tell you that it wasn't 12.2 miles - I'm guessing somewhere around the 13.5 mark, once all of the meandering around the woods was factored in. I know that there is a new version of the book due soon and I know I should have checked before we left the house, but I can't think of another walk where so many signposts have disappeared, paths have been diverted, fences and stiles have been replaced and landmarks have mysteriously evaporated since the last edition was published. If it wasn't for the combined help we got from another couple clutching the same book and the power of Google Maps we might still be wandering around Buckinghamshire (or more likely, have come home early and disgruntled).

All in all, the walk was pretty disappointing - some nondescript woods, lots of paths alongside fences, a golf course - nothing to write home about. There were a couple of interesting buildings en route - John Milton's House at Chalfont St Giles (where he wrote Paradise Lost) and some old Quaker buildings and churchyard at Jordans, but I'm not sure we would bother to do this one again. And if we fancy lunch at the Merlin's Cave in Chalfont St Giles, we can do the less complicated walk from Amersham in the Rough Guide book instead, preferably when the sun is shining so we can sit in the garden.

Walk 2: Cookham Circular

Date: 16th January 2011
Route: Cookham to Bisham Wood and Winter Hill then down and along the Thames
Distance: 8 miles-ish

This one is walk 24 in the Time Out Book of Country Walks, although we usually walk the short version, cutting out the trip to Bisham for lunch - this is not just because the Bisham diversion just seems to take you out of the way over a really busy road, it's also that The Bounty pub is a really good place to stop and eat - big menu, friendly attitude to walkers and dog owners, flags on the ceiling and loud rock music.

The woods were muddy but the lack of winter foliage meant that there were good views across to Marlow and the Thames. The path comes out on Winter Hill, near the home of Kenneth Grahame, writer of The Wind in the Willows, then it's a matter of walking down to the river and along it to the pub at Bourne End. True to form, we were treated to some full volume Lynyrd Skynyrd along with lunch - we'll definitely do this one again in the summer and sit outside by the river - I hadn't realised that it's not actually possible to drive to the pub but it's probably just as well, otherwise I'm sure the pub would be overrun.

The final bit of the walk is through the courtyard of Cookham Church, which is where the artist Stanley Spencer is buried (you also pass his house and the Stanley Spencer gallery at various points on the walk). I've just read that he referred to Cookham as "a village in Heaven" - not quite sure that it qualifies on a grey Sunday in January but it's definitely a lovely place (and I can understand why the Chartered Institute of Marketing base their headquarters there). This is also a very straightforward, not too taxing walk that I know we'll do again.

Walk 1: Hambleden Circular via Henley

Date: 9th January 2011
Route: Hambleden to Henley via the Great Wood, Fawley and the Oxfordshire Way, then back along the Thames and over Hambleden lock
Distance: 9.8 miles


Of all the walks we do, this is the one that we call "The Walk".
If ever we can't decide where to go, this is the walk that wins.

It's the very first walk in the Time Out Book Of Country Walks, Volume 1 - although rather than starting and finishing in Henley, we find it's better to park up on the road to Hamblden, because:
- there's a free car park (with a loo!)
- it means you get a choice of places to have lunch in Henley
- the only two steep uphill bits come really early in the walk, so you get them out of the way, then you have a nice leisurely (and flat) stroll back alongside the river

9th Jan was a perfect date for this - cold but with sunshine and a clear blue sky that was perfect for the red kites flying overhead, cold underfoot too (the mud on the floor of the wood was mainly frozen). The river was high but not so high as to have flooded the path, which was the usual mixture of walkers, families and rowing coaches on bicycles all the way down to Temple Island; the recent rain meant that the view of the swirling water below the narrow path over Hambleden Lock was even more hypnotic than usual.

First steps

So, of course, the first question is: why?
Why am I writing this blog?

Well, I'm not the world's most gung-ho rambler, I don't own a pair of gaiters and I'm not exactly a "stile guru" (it's a bit difficult to look stylish in Gore-tex, even if I do vehemently oppose the wearing of "hiking trousers"), but a few years ago a friend recommended the Time Out Book of Country Walks, and since then myself and Mr Davis have wandered up and down a variety of hillsides, mainly across the countryside within easy reach of West London. We've got marginally fitter, substantially muddier, eaten a variety of pub lunches and the occasional cream tea and seen some stunning countryside, wildlife, even the occasional historical building.

I've been posting a few photos and random comments from recent walks on Facebook over the past couple of weeks and been pleasantly surprised by the number of people who've been asking me about them, so I thought it might be a good idea to start a record of where we have been walking and when, just in case anyone fancies doing this themselves (or just likes to see what we have been up to)

Obviously there's some self-interest here too - if I can create something that we can refer back to it in the future, at the very least I'll avoid doing today's walk again and of course it means I don't have to remember the last time we walked the Wendover loop!

Also, as per usual, I have started January full of good intentions to get out and about and walking regularly over the course of the year - I'm hoping that by keeping a record of walks, it'll help me keep up some momentum (rather like giving up smoking and then not being able to smoke because you've told everyone you know that you've stopped). I know I won't walk every weekend - and I know I'm likely to slacken off when it starts getting hotter - but if when I do I post something here, that might just be another incentive to get my lazy slacker self into gear.