Exploring the UK countryside - Walk in Chiltern Hills AONB

This fall, on a surprisingly sunny day in the middle of rainy and cloudy days, me and a friend decided to go on a walk in the UK countryside. It didn't take a lot of planning, as we decided on a walk, downloaded the map, booked a train ticket from Paddington to and from the starting point, and we were set. Except the forecast changed on the last day and it was supposed to be rainy all day. Anyways we still went ahead with the plan and it was a good call. As the day turned out to be extremely warm and sunny - the perfect weather for any walk.

Route map

Our plan was to take a train to Didcot, walk around 16 kms mostly along the Thames in the Chiltern AONB, stop for lunch in the village of Dorchester-on-the-Thames and finish the walk at Cholsey, from where we would take the train back to Paddington. It mostly went as per plan except the walk turned out to be 25 kms long, and our legs had started paining by the end. But it was all worth it, for a day out on a sunny day.

We took the train to Didcot Parkway, and the fast train was about 35 mins or so. We started our walk around 1030 in the morning. The first part of the walk was mostly through the town. The town had a lot of construction going on at a few new developments. It felt like lot of people from London are moving there 😊.

First view of Thames

Then the walk took us through some farms, all of which had already harvested their crops and were empty. We walked over some hills and passed the Wittenham clumps. One hill there apparently has the remains of a Celtic fort on the top, or they say. As there is nothing there now. There was a school picnic going on when we reached there. So we wore our masks and avoided them as we kept walking. And while going down that hill, we got our first view of the Thames. The river wasn't very wide here, meandering lazily among the greens all around, but it did look very enchanting from up top. 

We then walked towards the Dorchester-on-the-Thames village which apparently has its own little history. It was a cute little village and we had lunch at the White Hart hotel. They had outside seating which was helpful given the pandemic. After a long and lazy lunch, we started walking again and kept walking all along the Thames for the next 4 hours till we got to Cholsey.

Most of the path was along the Thames, with some detours far away from it. There were lot of rowing clubs on the banks and students practicing rowing on the river. We passed by some fascinating bridges on the Thames. There were some quaint pubs and cafes on the river in the village of Wallingford. And they were full of people sitting and enjoying the sun outside. It would have been lovely to stop at one of these places and read a book while looking at the waters passing by, but we were trying to reach the end point before dark, so we kept walking on.

There were lot of newly constructed holiday homes all along the Thames. And all along, there were lot of boats moored on the sides, of the rich and famous. And trailer parks full of people who enjoy life on the water. We walked through the Benson lock and saw some boats making their way through the locks which is always fascinating to watch. 

Bridge on the Thames

It was almost a continuous walking path all the way, covered with trees and mostly in the woods. And we saw some early autumn colours at one place. The sky was deep blue and the clouds added to the beauty of the sun. It was a nice sunny walk all day, and got warm during the day too. And there were benches all along to stop and rest, while enjoying the sun. 

Early fall colours

There were lot of people on the walk and most of them were walking their dogs 😊. Tons of people were sitting and fishing on the sides. People were generally more talkative and friendly here. An old man was going for his walk and stopped and talked to us for a bit. It finaly turned out to be a long 25 kms walk, over 5.5 hours. And we loved the whole experience.

At Cholsey Marsh, we turned right and walked towards the town, away from the river. Cholsey felt larger than the previous towns and less cute too. We walked into one pub and they had no food. Then we somehow made it to the next one, the Red Lion which was better and had a dinner menu too! It was cute and had tasty food thankfully. We had a heavy burger dinner and some hot chocolate. They didnt know how to make good chocolate though, clearly no one walks into this pub asking for hot chocolate!!

There were trains coming back to London every hour which was convenient. We got late coming back to London and took the 840 one. The station was empty by then. And the trains were all running empty. It did make me wonder why does the government waste so much money running empty trains?

Anyways I loved this day out in the countryside, and look forward to doing a few more during this lockdown period.