Twyford Circular

9 August. This approximately 8 mile flat walk was a new one for the group and 13 walkers joined the leaders mostly arriving via the Elizabeth Line. Twyford appears to be a rather sleepy town but the station can be busy here, where there is a connection to nearby Henley. Henley Regatta was well past but when the alternative outbound Great Western train from London arrived, we were amazed at the crowd of people who alighted to make the connection. Clearly something going down and, in fact, it was the Henley Festival – an annual week-long festival starting on that very Saturday.

Our group set out across the local recreation ground and then safely negotiated a rather hazardous stretch of road with some blind bends and no pavement. Some drivers seem to regard it as a race track. Thereafter we passed the church in Ruscombe and soon were heading across fields and through a small patch of woodland to the village of Hurst. Here at the village pond we stopped to admire the knitted characters on the theme of the seaside placed on the posts surrounding it.

For lunch picnickers found places in the church yard of St Nicholas and some people visited it. The building is mostly Victorian, though there has been a church here since the 11^th century, and the tower dates from 1612. There are also some Norman, 13^th and 14^th century features remaining according to David Nash Ford’s Royal Berkshire History website.

Lunch for some was in the Castle Inn opposite. This pub has been a hostelry since the 16^th century and still has some features from that time.

Setting out in the afternoon, having passed the 17^th century almshouses adjacent to the church and crossed farmland, including a field of sheep, we came to Dinton Pastures Country Park via the Activity Centre. Here many people were enjoying different water sports on Black Swan Lake. This country park, which was previously farm land, opened in 1979 after 14 years of gravel extraction that has formed several lakes. We followed the path skirting the lake, then headed north past Sandford Lake and then on the footpath beside the Loddon, a river that arises in Basingstoke and flows through Hampshire and Berkshire to empty into the Thames at Wargrave.

Arriving at the delightfully named Whistley Bridge we saw Causeway Lake glinting in the sunshine and we continued along the footpath past yet another lake reserved for fishing until arriving back in Twyford at the Loddon Nature Reserve. From here a walk through the town centre took us to the station.

Linda and Chris. With thanks to all who came and to Christine for additional photos.