Wednesday, November 19, 2008

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Rambling - November 2008 Report

This was our annual Remembrance Day ramble. The weather forecast was not good and there had been a downpour at about 1 pm as many of us began to prepare for the 1:30 start. However, in spite of the outlook, there were 13 ramblers and we did start in the dry!

The route was familiar and given the constraints, there is little opportunity for deviation. We headed to Upton via the turning at Shovel Spring, walked through Upton and crossed The London Road (A417) to reach Chilton Road. The Chilton Road crosses the A4185 and leads on to a byway that crosses Hagbourne Hill. There was a great deal of blustery wind and this resulted in very clear views, which were especially good looking to the north.

The byway crosses the A34 (on a stock bridge) and soon crosses another byway that we followed north to reach the outskirts of Harwell at the A417. We walked a very short distance east along the A417 to pick up another footpath that we have never used. This footpath skirts the eastern edge of Harwell and leads directly to our destination – the cemetery at Harwell with its beautifully maintained war graves. We paid our respects.

Unfortunately, as we reached the cemetery the long-forecast rain started in earnest which cut short our visit. We continued heading north on a footpath, still at the eastern edge of Harwell, to reach the Didcot Road which took us back over the A34 (on a proper road bridge) and to a footpath known as The Driftway. This parallels the A34 for a bit (very noisy!) and then turns south-east to West Hagbourne. Once in the village, we headed straight for School Path and our final (soaking-wet) mile to Upper Cross.

A little over seven miles in a little over 2½ hours. Even finishing just after 4 pm it was already very dark – of course the clouds and rain didn’t help! Won’t you join us for the last Village Ramble of the year?

Next Ramble
Sunday, December 14th
1:30 p.m.
Phone John Jones: 813326
Meet at the East Hagbourne Upper Cross

P.S. Keep a lookout for our New Year’s Day ramble: Short, sweet and starts at Upper Cross at 1 pm.