Walks in Berkshire by train
MapA day hike in the countryside is just a simple train journey away — explore the most charmingly located railway stations in Berkshire and plan your next day of green.
Windsor Circular via Windsor Great Park
30 minutes from Reading, with one change.
Beginner-friendly: A gigantic well-signposted park. It’s completely fine to deviate from the suggested route — explore as you like! The lunch stop is a simple café, so no messing around with booking a table in advance.
Windsor Castle (15m in)
Windsor (4h30 in)
Time: 6h30 (5h walking, 1h30 lunch)
3 lunch spots: Windsor Great Park (2h30 in) — the King And Castle, or Savill Garden Visitor Centre Cafe; plus Water Lilies at Windsor Great Park (2h45 in)
3 end-of-walk rewards: the Two Brewers Pub, the Prince Harry, or the Royal Windsor
Source: Trains2Green.
Mortimer to Bramley
15 minutes direct from Reading.
Highly recommended: Little known but quietly wonderful. Beautiful rather than spectacular, in a humble English village pathways sort of manner. Mostly secluded.
Remnants of Calleva Atrebatum: includes ruins ofthe original walls, and a large amphitheatre where gladiatorial combats entertained up to 7,000 people at a time (1h15 in).
St Mary the Virgin Church: on the site of a Roman temple (2h15 in).
Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)
1 lunch spot: the Calleva Arms (1h45 in; excellent)
1 end-of-walk reward: the Bramley Inn
Adapted from: The Rough Guide to Walks in London & the South East (3rd edition).
Similar walk: Reading to Basingstoke Community Rail Partnership.
Pangbourne to Goring & Streatley
15 minutes direct from Reading.
Highly recommended: Woods, hilly, river and quaint village.
Woodland: a third under tree cover.
Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)
3 lunch spots: Streatley (2h in) — Pierreponts, or the Swan at Streatley and the Coppa Club; plus the Bull (2h in)
2 end-of-walk rewards: the Miller of Mansfield, or the Catherine Wheel
Warnings: Relatively busy.
Source: Trains2Green.
Kintbury Circular via Combe Gibbet
30 minutes from Reading, with one change.
Recommended
Time: 6h (4h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)
1 lunch spot: the Crown & Garter (3h15 in; close to end of walk)
2 end-of-walk rewards: the Blue Ball, or the Dundas Arms
Adapted from: The Rough Guide to Walks in London & the South East (3rd edition).
Reading to Henley-on-Thames
2 minutes direct from Reading.
Flat Thames towpath, riverside parks, wooded sections, pasture fields, meadows and riverside gardens.
Waterway: four fifths along the River Thames.
Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)
Warnings: Flood risk sections.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Maidenhead to Marlow
15 minutes direct from Reading.
Thames riverside path, wooded escarpment views, short steep hill and pretty 18th-century town.
Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)
Warnings: Riverside can flood.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Crowthorne to Blackwater
15 minutes direct from Reading.
Pine woods, heathland, lakes and flooded gravel pits, riverside meadows and green belt nature reserves.
Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)
Warnings: Flood risk in places.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Cholsey to Goring & Streatley
15 minutes direct from Reading.
Thames riverside path, gently rolling Oxfordshire countryside, open fields and attractive villages.
Time: 6h30 (5h walking, 1h30 lunch)
Warnings: Long, exposed walk.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Mortimer to Aldermaston
15 minutes direct from Reading.
Gentle farmland, clear stream, Roman earthworks and walls, Scots pine woods, gorse and birch commons and river weirs.
Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)
Warnings: Can be muddy.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Didcot Parkway Circular via Wittenham Clumps
15 minutes direct from Reading.
Thames Valley farmland, riverside paths, attractive villages, Iron Age hill forts and a nature reserve.
Time: 7h (5h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Wargrave Circular via Rebecca's Well
15 minutes from Reading, with one change.
Undulating, stile-free woods and fields on the Chiltern Way, past a listed Victorian wellhead and a walled-garden viewpoint.
Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.
Rebecca's Well: a grade II listed Victorian wellhead depicting Rebecca at the well of Nahor, embellished by a 19th-century curate of Wargrave.
Time: 3h30 (2h walking, 1h30 lunch)
Warnings: Tree roots can be a trip hazard in the woods.
Walk details: Round Reading Walk.
Cookham Circular via Cliveden
30 minutes from Reading, with one change.
Level riverside paths on the Green Way, Widbrook Common, a view of Cliveden and Stanley Spencer's village of Cookham.
Maidenhead and Cookham Commons (National Trust)
Cliveden: a National Trust estate of wooded slopes and gardens rising above the Thames, famous as the setting of the Profumo affair.
Stanley Spencer Gallery: a gallery in Cookham village devoted to the artist Stanley Spencer, who lived and painted here.
Time: 3h30 (2h walking, 1h30 lunch)
Lunch: A shop and cafe near the station; the Crown pub in Cookham village.
Walk details: Round Reading Walk.