Walks you can reach from Aldermaston by train

Flat Thames towpath, riverside parks, wooded sections, pasture fields, meadows and riverside gardens.

Waterway: four fifths along the River Thames.

Time: 4h–8h

Warnings: Flood risk sections.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Similar walk: Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Flat Thames Path riverside countryside, the Horseshoe Bridge and the historic Bull Inn at Sonning (of Three Men in a Boat).

The River Thames: England's best-known river, whose towpath (the Thames Path National Trail) carries long stretches of nearly every walk in this set.

Time: 2h30

Warnings: Shared with cyclists between Reading and Sonning; walkers only beyond.

Walk details: Reading to Basingstoke Community Rail Partnership (turn-by-turn directions).

Gentle climbs, heathland common, woodland, river meadows and canal.

Time: 5h30

Warnings: Swing bridge delays.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Great views back over the Goring Gap. A long, varied country route through fields, woodland and along a canal, with few road sections and those mostly quiet country lanes. Crosses the undulating North Wessex Downs, with a couple of hills; the steepest is Streatley Hill near Goring. Mostly easy underfoot in dry weather and though some sections can be tricky in winter and a few paths have brambles to push through. Crosses the North Wessex Downs AONB; passes close to a shooting range at Growcroft Copse where dogs should be kept on leads. Can be broken at Yattendon, roughly two-thirds of the way along.

Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.

Time: 7h–14h

Lunch: There are also a convenience store at Yattendon and two pubs at Cold Ash, roughly a third of the way along.

Warnings: Cattle are present in fields along the route, including a field west of the Pot Kiln at Frilsham, where some walkers have been approached by a frisky herd; alternative footpaths can avoid this field.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Residential streets and a short lane out of Goring join the Thames Path to Whitchurch, a wooded stretch with steep inclines and steps. Then quiet lanes, gravel and metalled tracks and concrete farm paths north of the Thames through Mapledurham and with steep hills on the north side. The final water-meadow section near Goring can get muddy and flood in winter. Follows the Thames Path National Trail as far as Whitchurch, then lanes and footpaths north of the river. The route passes the Mapledurham and Hardwick estates with their horses and organic farm. The walk can be shortened by dropping into Pangbourne at Whitchurch.

Time: 4h–8h

1 lunch spot: the Greyhound Inn

End-of-walk reward: Caversham's Church Street, near the end, has plenty of amenities.

Warnings: Some residential roads have no pavement, though good verge paths exist on each side. The Hartslock woods section has steep inclines and steps. The water meadows can get muddy and sometimes flood in winter.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A largely riverside route following the River Kennet and then the Thames Path for a long stretch and with open fields and shaded paths. A narrow path past Sonning Lock with barbed-wire fences can become muddy in wet weather; the approach to Twyford is on a metalled road and through a country park. Follows the Thames Path and the Oscar Wilde Memorial Walk past the walls of Reading Gaol; passes Reading Abbey ruins and Abbey Gardens. A detour through Charvil Country Park gives respite from the main road.

Waterway: two thirds along the River Thames.

Reading Abbey: the ruins of a major medieval abbey founded by Henry I, beside the former Reading Gaol where Oscar Wilde was imprisoned.

Time: 3h–5h30

Lunch: Refreshments available at Sonning, roughly midway.

Warnings: An unavoidable stretch of the A3032 Old Bath Road has a narrow pavement near Twyford, and there is an annoying crossing of the A4.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A pleasant, flat and very direct walk almost entirely along the Kennet & Avon Canal towpath, with very few road crossings. Surface is mainly paved or gravelled and suitable for wheels and with a couple of mile-long grassy stretches that get muddy after rain and narrow in places when vegetation grows. Also follows National Cycle Network Route 4. Kintbury makes a convenient break, with public toilets by the canal, pubs, a shop and rail and bus links. Several benches near the bridges and locks.

Waterway: almost all along the Kennet and Avon Canal.

Time: 3h30–7h30

Lunch: Various shops and pubs at Kintbury, the natural break point.

Warnings: Two mile-long grassy stretches get muddy and slippery after rain and in winter, and the path narrows where vegetation grows.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Gentle farmland, Roman earthworks, pine woods, commons, river weirs and short canalside towpath.

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Source: A shorter variant of Mortimer to Aldermaston – the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Gentle farmland, Roman earthworks, pine woods, commons, river weirs and canalside towpath.

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Source: A longer variant of Mortimer to Aldermaston – the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Gentle climbs, heathland common, woodland, river meadows and canal.

Source: A longer variant of Newbury Racecourse to Woolhampton – the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).