Walks you can reach from Hungerford by train

Recommended

Time: 4h30–9h

1 lunch spot: the Crown & Garter (3h30–6h30 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).

Pretty villages of Little Bedwyn and Chisbury, farmland with expansive views, and the Kennet & Avon Canal.

The Kennet & Avon Canal: A historic canal with a towpath running past Great Bedwyn and the Crofton pumping station.

Warnings: Some steep steps over the canal and railway at Little Bedwyn, avoidable via a road alternative.

Walk details: Visit Pewsey Vale (photos).

Chalk downland, the Pewsey White Horse hill figure, the River Avon and a quiet village, with spectacular views.

Pewsey White Horse: A 20th-century chalk hill figure cut into the downs above Pewsey.

Walk details: Visit Pewsey Vale (photos).

Somerset Levels fringes, hillock, quiet residential streets, charming market town, dry green valley, ancient holloway, pastures, shallow river valley, hillfort plateau, steep ascents, large WWII airfield remains and broad plateau with views.

Time: 7h

Warnings: Steep ascents and descents.

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

Quiet woods and pastures, long open ridge with panoramic views, forest walk and canalside village.

Time: 6h30

Warnings: Can be muddy.

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

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).

Chalk downland, Iron Age hillforts, five hills, Salisbury Plain military range, abandoned village and sweeping views over Wiltshire and Somerset.

Time: 7h

Warnings: MOD closures apply.

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

Magnificent views. Canal towpath and with moderate climbs. Part of the Mid Wiltshire Way.

Time: 5h–10h30

Walk details: Railwalks.

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.