Much was talked in the metrological world of Hurricane Bertha and the possible impact the remnants of it would cause the United Kingdom in the week preceding today’s walk. Quite naturally, I was keeping a close eye on the forecast in the days leading up to this walk and hoping beyond hope that our walk would not be affected too much. Thankfully that proved to be the guess as the six of us that attended today had some persistent light rain to contend with in the morning but the weather otherwise held fine with the notable exception of a monsoon like showers shortly before our arrival at the pub.
We started the walk from Henley railway station, heading through the town, crossing the bridge and then picking up the Thames Path to the east of the town passing the Leander Rowing Club, the fourth oldest rowing club in the world. As we made progress, I noticed a plaque on the ground which marked the finish line to the London Olympic Rowing Regatta that took place along this stretch of the River Thames in 1908. Only moments later, someone else in the group spotted a similar plaque to mark the same event in 1948. We carried on for two miles or so until we reached Hambleden Lock. The rain had relented a little at this point, so some of us decided to remove some of our waterproof gear. Unfortunately, that was the signal for it to start raining again, although never that heavy.
We crossed the road at Mill End and headed towards Hambleden itself although we turned off before we arrived at the village up a short incline and through some woods which gave us some light relief from the precipitation that continued to fall on us so it seemed a good spot.
Lunch completed, which included us having a deep and meaningful conversation (!) on crisps and unusual flavour of crisps. We strolled on to the village of Fawley where we stopped to have a look at St Mary’s Church which dates pack to the 12th century and had a rather impressive stained glass window.
In the graveyard stood two rather impressive mausolea. There is the Freeman Mausoleum that dates back to 1750 and built by the then owner of Fawley Court, William Freeman. Fawley Court is a grade 1 listed country house which we saw earlier on the walk overlooking the west bank of the Thames and dates back to the 11th Century and the Doomsday book. There is a second mausolea at the graveyard which dates back to 1862 and is an equally impressive tomb.
We picked up the Oxfordshire Way shortly after leaving the church and headed to our next destination, the pub! However, our progress was halted by a sudden downpour of monsoon proportions that lead us taking emergency cover in the nearby trees. To add to the mix, we also heard a couple claps of thunder as well. Fortunately, the rain soon relented and stopped completely by the time we took our seats outside at the pub in Lower Assendon and in fact the sun came out to greet us.
Fully refreshed, we crossed the A4130 and picked up the footpath and short incline to Lambridge Hill where we spotted a few deer nosing about. The walk took us through woodland before coming out near Henley golf course. Navigated without any alarm, we made our way back to start point in Henley.