My "Famous Five" Experience- A Hike in the Chilterns

I don’t know why, but the meals we have on picnics always taste so much nicer than the ones we have indoors.” – Five Go Off in a Caravan

What do the Famous Five stories remind you of? The mysterious Kirrin Island? Wailing banshees? Strange flashing lights at the dead of the night? A galloping horse without a rider? It's all got to do with the beautiful, imaginary world we create around ourselves and the thoughts about the unfolding stories that linger on in our minds even long after we've stopped reading the book.

These stories also remind us about other things... a mad friendly dog, picnics to the countryside, the woods, puddles of fresh, cool water, gulping down sandwiches, ginger beer, checkered picnic mats, scones, light breeze and  a bunch of friends. I always thought these things only existed in Enid Blyton books... until my first hike to the English countryside in the Chilterns.

Anant, as usual, is always up for hiking. So we decided to take the first train out of London to the beautiful town of Henley upon Thames. This town is famous for its boat races and kayaking competitions. The short 45 minute train journey from Paddington lead us into the small station of Henley. The weather didn't look very promising and as suspected, it started drizzling. Being hiking fanatics, we decided to go ahead with our plan. After all, we had a picnic lunch to look forward to!

The walk through the city is a beautiful one. Well laid gardens, quaint pubs, old buildings, huge mansions, and the majestic swans swimming in the Thames are a sight to behold! The town also plays host to the The Henley Royal Regatta, a prestigious rowing event that attracts rowers from all over the world.

A sign posted "Oxfordshire Way" led us into a small path at the corner of a large field. For the next few hours, we hiked up and down, passed woodlands, farmlands, largely gentle slopes and flocks of sheep chewing cud. We also passed a number of kissing gates at the end or beginning of farms, and I still wonder what it has got to do with kissing! The Henley via Stonor Circular Walk, as it is called, is about 22 km in distance and could be shortened at Middle Assendon to 14 km. As the drizzling stopped and gave way to a clearer sky, we decided to go ahead with the entire hike.

We reached Middle Ascendon just in time for lunch but decided to have our picnic at the edge of the woodlands on a hill a few kilometres ahead. Our lunch consisted of sandwiches, juice and crisps and I got the feeling of being one of the Famous Five children! Post lunch, we walked through a cool wooded part and the clearing opened into a hillside with a fine view of the Stonor Valley. We walked past the town, which had cobbled streets, and flowers blooming all around. After passing more field gates and making our way through clumps of thorny bushes, we continued to walk towards Pishill on our way to the village of Stonor.

Sometimes we had to walk by the side of the road and that made me feel slightly bored because it wasn't as fun as walking through barns and grasslands. After a while, we crossed the Stonor House, a county house set in the wooded folds of the Chilterns, owned by the Stonor family for the last 850 years. It has a museum and an amphitheatre. We waved to a group of cyclists passing by and continued to walk up the road. After a few more kilometres we passed Crown Inn, a popular pub at Pishill and made our way up a narrow path, between the holly bushes. After walking a few 100 metres, you pass an eerie looking church of St James, abandoned back in 1875. The numerable graves scattered all around the church with moss and overgrown weeds everywhere gave the place a haunting feel. We chose not to spend too much time here and instead tried to peep inside the Vicar's old house right next to the church.

We made our way along a few more woods, farms and valleys just to realise that we had gotten lost! We tried retracing our steps and looked for the nearest highway on the GPS, which had a surprisingly good signal. We finally found our way to the path that we had to take and continued walking the last few miles of our hike. By this time, our food, water and snacks had all finished and we were beginning to feel thirsty. We had to trick our tummies by eating chewing gum! We finally entered the last set of thick woods, a private property called the Lambridge Woods. The path is slightly tricky here because the arrows are marked on the trees and you may miss them. Also, it has just rained and the entire trail was muddy. We met a bunch of friendly kids who had come for a picnic there and a little dog who was happily playing in mud, much to his owner's dislike!

We completed our last bit of walk after crossing a stile at the end of the woods and emerging onto a golf course. The end of the golf course lead us to a huge mansion with high walls and wire fencing around it. We found out that it was a former mansion of Beatle, George Harrison. We walked down a narrow lane behind the house and a few minutes later were back onto the streets of Henley!

The bustling town centre was overflowing with tourists as well locals, most of them waiting to get a table in one of the many restaurants there. After large gulps of water, another round of sandwiches, and a nine hour hike, we rushed to catch the train back to London. The Henley via Stonor Circular Walk was definitely worth all the planning and excitement. It is a must do hike for those looking to experience the English countryside, it's rolling hills, landscapes, friendly people, and most importantly, to feel like a child again!

Love,
Kshipra