Pete's Walks- Goring, Hartslock, Cray's Pond (page 1 of 3)
If you are considering walking this route yourself, please see my disclaimer. You may also like to see these notes about the maps and GPX files.
I did this circular walk of about 8.3 miles on Sunday, 29th May 2016 - it was a repeat of a walk I did in May 2015, and again was designed to include a trip to see the orchids at the Hartslock nature reserve.
I parked at the far end of Manor Road, where it deteriorates into a very rough and uneven track (Grid Reference: SU 801602) and started walking at about 11.45am. I followed the track that was the continuation of Manor Road, and soon saw what I think was my first Goat's-beard of the year. After a few hundred yards the track turned left, then after a short distance it turned right beside a railway embankment. After another hundred yards or so it turned left again, to go under a railway bridge and continue on to Gatehampton Manor. Here a sign on a wall indicated where the path turned left along a surfaced drive.
The track continuing from the end of Manor Road, Goring, to Gatehampton Manor
The track continuing from the end of Manor Road, Goring, to Gatehampton Manor
The track approaching Gatehampton Manor
At the end of the drive I turned right along a bridleway, soon passing Kingfisher Cottage on my right. A little further on I passed a path junction, where the riverside path from Goring came in on my right (that's actually a nicer path to reach this point, I only came the way I did today because it saved me from having to pay to park in the centre of Goring and because it made a change from following the riverside path). The bridleway carried on between fences and hedges, with the Thames somewhere over to my right and steep hills rising to my left. When I reached the edge of a wood, I took a footpath going left. This rose steeply up a scrub-covered hillside, close to a fence on my right. I passed a bench at the top of the climb, where there was a fine view back towards Goring, and continued beside the fence until I reached a pedestrian gate. Here I took a break from the walk, to explore the Hartslock nature reserve. Unfortunately the Lady Orchids had been grazed by deer or rabbits this year, but I saw the Monkey Orchid and Lady/Monkey hybrid orchids that I wanted to see, plus some White Helleborines (another orchid)
The bridleway passing Gatehampton Manor
The bridleway from Gatehampton Manor
Looking right, across the Thames, from the bridleway from Gatehampton Manor
The bridleway from Gatehampton Manor
The path climbing up to the Hartslock Nature Reserve
Looking west, back towards Goring
I then resumed the walk. The path continued a short way downhill to a farm gate, where I turned right on what the OS map marks as an 'other route with public access'. This proved to be a narrow path, heading eastwards and gradually rising uphill. Initially there was a large meadow on the right, then woodland. At the top of the hill there was a field of oil-seed rape on my right (last year it was here that I spotted my first Goat's-beard of the year). I continued straight on at a path junction, to reach the end of a lane.
The path (an 'other route with public access' according to the OS map) going east from near the reserve
The path going east from near the reserve
The path going east from near the reserve
The path going east from near the reserve
The path going east from near the reserve
I continued down the lane, passing Cockpit Plantation on my left after a few hundred yards. I then passed a cottage on the left. A little further on I turned left onto a bridleway, starting opposite the drive to Coombe End Farm over to my right.
The lane, passing Cockpit Plantation on the left
Just before I turned off the lane