Henley Circular via Rotherfield Greys Walk

Henley, a valley to Rotherfield Greys, undulating woodland, the Thames and a weir crossing at Marsh Lock

Length	9.5 miles / 15 km.
Toughness	2 / 10 Total ascent 158m
Features	This walk covers the same general area as the Shiplake to Henley walk, but going in the opposite direction and with differences in the route. An undemanding walk of pleasant valleys and woodland.
Options	The walk can be reduced to 8 miles / 13 km by ending in Shiplake
Travel	Trains from Paddington take around 1 hour, changing at Twyford. Get to Henley by 1100.
Lunch	Unless you are running late, you come to The Maltsters Arms too early for lunch, but that means you get to go to The Bottle & Glass (5.5 miles/ 9km) with its plentiful outdoor seating. For a picnic, you will need to stop in the woods before the pub if you want a drink afterwards.
Tea	The Anchor Pub (to the left in Friday Street), The Chocolate Cafe tea rooms, The Angel on the Bridge, plus multiple choices in the town
Notes	DIVERSION! The bridge at Marsh Lock is closed, and the Thames Path has a new, longer diversion, which is not currently in the gpx, but is a signposted left turn by 'Little Spinneys' in paragraph 19 below.

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By Train	Out (not a train station) Back (not a train station)
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Help	🚧 🌤 🌧 UK SE Start walking Using GPS data Large print National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Traveline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234
Version	Nov-24 PeteG
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Walk Directions

The directions for this walk are also in a PDF (link above) which you can download on to a Kindle, tablet, or smartphone.

Turn right out of the station and go down the access road to the junction. Turn left up Station Road away from the river. At the traffic lights, cross the road to carry-on up Norman Avenue in the same direction.
At the top, turn right. Keep on to the main road, passing a church on your left Turn left to cross a road and then turn left following a footpath sign ahead. Go up a broad track, with a green fence on the right. The path narrows and you keep on until you come to Deanfield Road.
Carry on in the same direction ignoring right turns until Tilebarn Close where you turn right, heading for a footpath sign at the end. Here, turn left taking the right hand enclosed footpath with a fence on the left and trees on the right, eventually coming to a path junction.
Cross the path and then vere right onto a path through the valley with a wire wire fence and sloping field to your right.
You reach a stile to cross and keep ahead through a wooded area towards another stile. Cross and carry on in the same direction along a bridleway eventually crossing a track and going through a gap into a large field.
At the end of the field where the track turns left, take the signposted path to the right to cross a stile into a field. Carry along the left hand side to soon reach a stile in the hedge on the left. Cross the style and follow the obvious path, which soon bends left to go uphill towards some woods. Pause near the top for views in all directions. Pass through a gap and carry on heading for the bus shelter whose roof you can see in the distance, with the Maltsters Arms off to the right.
Go through the kissing gate to a road. Cross the road and head for the pub. If not stopping, turn left at the end of the church wall in front of a house. Follow the enclosed path, to go through a gate. Veer right to go through a gate ahead onto an enclosed path.
Go through a metal kissing gate and veer right across the next field, to reach a kissing gate and to turn left down a bridleway, The Chiltern Way (CW).
After 350 metres, take a track to the right and shortly a signed footpath left into the woods. Follow the path rightwards down through wood, ignoring ways off. Then curving left to follow the right hand edge of the wood to eventually exit into a field.
Carry on in the same direction, with a fence on your left. Enter the next wood where you are free to explore. Follow the broad path in roughly the same direction.
At a T-junction at the end of the wood turn left steeply uphill, coming out onto an enclosed path.
Keep ahead passing through 2 kissing gates. Eventually, at a T-junction, turn right to rejoin the CW, which is now tarmac.
At a road junction with a small triangular green, turn left, following CW signs. After 70 metres there are two footpath signs in the hedge on the right.
At the second signpost to Binfield Heath, turn right into a wood, uphill. As the path levels off, there is a white house to the left. Cross a driveway to carry straight on along an enclosed path.
Where the path turns left, follow it, ignoring a narrow path to the right. Go down through the wood, and then back up again following arrows.
You are now near to the Bottle & Glass, and if planning a picnic & then a drink, these woods are the last place to do so. Exit the wood at a T-junction and turn right on a path between fields, to eventually reach the Bottle & Glass, the recommended lunch stop.
Coming out of the pub, turn left and at the road, turn left onto the road for 500 metres. As you leave Binfield Heath, turn right with a bridleway sign by a double gate. Follow a broad path through the woods (the bluebell woods from the alternative Shiplake to Henley route), keeping left and ignoring right turns.
Join a track from the left by a driveway, to carry straight on. Ignore two paths to the left. The track becomes tarmac.
Turn left by Little Spinneys along an enclosed path to follow the signposted Thame Path diversion into Henley at Marsh Lock. For Shiplake, continue below.
(Ignore the paths by Little Spinneys. You eventually get to a road which you cross to continue onwards down a broad track, signposted lower Shiplake. Come to the A4115 and cross with care.)
To end in Shiplake take the enclosed footpath to the right, to reach Northfield Ave and carry on in the same direction. At the end, turn left onto Station Road, passing The Baskerville just before the station.
For the main walk, continue onwards down a dirt track,Bolney Lane, passing polo field on the left. Cross the railway and at a T-junction turn left onto an access road, The Thames Path.
At the end of the road, take an enclosed path to the left of driveway gates. Continue in the same direction to come to a wooden bridge and cross into a large field. At the end of the long field go through the gap into the next field. At the end of the field, join an enclosed path to cross Marsh lock.
At the end of the walkway, turn right. Walk along the Thames past Marsh & Mill meadows.
Near the end of the meadows, just past the obelisk, you have a choice.
To go straight to the station, turn left down a path, passing a playground on your right. Fork right, cross the road & turn left past regatta villas.
For refreshments, carry straight on along the river bank, where you reach a road at a bend. The Angel is by the bridge ahead, with the Anchor and Chocolate Cafe on the left ahead. Afterwards, go back down this road, following it as it bends right to reach the station.