There were just 2 walkers at Newbury Station that alighted from the 10:36 from Paddington. The weather in the morning was wet and windy . The paths over Greenham common were good but became very muddy (though not of the glooping kind) once we entered open country. Lunch at the Travellers Rest wasn't good; the vegetables were over cooked. The rain cleared after lunch and good progress was made until Midgham where the path around the gravel pit was flooded. Reached Midgham for a drink in the Rowbarge and the 18:03 train.

Whilst contemplating which walk to do, I discovered the train to Newbury has changed slightly and is now Reading 1006 arr Newbury Racecourse 1023. Incidentally, you get the 0848 Reading train from Ealing Broadway.

I haven't checked the return train times.

Thanks Pete. Post amended. Rtn train times unch.

Reading Station has it going at 1012....

There was a choice of Newbury Racecourse trains at Reading. The 10.06, taken by 8 of us, turned out to be a race day special that “non-stopped” (in railway guard lingo) all the way to its destination. One walker, we later discovered, got the slower 10.12, presumably the normal scheduled service: he caught up with us at lunch. Two more also appeared at the same time, having got a train an hour earlier so as to enjoy a more leisurely pace. So we were 11 happy campers in all.

Having encountered some of the sporting fraternity on the train out, we encountered more late morning: a dozen gentlemen with firearms standing apart from each other in a field with their backs to us. We walked quietly across the field behind them, happily escaping before the birds arrived.

Otherwise this was an uneventful and fairly flat walk on a cloudy day. The cloud did break at the end, but only in time for a muted sunset. The scenery was pleasant without being particularly memorable, the stark missile silos on Greenham Common excepted.

Lunch was at the Travellers Whatsit, a hearty meal which our over-indulged post-Christmas stomachs struggled to absorb. Tea at the Rowbarge consisted of vast pots of tea that could not quite be finished in the rush for the 4.19 train. This turned out to be packed with racegoers and a noisy contingent of what appeared to be football fans. The fast train from Reading to Paddington was similarly full, but mercifully quieter.

Memories of the 1983 CND demo, that formed a human chain for 14 miles between the Greenham Common Peace Camp (cruise missiles) and Aldermaston (nuclear weapons research).

11 plus one dog on this walk, on a fairly sunny day. Interesting to see the former Greenham Common Airbase, so notorious in the 1980s, now returned to nature. Otherwise a gentle walk over fields: pleasant if unexceptional.

We were the only customers at the pub, which produced passable food quickly and was reasonably friendly. The Rowbarge was cosy for tea.

Excitement rose at the end of the walk because the sky was still clear and a big nearly full moon rose confidently over a lake. This inspired all but one to do the extension to Aldermaston - a record number for an SWC moonlight walk. It was a less straightforward than expected walk along the canal, where we got lost at one point, but an entrancing expedition nevertheless. Five or six of us went to the Aldermaston pub before an 8pm train home.