Easwal one

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East Ilsley to Wallingford (Easwal 1) review.

A marvellous walk across the northeastern corner of the North Wessex Downs AONB. It incorporates part of the Agatha
Christie Trail, Berkshire Downs farmland, and The Ridgeway.

Note: I walked Wallingford to East Ilsley.

Wallingford is an attractive town with plenty of amenities. The Slow Way briefly leaves the main road to visit the Thames path. There is a plaque on the Winterbrook road (Photo 1) with information on the Agatha Christie Trail. Winterbrook House with a blue plaque is just before the turning onto Winterbrook Lane.

There was a short detour from the footpath out of town around the excavation of a Bronze Age site (as of March 2024). The A4130 is a busy road to cross, but has decent visibility (Photo 2). The route into Cholsey follows the Cholsey & Wallingford heritage railway (Photo 3).

The Slow Way bypasses Cholsey via St. Mary’s Church, with Agatha Christie’s grave. The path onwards was flooded enough for me to choose to detour into Cholsey. An information plaque told me the town was founded within marshland.

The walk to Aston Tirrold was along farmland lanes (Photo 4). Again, I had to make a small detour near the village to avoid floodwater. There is a break point at The Chequers.

The Slow Way escaped the muddy low ground for a gradual ascent south up onto The Ridgeway (Photos 5 & 6). The route passed gallops, and descended to join a lane into East Ilsley.

Overall, this Slow Way was a straightforward route with a variety of landscapes to enjoy. Be aware the footpaths at the northern end can get muddy.

A lovely route which starts by heading up the Berkshire Downs to join the Ridgeway (Photo 1). The views are super and continue for several kilometres before the descent to Aston Tirrold (Photo 2). The second section is flatter but largely open alongside fields (Photo 3). Skirting round the village of Cholsey, it also passes through the churchyard (Photo 4) where Agatha Christie is buried (directions to her grave at the main gate) and follows part of the Agatha Christie trail to Winterbrook where she lived. Finally, it uses a small section alongside the Thames (Photo 5) before heading to the centre of Wallingford.

The route was easy to follow (I ignored the two small glitches around kms 9 and 13). It is largely off-road on byways, bridleways and footpaths with only a small section of road (no pavement) into Aston Tirrold. The paths are rutted/uneven in places. Between Aston Tirrold and Wallingford there is a variety of gates, kissing gates, narrow bridges over streams and one stile. There are also two main road crossings to take care on – particularly the first one at the A417 as it is on the brow of a hill.

Wallingford is delightful, has good facilities and plenty of shops, cafes, pubs, etc. If you are walking in the opposite direction then East Ilsley is much smaller and only has a couple of pubs that I know of. The route itself doesn’t directly pass any shops or pubs/cafes. If needed, a detour into Cholsey is probably the best option as it has at least a supermarket.

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