Following the success of last year, the Friends of St Mary’s are planning another walk for Good Friday afternoon. The first time we organised this, we arranged a circular walk via Blewbury and Hagbourne, then last year we trekked across the downs from East Ilsley, in fabulous weather, on both occasions finishing at the church for tea and cakes.
This year, the idea is to start at the top of Kingstanding Hill on the A417 between Aston Tirrold and Streatley which will offer two alternative routes back to Upton. The ‘low road’ will skirt Lollingdon Hill and drop down into Aston Tirrold, continuing on via Blewbury to Upton – this is about 4.75 miles, the same distance as the walk from East Ilsley last year. For the more energetic, the ‘High Road’ goes up into the downs along the Fair Mile as far as the Ridgeway then runs gently back down to Upton via Saltbox – about 6.5 miles in total. As usual, tea and cakes will greet the weary walkers in the church.
We’ll aim to start about 2.00 and reach the finish at 4.00 – 4.30. At the end there will be transport arranged back to the cars left at the start.
It would be great to see a good number of Uptonians out and about on Good Friday – everyone’s welcome, children, dogs and all! If you have any questions at this stage please call Paul Batho on 851251 – more details will be published in next month’s Upton News.
Paul Batho