Start : The John Barleycorn (RG8 9DP) Grid ref. SU 598 906
(S/E) Leave the pub and turn right along Manor Road. At the junction with the High Street, turn right and walk up the High Street passed the shops.
(1) At the end of the High Street, cross over the Railway Bridge, then turn left and after a few yards, cross over the Wallingford Road and into Lockstile Way. Walk the length of Lockstile Way down to the end, then take the footpath (Chiltern Way Extension) and after a short distance leave the footpath, bearing right on to a small lane (Fairfield Road) with an unmade surface. After another short distance leave the lane and turn right taking a footpath between houses and gardens, continuing straight ahead through a kissing gate adjacent to a five barred gate and into the field. Continue along this path through another wooden kissing gate (with a plaque attached in memory of Leslie Drain OBE). Ignore the footpath on the left and go straight ahead behind gardens and following a left hand fence along the edge of Battle Plantation until Battle Road is reached.
(2) Cross over the road and turn right and then almost immediately left to take the path almost opposite (still Chiltern Way Extension). Walk along this hedged path to the left of a drive and continue up the hill with good views over towards the Wessex Downs. Continue up the path into Wroxhall Woods until a crossroads of paths is reached.
(3) Turn right onto a fenced bridleway. Continue straight ahead on this bridleway through the woods, into open countryside where there are fine views of the Elvendon valley and Elvendon Priory. Walk down the hill until the Elvendon Lane is reached.
(4) Turn left and walk along the road for a short distance until you reach another bridleway on the right. Take this bridleway and walk up the hill on a fairly rough surface until the bridleway levels out and you reach the Goring to Crays Pond road.
(5) Cross over the road and take the path pretty well opposite and walk across the centre of an arable field and then exit the field on a fenced footpath down the hill to Blackbirds Bottom where there is a junction of bridleways.
(6) Turn right and follow the bridleway downhill past Bottom Farm until a bridleway on the left is reached. Take this bridleway and walk a short distance up the hill until a path is reached on the right signed The Chiltern Way Extension. Turn left onto this and walk a short distance up the hill until a path is reached on the right signed The Chiltern Way extension.
(7) Follow the signs for the Chiltern Way Extension keeping right at a fork and follow the path through Great Chalk Wood ignoring tracks to the left and right and keep going straight ahead for 750 yards, ignoring two branching paths to the left. Go through a couple kissing gates into open countryside with inclines, declines and great views of the Goring Gap. Go down the hill to a gate.
(8) Cross the playing field heading in a diagonal direction and proceed through a squeeze stile and through the alleyway into Whitehill’s Green. Follow this road as it turns left and then right to reach Reading Road. Turn left and walk down to Gatehampton Road, turn right and then shortly afterwards, left over the railway bridge and into High Street.
(1) Retrace your steps down the High Street pass the shops and turn left into Manor Road and walk back to the pub.(S/E)