Beginners Hike 18km Wind in the Willows: Woodland, River & Photography adventure

Beginners Hike 18km Wind in the Willows sets off from Paddington Station on Saturday 21 November, following the Thames Path through the rural Thames Valley. The route is 11.5 miles long and graded for beginners and intermediates, with one main hill taken gently, 140m of ascent, and around five to five and a half hours of walking. It's for age 18+.

Bisham Woods sits at the heart of the walk: ancient woodland that once formed part of the Royal Forest of Windsor, said to be haunted by Lady Hoby, and the landscape that inspired Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Along the way the group passes Cookham, which the painter Sir Stanley Spencer described as 'a village in heaven', the Bronze Age burial mounds of Cock Marsh, and the grand Cliveden Estate, a ducal residence and setting of the 1960s Profumo Affair. Boulters Lock, once a favourite haunt of Victorian high society, is another stop on the path. The hike ends in Maidenhead at Brunel's 1835 railway bridge, a pioneering feat of Victorian engineering, with a pub visit to follow.

Bea leads the group, and you can reach her on 07345 241215 on the day. The meeting point is the entrance of the main ticket office at Paddington Station: meet at 8:30am, leave at 8:50am for the 9:08am train, and return by 5:21pm. The cost is £31 plus the Eventbrite fee, which covers the guided hike and return train travel.