Thames Valley LDWA: Home Page


Welcome

Welcome to the web site of the Thames Valley LDWA. Our Group was founded in 1976 and is a friendly, active local walking group covering a large area west of London; you can download a map of the area here. New members are most welcome - please see the membership information on the Admin page.
We have a fine selection of social walks throughout the year. Most are in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, or Berkshire, though we occasionally stray further afield. Naturally, the River Thames and the Chiltern Hills feature in many of our walks, which we aim to make friendly and enjoyable outings with a leader to guide us through the day. You can find more information about our walks here.

You will find our walks programme on this website; click on a title to see full details, since the page gives only the initial part of each walk entry. The walks are open to all, with no booking required. You can find a map link to the precise start of a walk here.

The minutes, annual report and new constitution from the AGM are available here.

 

The weather.

The LDWA's NEC agreed in April 2020 that any red weather warning from the Met Office should automatically see an event or social walk cancelled. There might be a degree of flexibility with amber warnings, although this will be up to the leader: for example, if the warning is for floods and the route does not go near water it may be appropriate to walk as there will be no danger based on the route chosen. Walk Leaders! Please notify any changes to the Walks Co-ordinator or Webmaster.

The Journal

The Journal is our rolling Newsletter where you will find articles and photos by Group members. If you're not (yet) a member it will give you some idea of what we do.

Challenge Events

Oxon 40/20

Our regular annual challenge event has been the Oxon 40/20, but it will not be run in future unless someone is prepared to oversee the event. Both walkers and runners are welcome. It offers a choice of distances - 40 miles or 20 miles - and follows a different route each year. The 40-mile route is good preparation for the annual LDWA 100-mile event and the 20-mile is an ideal introduction to any of the Marathon challenge events in the LDWA calendar.

The 2023 Oxon 40/20 was held on Saturday 29th April at Stokenchurch. See the About the Oxon 40/20 page for more details.

Marlow Donkey

This is a new event in 2023, with two loops of 16 miles and 9 miles (25 miles total). Each loop returns to the start point (central checkpoint). You may opt to do the 16-mile loop alone but not the 9-mile.

The 2023 event was held on Sunday 1st October at Marlow. See the About the Marlow Donkey page for more details, and Past Results for the results.

40th Anniversary, 2016

Thames Valley celebrated 40 years of walking in 2016; you can read more here.