Welcome to Pipsticks Walks
"Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt"
John Muir
Discover the beautiful rolling countryside of the Chiltern Hills, Thames Valley and North Wessex Downs, much of which is designated as ‘National Landscape’ for its outstanding natural beauty. At Pipsticks Walks we specialise in providing expertly led Guided Walks, Nordic Walks and Navigation Skills activities in this wonderful part of southern England.
Our walks and activities are ideal for individuals, couples, walking groups, families and friends. They are also a great way to energise your team. Whether you choose a group activity or private guiding or tuition, we will ensure that you get the most from your precious time in the great outdoors.
Join Our Adventures
Guided Walks
Wonderful Walks Just for You
Our Group Walks are designed to give you a special day of discovery in the glorious English countryside. Join us for an informal, relaxed and sociable adventure. You will be surprised what you might discover!
Nordic Walks
Give Your Walk a Workout
Nordic Walking is a great outdoor activity that can be enjoyed by people of all abilities and fitness levels. Give it a go - pick up the poles and give your walk a workout!
Navigation Skills
Find Your Own Way
Don't follow the crowd! Our Navigation days are a great introduction to map reading and the navigation skills you need to plan and enjoy a great walk in the countryside without reliance on a phone app.
Share in our adventures. - read our Newsletter Read More →
What’s On
Join us for an exhilarating walk under the light of the Full Moon and discover the dark side of the Chilterns!
These evening walks take place on, or near, the night of the full moon. We take time to tune into the sights and sounds of the night and may get to see and hear owls, deer, and more. If the weather is kind, we will be guided by the light of the silvery moon and get to marvel at the night sky. Don’t forget to bring a torch!
Overview
This fun, engaging course is about learning and developing the correct Nordic walking technique under the expert guidance of a British Nordic Walking instructor (instructor/participant ratio 1:6 max). You will then be able to enjoy the benefits of regular Nordic walking activities as part of an active lifestyle.
This course takes place at either Shiplake or Pinkneys Green and is available as a single 2 hr session - see course dates below (if there are no suitable dates, please get in touch)
Find your way in the great outdoors! This one day workshop is a great introduction to map reading and the navigation skills you need to enjoy a great walk in the countryside without reliance on a phone app.
You will be amazed how much detail there is on an Ordnance Survey map! On this course you will learn how make sense of it all and gain confidence to plan and follow an interesting route along paths and tracks.
The NNAS Bronze Navigator course is suitable for beginners or those with some navigation experience. It is the start of your journey to becoming an experienced navigator.
This introductory level course usually takes place over two days. We also offer a three-day option.
The course usually takes place in the South Oxfordshire Chilterns and Berkshire Downs around Goring and Streatley.
The NNAS Silver Navigator course will build on your existing map reading and navigation skills (acquired at the Bronze level). We introduce more advanced techniques to equip you with the confidence, knowledge and technical skills required to safely navigate away from paths and tracks in easily accessed, open terrain.
This intermediate level course usually takes place over two days. We also offer a three-day option.
The course takes place in the South Oxfordshire Chilterns and Berkshire Downs around Goring and Streatley.
The Night Owl Course is 4 hrs duration. Start/finish times vary depending on time of year. If there are no suitable dates available, please get in touch.
Navigation Bites
Our Navigation Bites workshops are ideal for those who want to focus on specific aspects of navigation, such as compass work and walking on a bearing, pacing and timing or contours and land features, or perhaps just a confidence booster.
"Dulce et Decorum est" - in the footsteps of Wilfred Owen.
Join us for this walk in the South Oxfordshire countryside and discover one of our most celebrated Great War Poets, Wilfred Owen.
*** This walk is available for PRIVATE BOOKING only. Please contact us to agree walk date before booking. Minimum group size 2 people. ***
Join us ‘Coming Up For Air’ in the Chilterns to discover George Orwell’s ‘golden country’. His childhood in the Oxfordshire countryside around Henley can be seen to have influenced passages in some of his writing. As we walk it is not difficult to find ourselves in both 1984 and his earlier novel Coming Up for Air.
** This walk is available for PRIVATE BOOKING only. Please contact us to agree walk date before booking. Minimum group size 2 people. **
Do you believe in ghosts? England is a haunted country and along the River Thames between Henley and Marlow there are plenty of Ghostly Tales from the Riverbank to be told! Discover murderous women, grey ladies, hooded monks, phantoms, headless horsemen, haunted abbeys and pubs, and more! This lovely stretch of the Thames, with the Chiltern Hills forming an impressive backdrop along the way, is hiding some dark secrets!
Walk 1: Henley Circular - 6 miles (10 km)
Walk 2: Hurley to Henley - 7.5 miles (12 km) (return by bus or taxi)
Walk 3: Marlow to Henley - 10 miles (16 km) (return by bus or taxi)
Saturday 4th May 2024
We have teamed up with the Bluebells Day Centre and Walk Henley to bring you this special guided walk through the sumptuous bluebell woods in the Chiltern hills around Henley.
The Bluebells Day Centre is a Henley based charity dedicated to supporting Dementia patients and their families. Your donations will be greatly appreciated (donation link below).
Booking essential - please book below.
Give a friend or family member the Gift of the Great Outdoors!
Pipsticks Walks Gift Voucher are a perfect gift choice - available for Guided Walks, Navigation Skills, or Nordic Walking.
Trekking poles - love them or hate them! The use of poles when walking (or trail running) has increased in popularity in recent years, and for many of us they have now become a valuable part of our outdoor kit. When used properly, poles provide several benefits. Yet do you know how to get the most effective use out of using them? Discover more on this ‘Walking with Poles’ skills workshop.
A few drops of Nature’s Lore can help to lift the spirits!
We offer special Nature’s Lore themed walks throughout the year, each with a different focus depending on the season. Through these walks we discover an intimate relationship between humans and plants which has evolved over time, shaping our culture, customs, legends and folklore, and medicinal practices, etc. Join us and feel more connected with the natural world.
** This walk is available for PRIVATE BOOKING. Please contact us to agree date before booking. Minimum groups size 2 people. **
“Thanks for being such a great walk guide. I’ve really enjoyed the weekend and all your knowledge about the history, people and wildlife has been fascinating.”
“A fascinating walk, thank you! The views, the giants and all the literary references along the way were great. And the perfect pub stop, too!”
Blog
We are all familiar with the traditional floral emblems of the countries of the United Kingdom but did you know that each UK County has a flower emblem? In this blog we introduce you to the County Flowers of the Chilterns.
Taking a woodland walk among the bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) is a wonder to behold and one which we look forward to with excited anticipation every Spring. For a few weeks from mid-April to early May, the flower of St George transforms our woodlands into ephemeral seas of shimmering blue.
Meet me at the kissing gate, I know that's where you want to be…
Romantic Ramblings! The amorous-sounding ‘kissing gate’ is one of many much loved curiosities to be found in the English countryside, and it’s perfect for stealing a kiss on the Feast of Saint Valentine (14th February).
Mistletoe (Viscum album), the magical sacred plant of the Druids, has become embedded within our folklore, tradition and mythology, particularly at Christmas and New Year. On this festive themed walk we set off to discover more about this special sacred plant and to hopefully find a sprig for ourselves!
The Poetry is in the Pity
Walking is a great way to contemplate and remember and in November each year it is ‘sweet and fitting’ to take a Literary Hitchhike with a Remembrance theme. For this Remembrance walk in the south Oxfordshire Chilterns, we have chosen as our principal literary subject one of our most celebrated Great War Poets, Wilfred Owen. Owen witnessed firsthand the harsh reality and carnage of war - his ‘poetry of witness’ is uncompromising work, steeped in pity and fury, the pen exploding with purpose as it is pushed across the paper.
Spontaneous Berkshire Days
We had planned to bring you some exciting walks as part of the North Wessex Downs Walking Festival programme but sadly the Festival was stopped in its tracks by the covid-19 virus pandemic! All is not lost, however, as the chalk hills where we love to walk are still here and our inspiring guided walks can be rescheduled for you to enjoy at a later date. In the meantime, it’s time to make your shoes happy with an amble through some of our festival walks ‘Up on the Downs’.
Join our Perambulations from the Sofa to celebrate the Chilterns Walking Festival and World Nordic Walking Day. Sit back and enjoy this amazing walk as we take our Nordic walking poles to explore the Ridgeway National Trail and the Chilterns escarpment in Oxfordshire. It’s one of our favourites and you can expect butterflies, orchids and awesome views!
Stroll away, this sweet month of May
May is National Walking Month and a time when many walking festivals would have been held across the UK, including here in the Chilterns. We are proud to have been part of the Chilterns Walking Festival since it began and it saddens us that, in today’s climate of social distancing, the Festival has had to be stopped in its tracks. But all is not lost... Join us for an amble down Memory Lane of our past festival walks.!
Talk the Walk… for England and St. George!
23rd April... St George’s Day, the National Day of England! It is also the date of the UN English Language Day, a celebration of our national language. So, let’s join the party with a leisurely stroll through the myriad of words that we have for something that is at the very heart of Pipsticks Walks - the simple act of taking a walk! Walking, rambling, trekking, hiking, etc... Why do we have so many words?
Irresistible and Intriguing
There is something irresistibly intriguing about old paths and byways and none more so than the old sunken lanes or ‘holloways’ which are so characteristic of the soft sand and chalk hills of southern England. The Chilterns Hills are rich in deep Holloways; they are an integral part of our landscape heritage, inscribed into the chalk bedrock over centuries and on many of our walks you may become immersed in their cavernous shade, captured in awe by their mystique.
Fair Maids of February
Late January into February is the time of year when tiny humble snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis or ‘Milkflower of the snow’), symbols of hope and purity, burst in clusters of white blooms from the frozen winter soil. Some of our favourite Snowdrops walks take us to the tiny Norman church of St Botolph, by the Ridgeway National Trail at Swyncombe and famed for its snowdrops and teas!
Thames Path 30th Anniversary Relay
2026 marks the 30th Anniversary of the Thames Path National Trail. To celebrate, the Thames Path National Trail Team, in partnership with Drinkable Rivers, is coordinating a Thames Path Relay along the entire length of the Trail – from source to sea. We are delighted that Pipsticks Walks will to be leading three of the Thames Path Relay walks!
These walks are FREE to attend but you MUST BOOK a place.