Didcot (via Harwell Village) – Hodgkin Way, H4

Hodgkin Way – Via Harwell Village and The Winnaway.
Details: 4 miles (6.5km) from Didcot Parkway to Harwell Campus Thomson Entrance.

Popular route especially during dark mornings & dark evenings

Turn right out of Didcot Parkway station then turn first left along Haydon road. At the crossroads on Haydon road turn right onto Lydalls Road.

Follow Lydalls Road then turn left (straight on as Lydalls Road bears right) on Britwell Road which is unadopted and has a poor surface quality. Continue up through the barriers at the end (on path) onto Manor Road.

At the end of Manor Road turn left onto Foxhall Road then right onto Manor Crescent. Foxhall Road is busy and you may want to use the controlled crossing. There is limited space on the paths accessing the crossing and will be busy at peak times during term time.

Turn right onto Wantage Road onto the hybrid cycle lanes. The lanes end at the hospital, there is then a ‘hotchpotch’ of cycle paths and schemes until after the Great Western Park Junction. If you are a confident cyclists it is quicker to stay on the main carriageway. After GWP Junction there is a shared use path, on one side only up to the Valley Park Roundabout. Follow the road through Harwell village (left hand bend at the corner by the pub). At the end of the village there is a T junction with the main A417 Reading to Wantage road. Turn right and then first left into the Winnaway.

The path is an Asphalt surface path to the left of the main track. Follow the path up to the top of the hill. At this point the main track finishes but the Asphalt path continues at the side of the field.

Follow the path until the junction with the A4185. Turn left onto the shared use path down to the A4185 crossing.

Please be aware of other users on the Winnaway; pedestrians and horse riders. Use your bell and slow down when passing, especially downhill on the narrow path section.


Click on the finish marker or the track for more route details and to download the GSX file.

Science Vale Cycle Network – H4 Hodgkin Way

The Science Vale Cycle Network is a series of cycle routes connecting towns to business parks. The routes have been named after famous scientists who have studied at Oxford University.

Hodgkin Way runs from Didcot to the Harwell Campus. The route is named after Dorothy Hodgkin (1910 to 1994) pioneer of protein crystallography and winner of the Nobel prize for Chemistry in 1964. She graduated from Somerville College, Oxford.