Cars can be parked at the station on both sides of the crossing for 2 pounds a day. Trains run frequently from either Reading or Newbury. To do this walk I used O S Map 158:
The route on the map is a green dotted line, that goes along the towpath of the canal, over the railway, left parallel to it, then past some houses, and up through the estate, crossing Urquart Road, then up to the orange road called "The Moors", then up Thackeray Lane to Church gate, then past 2 churches, one with a black square & cross and the other with plus sign to the red road, the A4. Then straight up an orange road(Park lane), right along Park Avenue and to cross Floral Road over 2 fields(marked with black lines).
Walk out of the station,
cross the road to the towpath beside the Kennet & Avon Canal. Walk past the first lock known as Monkey Marsh Lock, then the path approaches a swing bridge. Here we turn left, leave the towpath.
The path goes over a footbridge over the line-its fitted with a metal channel for cyclists to walk their bikes over the bridge.
At the foot of the bridge, we turn left along a footpath that goes next to the railway line
The path then turns right, then left again with the line next to it & a bank on the right just like a tunnel of trees.
At the end of the "tunnel" is a grassy field with a metal compound on the right-here we turn right and walk next to the metal compound fence towards a road in the distance
Soon the grassy path now crosses a narrow estate road and goes along a tarmac path towards a fence.
At the fence turn right, then left along an estate road with cars parked along it.
Soon on the left hand side is a narrow path between two fences, & opposite it across the road is the name of the path.
Follow this path to emerge onto a road called
"The Moors"
Turn left alongside the road towards a pedestrian crossing point,
cross the road and walk along the footpath you can see of the above photo to the left of the brick wall-the name is on the wall.
At the other end of this path is a name board
Opposite the name board is a sign showing that the path we have just walked along is a bridleway which is why you will often meet cyclists on the path way.
The path comes out onto Church Gate opposite St Mary's Parish Church, cross the road, and turn left, looking for footpath on the right.
Walk along the footpath, it turns right, and approaches a gate way to the church with a post indicating a footpath.
Turn left along Church Lane
The path goes past a United Reform Church or Thatcham Methodist Church and emerges onto the A4, London or Bath Road, which we cross at the traffic lights and walk along Park Lane.
Just before a school, there is a road to the right called Park Avenue which we walk along
Then look for a straight path leading on between two sets of houses
The path comes to Cowslip Avenue which we follow
Then it crosses Withy Bed Way and goes along a short path to emerge onto Floral Way where there is this sign.
At the end of the short path is this sign
We cross the road and follow the footpath into the countryside
This is where on the map we are now, following the red dotted line up the field towards Park Farm.
Our path comes out on a field, goes left, there is a pond on the left and a sign almost hidden in the brambles.
Going up the left hand edge of the field you will see a gate in the hedgerow, with a mast in the distance up a hill.
This is that gate with a view ahead up the hill.
Through the gate and up the hill we go, looking back before we do so you will see where we have just come from.
Up the hill goes the path and soon reaches another stile, with a farmer's field with cattle in it.
Looking back again to the valley below and the woods to the left.
Now we cross the stile and walk towards the farm and kissing gate, and going through it cross the field in front of you heading for the track & road in front of you.
The mast is now getting closer to us, and soon we will be going past it. Go past the cattle, and cross the fence on a stile, turning left to exit the farm lane onto a narrow lane, called Lawrences Lane where we turn right and walk along it.
We pass a footpath on the left with the mast in view.
This road is called Lawrences Lane, which we walk along and soon it joins The Ridge. .Looking to the right you will see our footpath sign, looking left you will see the road sign The Ridge
So we turn right, cross the road, and walk past a footpath sign and there is a footpath going down through a set of woods.
Using OS Map 158, the path goes down through Ramsbury Wood, towards Westrop Green, passing a pond on the left, crossing a track, then comes to a junction of paths where we turn left onto the broad dotted line. The sign post below shows a path going to the right & the other going straight on. We are going straight on.
The path going to the right is this one
The one going straight on which we are going on is this one.
A little further on another sign post is visible.
In point of fact the bridleway going to the right, joins the footpath that went off to the right just now. On the map below you can see these paths, that look just like a river delta or a triangle.
The map below shows our route from the triangle shaped paths, going forward on a stepped line to meet another stepped line going off to the right. We are going to be walking towards the spot height of 102 on the map.
Ignore any paths to the left, just keeping walking forwards through the woods
We continue along the broad track in the woodlands
Soon the woodland path reaches a tarmac road with a house on the left hand side
There is a bridleway sign on the right
The bridleway is a woodland path again, so we leave the tarmac path to walk along it, if you look back the way you have just come you will see this:-
So off we go now along this woodland trail until we reach a metalled track with properties & gardens along it.
We go past these properties, going along the wider track towards a metal gate with a road off to the left.
The road that goes to the left is called Bucklebury Alley
We go the right along a track.
Now look for a metal gate on the right hand side of the track
This is the gate we are going through, next to a field, which is a bridleway
Our path keeps to the edge of the field
It soon reaches a gate & a stile-a stile is on the left hand side, and leads to a footpath/track going up the hill. We are going forward through a gate to the left of a hedge which is at the edge of the field we have been walking along.
The stile above goes to the track-this is that track on the map
You can see the little dotted line that goes from the stile to the thick green line with crosses on it, whilst we are going the right of West Wood, through this gate.
We walk alongside the West Wood until we come to a sign on the left hand side almost covered in the hedge.
The sign says a bridleway we have just come along, and another going to the left, whilst a footpath goes straight on. This our bridleway to the left
It climbs a slight hill, and then goes alongside a field with views of a building in the distance up a slight rise ahead.
We walk along this grassy path, and meet a path going to the right and one going to the left or almost straight on with signs as well.
We are going to the left along a public bridleway, passing a sign
The path goes next to a field at first then up a gravelled path-the building we pass looks like a school house.
The path comes out onto a concrete drive which is an entrance to Brockhurst school. At the top of this path is a small church and the main entrance to the school which was formally Marlston House the home of the biscuit manufacturer Mr. Palmer of Huntley & Palmer of Newbury.
We cross the road, and follow a path through a gate and into a field, with a grassy track next the a hedge on the right hand side.
We come to a wooden gate like structure, but we walk past it and straight across the field towards a gate in the far distance.
You can see from the map below that our path goes straight across the field, not down its left hand side shows as the field edge as a thin black line. Our path goes past the words Pit (dis) to join a green stepped line.
looking back from the gate towards the way we have just come from
We go through the gate and turn left along a track for a very short distance looking for a sign & a gap in the hedge on the right hand side.
Through the gap we go across the field, and across another stile
then over the next field to a gate and then some ponds
Over the river Pang, turn left along a minor road, then right up a footpath beside an old quarry
Up the hill we climb, over a wooden footbridge, through a wooden kissing gate, up a field, with a house & barn to the right, over another stile, and left along a track
The track goes up a hill, goes alongside a house & farm called Hawkridge Farm, with the footpath going straight on
Along the footpath we go, through another gate and soon a house is on the left and a footpath sign showing a path going down a hill to the right.
Down the hill we go passing a pond
The path goes through some woodland
Soon it comes to a wooden gate leading into a farmers field, with animals in it, some lovely beasts.
The path goes across the field to a gate, and across a farm track and straight on
Looking back the way we have just come from through that woodland
This is that path ahead
The path goes through a wooden gate into a grassy field with sheep.
Soon we come to a gate on the right hand side
and a stile & gate on the left hand side.
The explanation for these stiles & gates is on the map below.
So our path from Hawkridge Farm goes past pit(dis) to meet a green dotted line coming near the Alders, & goes down the map to New Barn Farm, whilst the path from Hawkridge Farm meets it & either joins the path from The Alders or goes to the right towards the direction of Warren Pit or Rushdens farm. This path keeps to the right of the field edge marked with a black straight line.
Our path is going down the green dotted line keeping close to the edge of the field, and towards the bottom goes to the right of a field fence. The field is full of jumps for horses which can be seen in the fields near the bottom of the large field.
At the bottom of the field we cross a little track & go straight onto a grassy path to the left of which is a horses field.
We then go over a stile & walk across the field to a stile, cross it & turn right along a lane
We walk along the lane, from 78 on the map, passing a Pit (dis), down a hill to a road junction, go straight on towards Bucklebury village, crossing the Pang river over a bridge, then go straight on, through a gate towards St Mary's Churchyard and then right onto the road and then along it for a short distance passing spot height 66 & left through a gate and start to climb a hill again, towards number 55 on the map below.
So going up the hill, there is a byway between two fields which we enter & climb the hill
Going up a steep climb we reach a gate, go straight on in woodland, meeting a gate with a path, a yellow arrow on the second photo below going off to the right-we ignore it, & follow the red byway sign and just go straight up the hill as the map says above towards Vanners.
The path climbs a hill with a field to the left with goats in it
The path emerges onto a wider path, there is path to the left going through a gate & down the hill again, but we are going straight on.
The path going through the gate above is the green dotted line on the map below going past a blue star towards Bucklebury Farm.
Our path is now wider with some properties to the right
Our route now is on the map below.
Our path is thick stepped line, going through a light green area which means woods. There are numerous footpaths, bridleways & by ways going off the path, but just stay on it until we come to a stepped line going off to the left towards the orange line on the map which is a road called Broad Lane.
Below is the firm track, marked as a thick stepped line
Soon we come to a track going off to the left, which we follow through some more woodland with a bridleway sign on it
Soon you will start to hear traffic on a road ahead
Soon the path crosses another by way but we continue towards the road
This is that road which we cross towards a bridleway sign & bridleway path.
The bridleway sign directs us into some more woodland then some scrubland
The path meets a junction of paths with a small oak tree
We go straight on along the path towards some woodland
Looking back the way we have come there are 2 paths, we have come across the one to the right
Walk through the woodlands and come out onto a road which goes towards Woolhampton.
Looking back the way we have just come there is a public bridleway sign
We turn right and keep on the right hand side of the road towards the building and then go along a footpath/mettalled road
There homes to the left and right at first, then a large field, then we come to a house called Woottens with a path gate to the right which we pass through.
The path comes to a stile with views down the hill
We go down the hill to a field gate at the bottom which leads out onto a lane towards Midgeham Village.
Down the hill we go, passing the Old School House until we see a footpath going off to the right and a footpath sign
Off we go along this footpath, which goes alongside a fence & down a steep hill, to cross a footbridge, through a metal kissing gate and up a hill across a field
The path comes to a stile with a sign indicating the route down a lane passing a house
We climb up the lane, turn right at the top and pass along the lane
until we reach a farm
Now we turn left, following the direction the footpath is saying up a track
Reaching the top of the track we can see the route towards Colthrop Manor.
Down the path we go following the field edge, out onto a road, down some steps and through a gate in front with a path going down a hill.
At the bottom of the hill we go through a gate, over a ditch & up some steps
Now into a field, we climb up the hill towards a wooden post
There may well be wooden posts with yellow paint on marking the route up the field, as there are when you reach the corner of the field, and the post and then follow the yellow painted posts to the edge of the field & another painted post
When the path reaches a farm track bear slightly right to follow the edge of the field with Colthrop Manor Farm on the left hand side
The path joins a bridleway coming from the right, and we join a track coming from the left & make for a yellow painted post in the next field
Across the cropped field we go in a diagonal direction down a hill towards another painted post with signs on it.
Follow the path across this cropped field down to the A4 road, & turn right and walk along the pavement to a roundabout.
We cross the road at the roundabout & head off to the left following signs to the railway station.
Here's the route we are going to follow from the red roundabout, along an orange line, then left along a yellow line to a red blob.
Down the path we go a cycle & pedestrian way
Soon we meet a pelican crossing, which we cross, turning right, then going left towards the Thatcham station
Soon we reach the railway station and the end of the walk.
No comments:
Post a Comment