# 🥾 Walk 61 - Thatcham and Frilsham

Saturday 3rd August saw eleven of us taking a walk from Thatcham to Frilsham on a circular route passing through Bucklebury Common. Three of the eleven were ramblers from other groups, joining us for the day to see what sort of countryside West Berkshire had to offer.

It was a bit cooler than it has been lately, but still pleasantly warm with temperatures in the low 20's (°C) and fluffy white clouds in a blue sky. Ideal walking weather.

After a few hundred metres of urban walking we stepped through a gap in the hedge onto a footpath leading us up Hart's Hill. From there we followed a path parallel to the road leading to Upper Bucklebury, where we headed north through the mixture of woodland and heathland of Bucklebury Common.

![Thatcham, as viewed from partway up Hart's Hill. Can you spot us on the path behind the grass?](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume5/images/thatcham.jpg)

We then passed through a hamlet called The Slade and continued north, crossing a mixture of fields and copses until we reached another hamlet called Marlston Hermitage. Shortly after that, we passed through a field of maize. Our leader had recce'd the walk a few weeks earlier and the maize was barely a foot high. Now it was taller than us.

We stopped off to eat our packed lunches by the edge of a field, after which we headed eastwards toward Frilsham, crossing the River Pang on the way. The river was running high (almost up to the footbridge) and the vegetation was growing furiously, but it wasn't long before we were through it and back to the familiar mix of fields and woodlands again.

Eventually we emerged close by the Pot Kiln pub on the outskirts of Frilsham village. Of course, we popped in for a drink and spent a pleasant half-hour in there pub garden.

![The mixture of woodland and heathland that is Bucklebury Common.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume5/images/bucklebury_common.jpg)

Suitably rested and refreshed we set off southward from the Pot Kiln through High Copse. The path was rather overgrown with bracken and rhododendron bushes.

Continuing south, our route took us through more woodland and into open fields, just north of Bucklebury village. Crossing the River Pang again we entered Bucklebury, taking a route through the church yard and crossing a road on our way out. That didn't take long! It's more of a hamlet than a village.

We carried on heading south and then south-west to Upper Buckleberry where we retraced our outward journey, descending Hart's Hill back to Thatcham. It started raining as we reached Upper Buckleberry, but it didn't last long. Just long enough for us to put on our waterproof jackets only to take them off again five minutes later. See our route on Google Maps.

![Crossing a stream in the woods on Bucklebury Common.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume5/images/bucklebury_woods.jpg)

![The route back from the Pot Kiln was rather overgrown!](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume5/images/high_copse.jpg)

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