🥾 Walk 275 - Yatelely and Eversley

On Sunday 21st May, eighteen people (including some newcomers) and a dog met up at Waitrose car park in Yateley for an 8 mile walk. We started off towards Yateley Common on a path between houses and fields, then through woodland, leading to the entrance to Castle Bottom Nature Reserve. This is designated a Special Protection Area due to the presence of breeding rare birds. No rare birds were seen on this occasion but some of us spotted a few lizards on the boardwalk before they scuttled away to hide from the approaching footsteps.

Soon after leaving the nature reserve we crossed the B3016 to a bridleway between two lakes formed from disused gravel pits. We then crossed the A327 to current gravel workings and Warren Heath.

At a junction of paths we joined part of the Three Castles Path which went past Eversley Church. There was some minor confusion in finding the entrance to the footpath on the other side of the road as a sign clearly visible on the pre-walk was now completely obscured by leaves! Once the path was found we continued through farmland and horse fields. There were still some bluebells to be seen as the footpath went past woodland but these were by now past their best.

We then walked a short road section to our lunch stop, next to Eversley village pond where we had the luxury of enough picnic tables and benches for the whole group! Conveniently located opposite is the Frog and Wicket pub where we adjourned after lunch for a quick drink.

Following the refreshments we walked along Longwater Lane to join the Blackwater Valley Path. Here we followed the Blackwater River to a footbridge at Moor Green Lakes where we crossed the river to re-join the Three Castles Path, continuing through woodland and past a motorsports lake where jetskiing was in progress.

We then reached the edge of Yateley and some paths between houses took us back to fields. We continued past a fishing lake and along footpaths which were becoming slightly overgrown with various plants including nettles. Fortunately no-one was wearing shorts! Another short walk along a road led to a gentle incline across a field and views over Yateley and Finchampstead.

The path then descended to a small bridge over a ditch and back to the woodland and path behind houses where the walk had started. See our route on Google Maps. We were lucky to have very pleasant weather for this walk - dry and warm, but not too hot.

Many thanks to Denise for leading the walk (her first for our group) and for writing it up.

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