🥾 Walk 312 - Chapel Row and Frilsham

'Twas the sixth day of Christmas (or Saturday 30th December, if you prefer) when twelve of us (including two new members and a couple of visitors from other groups) met up in Chapel Row on a warm but windy morning. Mike and Alison, the leaders, greeted us with the news that the original 7¾ mile route would have to be slightly lengthened to avoid certain paths that, after the previous night's heavy rain, would be impassable.

Heading west through Chapel Row Common, we followed soggy footpaths and forestry tracks into Bucklebury Lower Common before heading north past the Bucklebury Farm and Deer Park.

Here we could see a metal framed enclosure containing people, surrounded by deer of various breeds (and some geese). After turning north, toward Redhill Copse, we stopped for a “festive treat”. Mike and Alison had brought a selection of Mince Pies and Stollen Cake.

These were consumed with much appreciation before we continued along muddy footpaths through mixed woodland, and arriving at the village of Bucklebury. Here we followed the footpath through the churchyard and then left the village along a quiet lane.

Berkshire is considered to be a rather flat county but this part of West Berkshire is on the North Wessex Downs and there were some gentle inclines, made more noticeable by the slippery state of the footpaths. Entering Burgess' Copse, we headed west, through more woodland, to emerge in the village of Frilsham.

Following some quiet roads through small village, we left it via a footpath through some more woodland, where we stopped for lunch by St Frideswide's Well. The brick wall surrounding the well was just the right height to sit on while we ate our packed lunches. Continuing to follow the footpath, we arrived at the Pot Kiln pub, where we stopped for a drink.

Refreshed, we left the pub on a footpath through High Copse and then re-joined our outward route through Burgess' Copse. From there we took a more direct route back to Chapel Row Common, through Rushdens Farm and Hillfoot Farm. On the way, the footpath appeared to vanish under the River Pang at a ford. Luckily there was footbridge, hidden behind trees and shrubs.

We re-joined our outward route again in Chapel Row Common, retracing our steps back to the start of the walk. See our route on Google Maps. The total distance was around 8½ miles, after modifying the route, but we all felt like we'd been on a much longer walk. The muddy hills had given us a good work-out.

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