🥾 Walk 322 - Chapel Row, Bradfield and Stanford Dingley

Nine of us, including one member from the Pang Valley Ramblers group met outside the Bladebone Inn in Chapel Row for a seven-mile walk. The sign at the entrance to the inn is most unusual and is said to be a whale bone encased in copper from a whale that was found at the beginning of the 17th century in the Kennet valley; this might suggest that the inn sold whale oil which was used in the 19th century as oil for lamps.

The weather forecast for the weekend predicted snow and when setting off from the Bracknell area, this was already heavy and blustery. Thankfully the conditions improved as we approached Chapel Row and the first part of the walk saw just the odd flurry.

The first section of the walk took us along a very muddy bridleway and mud was soon to become a theme for the walk. We then crossed a field to Kings Copse before joining several other bridleways with lovely views over the Pang Valley.

Passing woodland in which the ghost of a veiled woman is reputed to walk under the shelter of the trees, we soon arrived at a small cluster of houses known as Rotten Row. Here it was lovely to see spring flowers poking through the snow in the gardens of the pretty cottages.

Leaving the hamlet, a short ascent led to a pathway between banks, creating the impression of walking through a tunnel. Continuing through fields, we soon reached the extensive grounds and golf course belonging to Bradfield College, which dominates the centre of Bradfield and village life there.

When pre-walking the route, we were hoping for lovely spring sunshine to enjoy our lunch stop on the banks of the River Pang. Instead, increasingly heavy snow was what we endured!

Passing a very muddy field of snowy bedraggled cattle, not unlike small highland cows, our next stop was for very welcome refreshments at the Old Boot Inn in Stanford Dingley where hot chocolate served in unusual jam jar shaped glass mugs was a very popular and enjoyable choice. As we sat thawing in front of a roaring open fire, the snow returned with a vengeance!

From Stanford Dingley, a short but very white walk took us back to the muddy bridleway along which the walk had started, except this time the slippy ascent instead of descent definitely felt like a real workout!

Thank you to Sue for leading the walk, for writing it up and for providing these photographs.

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