{"id":"69847949533dbb4b73118879","title":"Walk 400 Watership Down Sydmonton Ecchinswell And Kingscler","path":"walks/scrapbook/by-year/2019/volume-29-jul-to-sep-2019/walk-400-watership-down-sydmonton-ecchinswell-and-kingscler","contentMarkdown":"# 🥾 Walk 400 - Watership Down, Sydmonton, Ecchinswell and Kingsclere\n\nThe weather forecast for Saturday 21st September was for sunshine all day and temperatures in the mid twenties. By contrast, the forecast for Sunday 22nd was for heavy rain and thunderstorms. Guess which day our walk was scheduled? Even so, we had nine foolhardy optimists turn up for the walk on (you guessed it) Sunday.\n\nThis walk was to be a joint walk with the Pang Valley Ramblers, who by their absence, must have studied the weather forecast and thought better of it. More brave where the two women from the Mid Berks group who had only just joined the Ramblers and this was their first walk. We also had a people from the BWs 20s & 30s group and SABRE (one of the Surrey groups), plus a newcomer trying us out.\n\n![Walking through Sydmonton in the rain.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume29/images/sydmonton_in_the_rain.jpg)\n\nIt started raining just before we set off and got quite heavy as we walked across Cannon Heath Down and Watership Down. Descending into Sydmonton, this was a familiar route for those who have done some of my other walks in this area, but I added a couple of new sections of footpath and lane in Ecchinswell that I've not walked before.\n\nWe stopped for lunch in a little park in Ecchinswell, which provided a park bench and some logs to sit on. There was also a pond and a stream, complete with ducks. Do ducks enjoy rainy weather? I'm not sure if they do, despite the phrase Nice weather for ducks, which is so often used when it's raining.\n\n![Nice weather for ducks - or is it?](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume29/images/ducks_in_the_rain.jpg)\n\nWe passed through woodland and crossed fields to arrive at Kingsclere. Here we stopped at The Crown pub, which also served hot drinks - very welcome on such a day. The rain had stopped by the time we left the pub.\n\nThe last part of the walk was through the recreation ground in Kingsclere followed by the gallops by Park House Stables. Then came the ascent of Freemantle Park Down to Cottington's Hill, where the transmitter mast is, and finally back along Stubbington Down to the car park at White Hill. See our route on Google Maps. According to my GPS, we'd covered 16km (10 miles) and 565m (1800 feet) of ascent in total. A pretty good workout - and we didn't get any thunder or lightning.\n\n![Ascending through the woodland of Freemantle Park Down.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume29/images/freemantle_park_down.jpg)\n\n## 📸 Back to Volume 29\n\nReturn to volume index","contentHtml":"

🥾 Walk 400 - Watership Down, Sydmonton, Ecchinswell and Kingsclere

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The weather forecast for Saturday 21st September was for sunshine all day and temperatures in the mid twenties. By contrast, the forecast for Sunday 22nd was for heavy rain and thunderstorms. Guess which day our walk was scheduled? Even so, we had nine foolhardy optimists turn up for the walk on (you guessed it) Sunday.

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This walk was to be a joint walk with the Pang Valley Ramblers, who by their absence, must have studied the weather forecast and thought better of it. More brave where the two women from the Mid Berks group who had only just joined the Ramblers and this was their first walk. We also had a people from the BWs 20s & 30s group and SABRE (one of the Surrey groups), plus a newcomer trying us out.

\n

\"Walking

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It started raining just before we set off and got quite heavy as we walked across Cannon Heath Down and Watership Down. Descending into Sydmonton, this was a familiar route for those who have done some of my other walks in this area, but I added a couple of new sections of footpath and lane in Ecchinswell that I've not walked before.

\n

We stopped for lunch in a little park in Ecchinswell, which provided a park bench and some logs to sit on. There was also a pond and a stream, complete with ducks. Do ducks enjoy rainy weather? I'm not sure if they do, despite the phrase Nice weather for ducks, which is so often used when it's raining.

\n

\"Nice

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We passed through woodland and crossed fields to arrive at Kingsclere. Here we stopped at The Crown pub, which also served hot drinks - very welcome on such a day. The rain had stopped by the time we left the pub.

\n

The last part of the walk was through the recreation ground in Kingsclere followed by the gallops by Park House Stables. Then came the ascent of Freemantle Park Down to Cottington's Hill, where the transmitter mast is, and finally back along Stubbington Down to the car park at White Hill. See our route on Google Maps. According to my GPS, we'd covered 16km (10 miles) and 565m (1800 feet) of ascent in total. A pretty good workout - and we didn't get any thunder or lightning.

\n

\"Ascending

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📸 Back to Volume 29

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Return to volume index

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