On Sunday 6th September, six of us (including one potential new member) met up at the Control Tower car park at Greenham Common - once an RAF station and now a public recreation area and nature reserve. Although the sky was quite cloudy, it was warm with little wind, so no need for jackets.
We started off, heading east along the perimeter pathway - a well made gravel path that forms a wide rectangle around the remains of the old runway. As we approached Crookham Common, we diverted off the perimeter path to loop around the gravel pit ponds near Thornfold Park. Turning west at the old RAF Fuel Tank, we soon rejoined the perimeter path, which we followed westward until we'd passed the Business Park, where we turned south and looked for somewhere to stop for our picnic lunch.
We ate our sandwiches sitting on the heath near Brackenhurst. Continuing south after lunch, we came across an old fire plane, once used to train the ground crew to put out aircraft fires. It is a weird looking structure, made of sheet steel and vaguely aircraft-shaped. It sits in a pond, presumably to catch and collect the extinguisher foam.
Looping round, through the woodland of Brackenhurst, we rejoined the perimeter path and continued westward, passing the old missile silos, which have more recently been used as a film location for two recent Star Wars movies.
As the perimeter path turned north, we branched off to go further westward into woodland near Sandleford. Looping around, we emerged from the woodland and rejoined the perimeter path, heading east.
On this part of the route, we saw cattle and cyclists, and as we got closer to the car park, families playing by the ponds near Bury's Bank. We continued along this straight gravel path until we reached the Control Tower Cafe and the car park where we had started. See our route on Google Maps.
All but one of us had the time to stop for refreshments. The cafe is set up for outdoor use only at the moment, due to the Covid-19 restrictions. There was a cordoned one-way system guiding you to one window to order and pay and then another window to collect your drinks. The tables were placed with a good distance between them with notices asking people not to move them. This arrangement works well while the weather is good, but I imagine these places will struggle when winter comes.
Thank you to Jean-Paul for leading this walk.
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