🥾 Walk 444 - Great Bedwyn and Shalbourne

On Saturday 12th December, six of us met up at Bedwyn railway station in Great Bedwyn for the first walk to be led for us by Ian, a relatively new member of the group. During the November lock-down, Ian took advantage of the rule allowing him to go out by himself for exercise, to explore this area and devise new walks for the group.

Leaving the station, we joined Brook Street as it crosses the railway line, the River Dun and the Kennet & Avon Canal on an undulating multiple bridge. Soon afterwards, we left the road to follow a footpath heading southwards through woodland and fields.

Our route took us from Jockey Green, through Castle Copse, Folly Farm, Webb's Gully and Newtown Farm, before bringing us to the pleasant little village of Shalbourne. Here we stopped for a snack break - it was too early for lunch. Some of us bought cups of tea from the local shop, while others had brought flasks. We sat on the benches on the green, next to a decorated tree, to enjoy the moment.

Suitably refreshed, we walked along the main road through the village, winding its way between the various buildings, both ancient and modern. On reaching a bend in the road, flanked by thatched houses, we turned off onto a muddy footpath leading us down to some watercress beds. At this point the leader realised that we should be looking at a church and not watercress beds, so we returned to the road. (We hadn't gone far, so it didn't take long.)

The next bend in the road revealed another, similar-looking footpath. This was the one we wanted and it did indeed lead us to the fine looking old church of St Michael and All Angels. We didn't wander in with our muddy boots.

Soon we were crossing the countryside again, following the course of a stream to Eastcourt Farm and then heading up to Upper Slope End Farm. Entering Stype Wood, we followed a very long and very straight track called Long Walk. We think this may have been the entrance drive to Stype Grange at one time. Nowadays, easier access would be from a nearby road on the other side of the grange.

A quiet lane took us from Stype Wood down to the Kennet & Avon Canal, just north of Little Bedwyn. We followed the towpath through Little Bedwyn, passed Potter's Lock and back to Great Bedwyn. The low sun ahead of us reflected on the surface of the canal, making it look like molten silver in an ingot mould. Or perhaps not! Anyway, there were a couple of young women paddle-boarding along the canal ahead of us. We kept pace with them most of the way back to Great Bedwyn.

I thought this was an excellent walk and had gone very well for this leader's first walk. (See our route on Google Maps.) Ian has planned some other walks in this area, but we will have to wait a while before we can enjoy those walks. The current Coronavirus situation means that we have had to suspend all group walks for the time being.

Thank you to Ian for leading this walk - his first for the BWWs.

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