🥾 Walk 445 - Knowl Hill, Bowsey Hill and Crazies Hill

This walk on 2nd April was our first walk this year! Our last walk had been on 12th December. The Coronavirus lockdown put a stop to organised walks before Christmas and these measures have now been eased enough for us to be allowed to resume walking again. Seven of us (including the leader, Julia, who has recently re-joined our group) met up in Knowl Hill to go for a short (5 mile) walk. The morning started off cold and overcast, but the sun gradually showed itself as the walk progressed.

We started the walk by following the A4 Bath Road for a short stretch before turning into Canhurst Lane. This lane soon became a footpath as it headed upwards into Lindenhill Wood. The leader was pleased to tell us that the paths were considerably less muddy than they had been when she'd pre-walked the route a few weeks earlier.

The sun came out as we reached the top of Bowsey Hill. The woodland was quite light and airy, as the trees were mostly still bare from Winter, with new leaves just beginning to grow on them. These tiny leaves have such a vivid green colour. The woodland floor was carpeted with the leaves of bluebell plants, yet to flower.

We did see a few patches of blue flowers, which were a similar colour to common bluebells, but the flower shape was quite different. At first we thought they might be Spanish bluebells, but our leader was sure that they were Spring Squill (Scilla Verna). I did an Internet search when I got home and it appears that Spring Squill and Spanish Bluebells do look quite similar, but I think the flowers we saw were more likely to be Spring Squill.

Leaving the woods, we made our way to the village of Crazies Hill, stopping in a field to have a snack and drink. Our leader had brought some mini chocolate bars for the group, as an early Easter present.

We made a large u-turn through the village, taking various lanes, footpaths and alley ways, both wide and narrow. Soon we were heading back to Bowsey Hill, through High Knowl Wood. At the top of the hill, we passed our outgoing route before making our descent on part of the Knowl Hill Bridleway Circuit. This brought us out on Star Lane, which took us back to the place where we'd started.

Although this was a short walk of just 5 miles, it included over 525 feet of ascent. See our route on Google Maps.

Thank you to Julia for leading this walk.

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