# 🥾 Walk 448 - Fleet Pond and Pyestock Hill

It was a crisp, clear morning when ten of us met up on Sunday 18th April at Fleet railway station. We had an equal mix of regulars and visitors for a revised version of a walk I last led here in 2017. Although we'd started our walk earlier than usual, there were already quite a few other people there, so the walk was frequently punctuated by moments of standing to one side to let others past on the more narrow paths.

Following the path down the western edge of the pond, we stopped at a pier to watch some of the wildlife. A Mallard duck was shepherding her ducklings around while some noisy Black-Headed Gulls fought with each other nearby. In the distance I saw a pair of Great Crested Grebes, a few Egyptian Geese, and much nearer were a couple of Mute Swans expecting to be fed. They were disappointed. We didn't feed them.

![A duck with ducklings and some black-headed gulls on Fleet Pond.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume36/images/fleet_pond_ducks.jpg)

Continuing around the southern edge of the pond, we stopped what the locals call the beech. It used to be a bit more sandy than it is now, but it's still a nice spot to stop and admire the scenery. Next, we doubled back and turned south to follow the stream that feeds the pond from a weir by the Basingstoke Canal at Pyestock Hill.

Reaching the canal, we shared the towpath with a few joggers and cyclists before leaving it as the canal enters Fleet and turning south into the Forest of Eversley. This piece of forest seems a long way from Eversley village in the Hart district of Hampshire, but I'm informed that the word Eversley means "Wild Bore Clearing", so perhaps this is where it got its name. We didn't see any wild boar, just some cows and bullocks of various varieties.

![Sandy Bay, aka The Beech, at Fleet Pond.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume36/images/fleet_pond_beech.jpg)

Rather than taking the forest track that I normally follow, we took a more circuitous (and picturesque) route through the forest. Turning east, we followed a track through Norris Hill, which emerged from the woods at a massive roundabout that bridges the canal. Crossing this, we re-entered the forest at Pyestock Hill and found somewhere to stop and have our packed lunches.

Heading mostly north, we skirted the new Hartland Village housing estate, which had been a massive industrial complex when I last led this walk. We passed through heathland and woodland, turning west, back to the pond and ultimately the railway station where we had started. See our route on Google Maps. Thanks to our early start and lack of a pub-stop, it was only about 1:30pm when we finished the walk.

![Crossing the stream that links Fleet Pond and the Basingstoke Canal.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume36/images/fleet_pond_bridge.jpg)

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