# 🥾 Walk 495 - Upper Bucklebury and Frilsham

Twenty people (including the two leaders and a few prospective new members) turned up on Saturday 22nd January at a small car park in Upper Bucklebury. After taking an attendance register for track and trace purposes, we set off northward through the mixed woodland of Upper Bucklebury Common.

Emerging from the common, we splodged our way over farmland and through woodland on more muddy paths.

![Crossing farmland at Marlston Pightle.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume39/images/marlston_pightle.jpg)

Reaching the village of Frilsham, we stopped off for our picnic lunch in Frilsham Common, next to St. Frideswide's Well. The well dates back to the 7th century and the water is supposed to have healing properties. Rebuilt in 2007, the well now has a solid plastic cover with a small hole in the middle with a removeable lid. Under this lid is a chain and a scoop, allowing people to try the water.

No one wanted to try the well water. Instead, we headed down to The Pot Kiln pub for more hygienic refreshments. Leaving the pub, we headed south through High Copse, with its mixture of fir trees and rhododendrons. It had some very muddy paths, made all the more tricky by the steepness of some of the inclines.

![St Frideswide's Well in Frilsham Common.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume39/images/st_frideswides_well.jpg)

Leaving the muddy paths of the woodland, we followed quiet lanes to the tiny village of Bucklebury with it's generously sized Church of St Mary the Virgin. We entered the village through the church grounds.

Leaving the village almost immediately, we headed uphill to Redhill Copse. Then, more muddy woodland paths took us back to Upper Bucklebury, where we'd started. Our eight mile walk had been quite varied and also quite hilly, with 427m (1400 ft) of ascent in total. See our route on Google Maps.

![Stopping for refreshments as The Pot Kiln in Frilsham.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume39/images/the_pot_kiln.jpg)

![The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Bucklebury.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume39/images/bucklebury_church.jpg)

*Thank you to Mike and Alison for leading this walk.*

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