Sunday 27th February was a real treat compared with the previous weekend, which saw storms Eunice, Dudley and Franklin bring very high winds and plenty of rain. Today we had a cloudless sky and relatively low wind. Ideal winter walking weather.
Twenty-four people joined me for a modified version of a walk I'd led before around Silchester. Of those twenty-four, we had a few visitors trying us out and a few familiar faces from the past who haven't walked with us in quite a while.
We set off from the English Heritage car park to remains of the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum. Originally the iron-age settlement of the Atrebates tribe, it became the site of a walled town during the Roman conquest.
It's quite amazing how well these Roman walls have lasted over two millennia since they were built. We followed the wall from the west gate, past the south gate and the water gate to the 12th century Church of St Mary the Virgin, which was built on the site of a Roman temple.
We then went an had a look at the remains of the amphitheatre, just outside the walled town. After a coffee break, we left the amphitheatre and followed the wall from the east gate, past the north gate to the west gate, where we'd come in.
Now heading south, past Dicker's Copse, we saw a massive fallen oak, victim of the recent storms, crossing the stream right next to the bridge we were to use. If it had landed a few feet further south, our walk would have had to take a massive detour.
We followed Byes Lane through fields to a small group of houses, where we took a footpath into Early Bridge Copse and then to Pamber Forest. Here we met a massive obstacle - a large oak tree and a beech tree had fallen across the footpath in Gravelpit Copse. This time we did have to take a significant detour.
A muddy path brought us into Pamber Forest where we followed a long, well-made path until we saw some logs and tree stumps to sit on and eat our packed lunches. After lunch, we headed for Silchester, via Beggars Bridge Copse, which was much more muddy!
This time of year, with the trees still mostly bare, a lot of sunlight gets into the woods giving them a wonderful airy and spacious feel that will be gone by the end of spring.
Emerging into the village close by the Calleva Arms pub, we decided not to stop for a drink as there were too many of us. So we followed the Brenda Parker Way out of the village and back towards the west gate of the Roman town, turning off just before reaching it and retracing our steps to the car park. See our route on Google Maps.
Thank you to Sue for back-marking for me on this walk.
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