{"id":"6984793b533dbb4b73118749","title":"Walk 520 Finchampstead And Coalpit Copse","path":"walks/scrapbook/by-year/2022/volume-40-apr-to-jun-2022/walk-520-finchampstead-and-coalpit-copse","contentMarkdown":"# 🥾 Walk 520 - Finchampstead and Coalpit Copse\n\nOn Sunday 29th we did a short (6½ mile) walk with lots of variety, and with eighteen people - a good mixture of visitors, regulars, and a few people I'd not seen for quite a while. The walk was one that Sue B had created out of the many solo walks she'd done during lock-down, as she lived in that area at the time.\n\nWe began by following Duke's Ride and then Heath Ride, which turns from a footpath to a lane where it intersects with Roman Ride. At this junction, we took another footpath that brought us out by Heath Pond. Skirting round the north and west edges of the pond, we then headed south-east to Coalpits Copse and Ambarrow Farm.\n\nHere we joined the Three Castles Path, a long-distance path linking Windsor Castle with Winchester Castle, which we briefly followed past Horseshoe Lake and through Moor Green Lakes nature reserve. Leaving the Three Castles Path, we headed north to Moor Green Farm and followed Lower Sandhurst Road east for a short while.\n\n![A view across Heath Pond.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume40/images/heath_pond.jpg)\n\nNext we turned north and followed a track up to Ambarrow Hill and then briefly touching our outward route, we branched off to the west and to Finchampstead Ridges. We found an open area in the woodland where we stopped for lunch.\n\nAfter lunch, we returned along Wellingtonia Avenue. This road was much less busy than usual as it was closed to passing traffic - access only from the east - due to subsidence on The Ridges to the west. The road has been closed for over a year while they work out how to repair it and who is going to pay!\n\nThis road is lined with over one hundred giant sequoia trees, planted in the 1860s and known at the time as Wellingtonia. At 160 years old, these trees are still young compared with their Californian cousins, some of which are over 3000 years old!\n\n![The Three Castles Path through Moor Green Lakes nature reserve.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume40/images/moor_green_lakes.jpg)\n\nThe road ended at the roundabout with Lower Wokingham Road and Duke's Ride. It was then a matter of retracing our outward route along Duke's Ride to return to Crowthorne railway station. See our our route on Google Maps.\n\n![A walk down Wellingtonia Avenue.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume40/images/wellingtonia_avenue.jpg)\n\n*Thank you to Sue B for leading this walk.*\n\n## 📸 Back to Volume 40\n\nReturn to volume index","contentHtml":"

🥾 Walk 520 - Finchampstead and Coalpit Copse

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On Sunday 29th we did a short (6½ mile) walk with lots of variety, and with eighteen people - a good mixture of visitors, regulars, and a few people I'd not seen for quite a while. The walk was one that Sue B had created out of the many solo walks she'd done during lock-down, as she lived in that area at the time.

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We began by following Duke's Ride and then Heath Ride, which turns from a footpath to a lane where it intersects with Roman Ride. At this junction, we took another footpath that brought us out by Heath Pond. Skirting round the north and west edges of the pond, we then headed south-east to Coalpits Copse and Ambarrow Farm.

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Here we joined the Three Castles Path, a long-distance path linking Windsor Castle with Winchester Castle, which we briefly followed past Horseshoe Lake and through Moor Green Lakes nature reserve. Leaving the Three Castles Path, we headed north to Moor Green Farm and followed Lower Sandhurst Road east for a short while.

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\"A

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Next we turned north and followed a track up to Ambarrow Hill and then briefly touching our outward route, we branched off to the west and to Finchampstead Ridges. We found an open area in the woodland where we stopped for lunch.

\n

After lunch, we returned along Wellingtonia Avenue. This road was much less busy than usual as it was closed to passing traffic - access only from the east - due to subsidence on The Ridges to the west. The road has been closed for over a year while they work out how to repair it and who is going to pay!

\n

This road is lined with over one hundred giant sequoia trees, planted in the 1860s and known at the time as Wellingtonia. At 160 years old, these trees are still young compared with their Californian cousins, some of which are over 3000 years old!

\n

\"The

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The road ended at the roundabout with Lower Wokingham Road and Duke's Ride. It was then a matter of retracing our outward route along Duke's Ride to return to Crowthorne railway station. See our our route on Google Maps.

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\"A

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Thank you to Sue B for leading this walk.

\n

📸 Back to Volume 40

\n

Return to volume index

\n"}