# 🥾 Walk 543 - Kingsclere, Sydmonton and Ecchinswell

There was a definite autumnal feel to the weather on Sunday 30th October as eleven of us meet up at the free car park on White Hill, near Kingsclere. The stiff breeze carried the odd drops of rain, which foretold what was approaching.

We set off along the tops of Cannon Hill Down and Watership Down, where we reached the highest point of the walk. Then we descended into the valley and out of the wind. We walked through the Sydmonton Estate, home of Andrew Lloyd Webber - we didn't see him, or anyone else for that matter.

![Descending from Watership Down to Sydmonton.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume42/images/nuthanger_down.jpg)

Passing through Watership Farm, we made our way to Ecchinswell. The rain began just as we approached the village. We stopped in a little green to have our packed lunches, and the rain kept coming and going in waves. At one point, the bench was abandoned in favour of standing under a tree for shelter. As soon as we'd finished lunch we got moving again, passing through the village and then through farmland.

We passed some fishing lakes at Frobury Farm. Fishermen were sitting in specially designed tent-like shelters and as they waited patiently for a bite. As we plodded through farmland on our way to Kingsclere, we could see blue sky behind us as the rain beat down.

![Hiding from the rain during our lunch stop in Ecchinswell.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume42/images/ecchinswell.jpg)

Just as we reached Kingsclere the rain passed us and a rainbow heralded our arrival. We emerged from Frogs Hole (not as disgusting as it sounds - it's just a lane) onto the main road, which we followed into the centre of the village and to The Crown pub.

They had an outdoor seating area that was semi-covered. This was perfect for us, as we could sit there in relative shelter, dripping away without making the pub's floor wet. Hot drinks were available there, too. Suitably refreshed, we continued the walk, stopping briefly by the church to admire the weather-vane, which was in the shape of a bed bug!

![Braving the rain as we passed through Porch Farm.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume42/images/porch_farm.jpg)

Pat, one of our regulars, told us she'd heard a story that during the 13th century, King John and his entourage had been caught in thick fog while travelling by, and they'd stopped in the village overnight. The King was troubled by bed bugs all night and decided to have a weather-vane erected on the village church to commemorate the experience. Unpleasant as it sounds, I think it actually looks very good in gold against the blue sky.

We left Kingsclere by crossing the recreation ground and then carefully following the footpath through the gallops at Park House Stables, owned by racehorse trainer Andrew Balding (brother of TV's Clare Balding).

![The rain changed to sun as we reached Kingsclere.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume42/images/kingsclere_rainbow.jpg)

Next came the steep ascent of Cottington's Hill, the second highest point on our walk. We took a diagonal path up the side of the hill through the mixed woodland of Freemantle Park Down. At the top of the hill, we could see across to Newbury.

It was then a short and mainly downhill walk through farmland, back to the car park on White Hill. See our route on Google Maps. With all the ups and downs, we did 1,560 feet (475m) of ascent in total over the 9.5 mile (15.3km) walk. A good workout!

![Bed-bug shaped weather-vane on Kingsclere church.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume42/images/weather-vane.jpg)

![Ascending Cottington's Hill at the end of the walk.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume42/images/cottingtons_hill.jpg)

*Rob led this walk and wrote it up.*

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