🥾 Walk 561 - Crowthorne and Finchampstead

Sunday 19th February was the perfect day for getting out walking – warm, sunny and dry! Twenty-two walkers gathered at Crowthorne Railway Station for a 10am start, following the arrival of the 9:56am train from Reading.

Heading east from the station, we entered the grounds of Wellington College, walking along what is known as “The Kilometre”, connecting Dukes Ride to Sandhurst Road. Crossing over the Sandhurst Road, we then explored Wildmoor Heath Nature Reserve, which provides a rich habitat for wildlife and in particular several rare species of birds such as the Dartford Warbler, Woodlark and Nightjar. We headed south east along a well-marked path to join the board walk across the rather boggy water-logged area. Leaving Wildmoor Heath, we retraced our steps by crossing back over the Sandhurst Road, but then headed south west into Edgbarrow Woods Nature Reserve.

Proceeding north past the Wellington College playing fields, we then crossed over the railway line into Ambarrow Court (originally part of a Victorian country estate), where it was lovely to see some early flowering daffodils. Walking through a field past Ambarrow Farm took us to Horseshoe Lake where we had a drink stop.

Horseshoe Lake was originally part of an extensive network of working gravel pits that have been flooded and are now a popular location for watersports, bird watching and walking. Here, we were fortunate to witness Fire and Rescue training their Newfoundland dogs to do water rescues. After walking around the southern half of the lake, we headed north and up through Coalpit Copse, which is a favourite local path, especially in the Spring when bluebells can be seen in abundance.

On reaching the top of the copse, we headed west along a road towards Finchampstead Ridges, an area owned and managed by the National Trust, where we climbed up to the top of the ridge. It was here that we had our lunch stop, while enjoying lovely far-reaching views towards the Hogsback Ridge in Surrey.

The final part of the walk took us across Wellingtonia Avenue, with its impressive redwood sequoia trees, and through Simons Wood to Heath Pond, from where we followed a path back to Crowthorne Station. See our route on Google Maps. Before heading home, a few of us enjoyed coffee and craft beer at The Hive opposite the station.

The walk was put together from favourite lockdown paths and although most of the 8.5 mile route was flat, we managed a total of 552ft of ascent.

Thank you to Sue B from leading this walk, for writing it up and providing the photos.

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