Following a few days of heavy rain, the weather forecast for Sunday 2nd April was significantly better and enticed fourteen ramblers to meet outside The Bladebone pub in Chapel Row for a seven-mile walk, including three new walkers who were trying out the group.
In the past, this walk has been included in the programme at different times of the year, including a heat wave in August and snow in March, but today, for a change, the route was reversed! Although the weather forecast was good, the route included long stretches of ankle-deep mud and in the ten years that I’ve been walking with the Berkshire Weekend Walkers, this walk could easily be the muddiest walk ever!
Before starting the walk, we learnt a few interesting facts about the area. The sign at the entrance to The Bladebone pub is most unusual and local legend would have you believe that it was from a mammoth which terrorised the local inhabitants until as one, they trapped and killed it, burying the beast on the banks of the river. However, the bone is actually from a whale that was found at the beginning of the 17th century in the Kennet valley and the bone is now encased in copper. The fact that it is hanging outside the inn is a mystery, but might suggest that the inn sold whale oil which was used in the 19th century as oil for lamps.
The road to Chapel Row from Bradfield is lined with huge oak trees, which were planted to commemorate the visit of Elizabeth I to Bucklebury in 1568, the victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and to welcome Queen Elizabeth II in 1972. More recently Princess Anne planted an oak as a birthday present to the Queen Mother on her eightieth birthday and further rows of oaks were planted to commemorate the Millenium and to mark the marriage of Prince William to Catherine Middleton. On March 11th 2022, a number of trees were planted to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
For the first section of the walk, we headed northwest along the edge of Chapel Row Common to take a path northwards, past St Anne's Farm and St Crispin's Farm. From here, there are lovely views over the Pang Valley, but today, all eyes were firmly fixed on the ground in order to navigate the first stretch of mud.
After passing a row of Poplar trees, we continued straight ahead through fields leading to Stanford Dingley. A short stretch of road through the village, past the Old Boot Inn, took us to the start of a well defined footpath along the edges of fields, passing Bradfield Hall Farm, where we stopped briefly to admire a pair of long horn Highland cows. It wasn’t long before we were walking along the banks of the River Pang. Although the lunch stop was originally planned for later in the walk, but after all the mud, the sight of a bench and some dry concrete steps at the side of the river seemed the perfect location for an early lunch.
Continuing along the river to the village of Bradfield, we passed the Bradfield College Art Department, where a lovely model village made up of small clay houses was on display. The grounds of the college are extensive and our path out of the village passed by the school golf course via a lovely avenue of trees. Crossing a road, we then took another well-defined path across fields, passing some miniature ponies surrounded by equally miniature Christmas trees.
The next part of the walk took us to the hamlet of Rotten Row via a pathway between banks, creating the impression of walking through a tunnel. A steep descent through the hamlet passed well-manicured gardens full of beautiful spring daffodils.
Leaving Rotten Row, we headed towards Jennetshill Wood and then followed a path uphill towards some pretty cottages and Kings Copse. Emerging from the Kings Copse, we could see the poplar trees that we passed near the start of the walk and it was there that we decided to take an alternative route back. The new route looked promising on the OS map – a short stretch through some woodland, followed by a longer stretch of road back to Chapel Row. However, this proved to be the wettest part of the walk and felt like we were wading through a muddy stream! Finally seeing dry land and the road back to Chapel Row was a very welcome sight and a drink in the garden of the newly refurbished Bladebone pub at the end was very well deserved! See our route on Google Maps.
Thank you to Sue for leading this walk and for writing it up.
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