On Saturday 16th March, nineteen of us met up by the cafe in Burnham Beeches National Nature Reserve for a walk that should have been eight miles long. However, when Mike (the leader of this walk) did the recce, he found part of the route impassable due to flooding.
It was hoped that the waters would have receded by the day of the walk, however there had been a lot of rain in the previous week, so we were warned that the walk might be shortened to six-and-a-half miles.
We began the walk by following Halse Drive through the largely beech woodland, soon turning right onto Dukes Drive. These drives are tarmacked lanes, which were much easier to walk on than the muddy path that would come later.
At the end of Dukes Drive, we left Burnham Beeches for Egypt! Not the place with the pyramids, but a Buckinghamshire village. We followed Egypt Lane through Egypt Woods, leaving it for muddy footpaths taking us towards the village of Hedgerley.
Mike's original plan was to go into the village of Hegerley and stop at the pub, but when we got to Kiln Lane, the flooding Mike had seen during the recce had not receded enough for us to get through. I tried to wade through, but it was up to the top of my boots before reaching the middle of the flooded section.
We headed the other way along Kiln Lane, back into Egypt Woods and stopped at Healy's Gorse for our lunch break. The ground was surprisingly dry here, considering how wet everywhere else was, and there were tree stumps and logs to sit on.
After lunch, we continued on a path that got gradually more soggy before following a lane to Littleworth Common. It was not just mud to contend with - a tree had fallen over the path, creating an interesting obstacle to deal with.
Next we took a very muddy path from Littleworth Common to Dorney Wood. This was possibly the trickiest part of the walk, but we all remained upright. Those with walking poles had a distinct advantage here.
The path through Dorney Wood took us to the far end of Halse Drive and we were back in Burnham Beeches. We followed this drive back to the cafe from where we had started the walk. See our route on Google Maps.
Thanks go to Mike for leading this walk.
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