🥾 Walk 634 - Finchampstead Bluebell Evening Walk

Our first midweek evening walk of the year was on Thursday 18th April. Starting at 6.45pm from the NT Simon’s Wood car park in Finchampstead, sixteen Ramblers set off in search of bluebells and they weren’t disappointed. Heading south from the car park, we took the path down through Simons Wood to Coalpit Copse, where the woodland on both sides of the path was a carpet of deep blue and appeared even more vibrant compared to the same woodland this time last year. At the bottom of Coalpit Copse, we turned right onto Ambarrow Lane in the direction of the Moor Green Lakes. After skirting around the edge of Horseshoe Lake we joined the Blackwater Valley Path past Grove Lake, following the meandering Blackwater River.

On leaving the Blackwater Valley Path, we headed north through the nature reserve past Colebrook Lake South and Colebrook Lake North, both of which are popular for bird watching, the small islands in them being named Snipe, Sandpiper, Tern, Goose and Plover Islands. On reaching the road, we continued north along Dell Road, admiring the attractive thatched cottages and beautiful spring flowers, before taking a path to the NT Finchampstead Ridges. To make the most of the fading daylight, we took paths through some of the more open woodland, before a short relatively steep ascent up to the ridge and Wellingtonia Avenue. We followed a path parallel to the road back through Simons Wood to the car park, finishing the 3.6 mile walk at 8.07pm, just three minutes after the sun had begun to set.

Thanks go to Sue B for leading this walk, providing the photos and writing it up.

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