On a damp Sunday morning ten of us gathered in the village of Silchester to set off on a 9.5 mile walk. Slightly after our scheduled start time, we struck off along the Brenda Parker way towards the Iron Age and Roman settlement of Calleva Atrebates.
Unfortunately, after recent rain the path was under a few inches (in old money) of water which we carefully negotiated before reaching the walls of the old Roman town. During the pre walk briefing it was discovered that all of the group had previously seen the amphitheatre at the North East of the settlement and so we then continued on Eastward through St Mary’s church yard to make our way down to the ford at Clappers Farm.
Continuing on our journey East, we passed under the Reading to Basingstoke branch line and eventually turned South to zig-zag our way into the village of Bramley. After recrossing the trainline at the level crossing in Bramley, a Westward walk along the main thoroughfare of the village brought us to our lunch stop, St James church, where by chance we met the vicar of the church, the Reverend Mark Anderson.
The Reverend very kindly gave the group an interesting tour of the church which has stunning Medieval wall paintings which had been covered up at the time of the Reformation and also told us the history of the baptismal font, bell tower and Brocas apse.
St James Church is located along The St James Way, a modern-day pilgrimage route in southern England. The route stretches approximately 68.5 miles (110 kilometres) between Reading Abbey in the North and Southampton and is part of the Camino de Santiago de Compostella which ends in North Western Spain. Many thanks to Reverend Mark for his hospitality and showing us round St James church, it was very much appreciated.
Buried in the churchyard of St James is a woman who Albert Einstein described as the ‘German Marie Curie’, a physicist by the name of Elise Meitner who was nominated for Nobel prizes both in Physics and Chemistry on forty nine occasions between 1937 and 1967 but was never awarded for her research and achievements. She is one of two women who have elements in the Periodic Table named after them, the other being Madame Curie and Meitnerium can be found in the Periodic Table of Elements with an atomic number of 109.
After lunch the rain stopped, which we were again most grateful for. With the appearance of some sunshine we then headed West towards Pamber Forest, a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its flora and fauna. Due to the approaching winter the forest was fairly quiet and much of the fauna may have been either hibernating or preparing to do so. We negotiated some more moisture as we approached the last leg of the walk, a slight incline on the way back into Silchester to arrive back at the start point. See our route on Google Maps.
After changing out of muddy boots, some of the group who were able to stay paid a visit to The Calleva Arms to enjoy an optional end of walk beverage. With Christmas approaching, and in the seasonal spirit, there was mulled wine available which was appreciated by some of the group.
On comparing distances travelled with various measurement devices, the walk measured approximately 9.58 miles which was fairly close to the distance plotted out beforehand. Thanks to everyone who came along, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did leading.
Thanks go to Stephen for leading this walk and for writing it up.
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