Barkham Church and the Combes

Path through The Combes

Just time today for a bit of local early morning exercise. This walk starts in a quiet lane in Barkham, near Reading, and goes via lanes and fields to Barkham Church, past Barkham Rectory (a surprising distance away) to the delightful wood known as The Combes. Four miles.

Rating: 3 stars.

From: Rambling for pleasure around Reading (First series) by David Bounds for East Berkshire Ramblers' Association group.

Map: Explorer 159 (Reading, Wokingham and Pangbourne).

Reflections

Once nice thing about this walk is that it intersects one of my regular ones, Carter's Hill and Barkham Brook. One of the many things that make for a good walk is surely that sense of building a detailed knowledge of a locality, and seeing the same path, landmark or view from a different perspective is one of best ways to do this.

Sightings

Drizzle, not much going on, but I did spot a single deer in the middle of a field. Every few moments it would look up and freeze, alert for any threat. And I enjoyed this field of pink-headed grass, sprinkled with buttercups.