Farnborough to Weybourne (Blackwater Valley Path 4)

The source of the Blackwater

A lovely day and we decided it was time to finish the Blackwater Valley Path. We picked up the route near Coleford Lake, crossed to the other side of the busy A331 and walked parallel to it along a narrow wooded strip. After a while we crossed under the road and followed close by it to eventually emerge at North Camp station.

The station is a very pleasant Victorian building in a Venetian gothic style, matched by the nearby Old Ford pub. The pub was getting ready for the World Cup, but was decked out - somewhat inappropriately as it now seems - with Union Jacks.



The river was by now quite narrow and heavily overgrown with reeds.



The next section was easily the best of the whole walk. We were now further away from the noise of the road and soon reached Hollybush Hill. This was a rubbish dump until 1980 when it was covered over with soil. It has now become a sunny flower meadow and a fine site for butterflies and moths. We saw a pair of Chalkhill Blues mating, but temporary incompetence prevented a completely satisfactory picture being taken.



A bit further on there was an impressive modern aqueduct carrying the Basingstoke Canal over the river and the A331. The route required us to climb up to it and cross over as well.



We saw a pair of swans with no less than seven cygnets, and a similar sized family of mallards.


The route then followed meadows beside the narrow river, but never far from the A331. Gradually it enters the built up area of Aldershot, passes behind Aldershot Park and in front of suburban housing.

In Badhsot Lea you follow the road for a while, skirt Badshot Lea lake and follow another stretch of road to enter the Rowhill Copse Nature Reserve. The river how has shrunk to a muddy ditch by the path.



After walking through this pleasant piece of woodland, you reach the source of the Blackwater. It is not a spring as one might expect, but a bog on sloping land.

From: Blackwater Valley Path (Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership) Stages 4-1.

Map: Explorer 145 (Guildford and Farnham).

Conditions: dry, sunny, warm.

Distance: 8 miles.

Rating: two and half stars. Traffic noise for most of the way, and increasingly urban. The final section and the Hollybush Hill site were lovely however.


Sightings

I thought this might be a Dingy Skipper, but it turns out to be a Mother Shipton moth.




Flower of the day

We saw quite a bit of this cheerful Corn Camomile.

Sandhurst to Farnborough (Blackwater Valley Path 3)

The Blackwater near Sandhurst

A late afternoon walk after a long and tiring work meeting. Continuing the Blackwater Valley Path seemed to be the ideal way to unwind. We walked down Swan lane to join the Blackwater again and followed the south bank. The river was more sinuous here and as the photo shows there was lots of hawthorn blossom in evidence.

We crossed over and wandered through the pleasant Shepherd Meadows and then crossed to the other side to emerge by a roundabout in the village of Blackwater. Happily we were soon back by the river and walking through Blackwater Park and then Hawley Meadows.

One notable point at towards the end of the Meadows was the confluence of the Cove Brook with the Blackwater.


A bit further on, the river was becoming increasingly narrow and full of rushes.


The final leg of the walk involved walking through Frimley Business Park, a complicated manoeuvre to cross the M3 and then a couple of miles following the river bank between the busy A331 on one side and a new series of one-time gravel pits, now used for fishing, on the other. Coleford Lake seemed to be the nicest of these.

From: Blackwater Valley Path (Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership) Stages 7-5.

Map: Explorer 159 (Reading, Wokingham and Pangbourne) and 145 (Guildford and Farnham).

Conditions: dry, sunny, very warm, but getting chilly as the sun went down.

Distance: 5.5 miles.

Rating: two stars. Increasing traffic noise as the walk went on. However, at least the great majority of the walk was right by the river.


Flowers of the day

At several points we saw clumps of this delicate lilac-coloured Cuckoo Flower.


And a few isolated examples of Honesty.

Eversley Bridge to Sandhurst (Blackwater Valley Path 2

The Blackwater near Finchampstead

A lovely sunny afternoon and we decided to make further progress along the Blackwater Valley Path. We set out from Eversley Bridge away from the river, walked along a lane and past Fleethill Farm and along the edge of a field beside Fleet Copse. We have been this way several times before and we were surprised to see a series of great earth mounds along the edge of the field blocking the view from the path. Once we could see past them it all became clear: the gravel extraction which dominates the Blackwater Valley from Finchamsptead to Sandhurst has just spread a bit further west. Presumably it will have to stop when it gets close to Eversley Bridge.

Eventually we rejoined the river and walked along with vast gravel works on the left and the river on the right. You just have to keep looking right!

A bit further on we entered Moor Green Lakes Nature Reserve - the eventual upside of gravel extraction - and were thrilled to find this heron standing calmly on the far side of the river, not of course that it is very wide.



He is a fine sight of course, but the real delight was that I saw a heron standing calmly in the exact same place in May 2009. Surely it must have been the same one. Was he there for the whole time in between?

On reaching the end of Horseshoe Lake with its water sports centre you leave the river again and follow Lower Church Rd with St Michael's church, Sandhurst on the left. Pevsner says it was the work of GE Street in 1853, but was enlarged in the 1860s. I rather liked the bell-tower directly over the porch.



Then through Sandhurst High St with an odd mixture of shops including a wig maker and a knob specialist, to finally rejoin the river at Swan Lane.

From: Blackwater Valley Path (Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership) Stages 10-8.

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

Conditions: dry, sunny, very warm.

Distance: 5 miles.

Rating: three stars.


Sightings

Right at the start of the walk we saw three of the five butterflies you are likely to spot at this time of year: Brimstone, Comma and this lovely Peacock, with its intense iridescent colours.



Small Tortoiseshell and Orange Tip (perhaps a bit later) are the others. We also saw a couple of Widgeon near the nature reserve


Flower of the day

There were a couple of clumps of these intensely-coloured violets.

Swallowfield to Eversley Bridge (Blackwater Valley Path 1)

A nice afternoon and we made the impromptu decision to start the Blackwater Valley Path. We had read about it last year and bought the guide book ... but not done anything. A familiar tale.

We decided to start at the northern end, Swallowfield, just before the Blackwater merges with the Loddon and then the Thames. The guidebook describes the route from the source, but it is pretty simple, so we don't anticipate any problems.

The walk is studiously labeled the Blackwater Valley Path and it begins with an early indication that you will not necessarily be walking along the river bank: about a mile along a road and then a lane before you reach the river itself. However, it is quite an interesting mile as first you skirt Swallowfield Park. This 17th century house was designed by William Talman, better known for Chatsworth, and remodeled in the early 19th century. It used to be open on certain days of the year but is now being sold as apartments. From the road, at this time of year, you can see a classic country house bridge, over the river, with part of the house just visible beyond.


A little further on, you cross the river by the road bridge and you can make a small detour to see All Saints church. On first sight it looks Victorian, but going round to the other side a Norman dooorway becomes visible and Pevsner confirms that the nave is indeed Norman. There are Victorian elements, but the timber supports of the bell turret are apparently late medieval.


Leaving the lane and walking beside a field, you finally get your first view of the Blackwater. At its widest here, fast flowing, with all the reeds and bullrushes having been cleared away from the banks.


A little further on you come to the point where the Whitewater flows into the Blackwater. Strictly speaking, the section onwards from here to the Loddon is known as the Broadwater.



Now you follow the bank of the river to Jouldings Lock, but soon after you have to move away from the river along a track and then a couple of lanes to reach the New Mill at Eversley, now a restaurant.



You cross the river here and follow the line of the south bank (although you can't actually see the river for most of the way) through fields and along a track to reach Eversley where you turn left and cross the river again at Eversley Bridge.



From: Blackwater Valley Path (Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership) Stages 12-11.

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

Conditions: dry, warm.

Distance: 4.5 miles.

Rating: three stars.


Flower of the day

Lots of Yellow Celandine everywhere and some clumps of Greater Stitchweed - quite pretty despite its name.