Hawthorn Hill – Nuptown – Chawridge Bank – Mount Skippets Farm – Drift Road

25 Nov 2007

• Total distance: five and a half miles.
• Start point: Layby near Cruchfield Manor, SU 878739.
• Weather: Dull at first, brighter later.
• Temperature at start: 8C.
• Muddiness rating: **** (*=dry, *****=awful) OK until the last quarter mile, which was like the Somme
• People passed: One walker, two cyclists and a few Iron-Toed Footpath Macerators (or “horses” as their owners refer to them).
• Step counter: 12405
• Camera: Sony Alpha 100, images before deletions = 80.

Outwardly this doesn’t look like a promising place for a walk. Much of the time the skyline is dominated by the many megalithic monuments of Bracknell, and the occasional buildings you’ll pass are either modern houses which look like they need another twenty years to blend into the countryside, or that singular variant of farmstead where folk apparently make a living by storing buses and recovery trucks.

But I’m honest enough to admit that my lack of enthusiasm is really just a result of not knowing the area well. The land rises and falls in a more leisurely way than in my usual stamping grounds in the Chilterns, the fields are bigger, and the mud beneath my boots always seems to cloy in a more persistent way than usual, even though it sits on London Clay which is more or less what’s beneath Maidenhead. A few miles south the clays give way to the Bagshot Sands, much freer draining and in places very acidic, thereby supporting a different range of flora like gorses, heathers and Scots pines. These are all widespread the other side of Bracknell (which is probably a better place to go walking when the weather’s been wet).

Most of the off-road paths in the area are bridleways, with names like Hogoak Lane and Snipes Lane. Sadly I didn’t see or hear any snipe. Doing so would have pleased me no end, as its distinctive va-va-va noise transports me instantly and jubilantly to the northern uplands. I’m told they’ve been seen along the Jubilee River. I doubt it though: I can’t imagine any self-respecting snipe electing to hang around near Slough sewage works when it could be riding the cool updrafts of the Pennines or admiring the view in Iceland.

After a mile I arrived at the reason I’d gone this way – a tiny nature reserve called Chawridge Bank. According to the sign by the gate it’s managed by BBOWT (Bucks, Berks and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust) and access “is by arrangement only” so, ahem, you can’t go in. Shame. It’s a grazed but otherwise undisturbed patch of grassland, spanning both sides of a little valley. The feeling of it being forgotten is reinforced by the lack of any mention of it on the BBOWT website, but it crops up intermittently on others, for instance to tell you that you can find both the Dingy Skipper and the Grizzled Skipper there, should you be after one.

I continued north past Mount Skippets Farm. A mere 48 meters above sea level – just 25m above the Thames three miles to the north - it’s high enough to give an expansive view across Maidenhead, Taplow and the Walthams, with Ashley and Bowsey hills prominent to the west. It’s one of those uncommon places where you really see the Thames Valley for what it is – a wide valley.

After reaching the road I turned left, twice, and followed another bridlepath running south until I emerged onto Drift Road. It feels like it should be a Roman road, but it isn’t. The name shows that until the 19th century it was an important route for driving livestock, when wool spun in Berkshire was exported to Europe. It’s straight, quiet, and as yet untrammeled by speed cameras, so it’s no surprise that it’s used as a test track by a few locals on a Sunday afternoon. A motorbike went past me at a ferocious clip which, through the simple application of some basic principles of physics, I calculated as 350 mph. Man, that’s fast.

Another notable feature of the Drift Road used to be the Cider House. It was popular amongst farm workers and Hells Angels, and on the few occasions I went in there I remember the complete absence of any conversation, the only noise being the slurping of liquid being necked. It was demolished and replaced by two executive homes about ten years ago. But there’s an even more bizarre sight on the other side of the road. A new mountain is under construction at Pickins Farm. I hadn’t heard or read anything about this, but it’s big and spectacularly ugly (see photo). Can anyone tell me what’s going on?

Click here for map > HawthornHillmap

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-- RodBird - 28 Nov 2007