2 apparently, as per a comment on the walk's comment page

cloudy and chilly

Crowhurst -> Crowthorne in the title, unless I am making a buffoon of myself.

Thanks. Corrected. It was kind of a hot day yesterday…..

Walker's ticket advice is quite correct, but those studying for an advanced degree in Britain's arcane rail ticket system might like to read the walk's Transport section. If you want to travel out (or back) via Reading a return from Boundary Zone 6 to Blackwater (in conjunction with a Travelcard or Freedom Pass) is valid on any of the possible routes and would be my choice.

Eight off the train from Waterloo via Guildford, who very nicely waited for the six off the train from Paddington via Reading ten minutes later. Then off we set into the sunshine.

The riverside walk from Blackwater was pleasant but the longish street walk through Sandhurst a bit of a drag. (Another time I might be tempted to start at Sandhurst to at least cut some of this out). But once we were in the woods and hills of Fitchampstead Ridges all was delightful, the trees giving nice shade and the scenery interesting. There was a little bit of heather at one point, just starting to come out.

Seven of us arrived at the Queen’s Oak for lunch and found the experience delightful. Their shady garden was not over-busy and they had created a special hatch for those ordering in the garden. The food arrived very expeditiously. I seem to have had a good run of lunch pubs recently. Long may it continue.

Two sandwichers were also with us when we left the pub, but we puzzled over the whereabouts of the missing five people. Had some gone to the Greyhound? But no, there was no sign of them there. A closed permissive path across a lavender farm was a minor nuisance on the next section, but the road alternative was not unpleasant.

Somewhere in the afternoon we came to a lake. There was a dog bathing area and inflatable buoys in its middle with the words Swim Secure on them, but locals said actual human swimming from this place was not permitted and promised that a speedboat would come and tell us off if we did. Inspired by our outgoing prime minister, two of us ignored this advice and had a dip in the lake. Signs by the lake warned of deep water, but in fact pondweed tickled our legs. The water temperature was very pleasant. No speedboats appeared. The weather by this point was cloudy, so sunny in the morning and cloudy later

In Crowthorne the walk author mentions The Hive as a possible refreshment stop but admits he has not tried it. Well, eight of us did and it met with universal acclamation. Craft beers (including taster “bats” with four small glasses), tea in pots, gins and tonics, etc. A nice place.

We met two late starters here - so 16 on the walk in total. The two had started from Ealing Broadway but missed their connection at Reading. Getting a train 20 minutes late, they hatched a cunning plan to start at Sandhurst, expecting the group to overhaul them. They walked to the Greyhound and met three of our group there, and had a good lunch. They looked in at the Queen’s Oak but did not find us there.

After some disentangling it became clear what had happened. The correct walk route is rather convoluted, coiling around and back on itself. But unless you have the written directions (only one in our group did) or the printed map (which has direction arrows on it) this is not apparent. Using the GPX alone the obvious route seems to be to do the main loop of the walk backwards. This is what both the late starters and the three they lunched with had done.

There are also two routes indicated between the Greyhound and Queen’s Oak and they did one and we did the other, which is presumably why we missed each other.

Most finished the walk at Crowthorne, but four of us carried on to Wokingham (as possibly did the two walkers missing from this account: we have no idea where they went). There was a very nice pond on this section and some more woods, and Wokingham is certainly a pleasant town, but otherwise it was more of the same, really. Following the walk author’s advice we went up Peach Lane (or some such) to a modern square and had drinks and chips at a bistro called Hamlet something.

Getting on the 7.56 train, we settled down for a peaceful ride back to Waterloo. Alas, it was race day at Ascot and a raucous crowd invaded the train there. Still, it was nice to see the train being well used - as indeed was Waterloo when we got there. Who are all these people and where are they all going at 9pm on a Saturday? Maybe I am getting old….

Four took the 17:18 train from Crowthorne. We met one of the two missing walkers who did the long walk and got on the train from Workingham. The other missing walker got the train at Crowthorne.

Wet, basically. Cold and wet . If you stayed under the duvet today because of the dire weather forecast, for once you made the right call. Five of us ventured out regardless, but one thought better of it a hundred metres into the walk (Is this a record?) and headed home, so actually there were 4 of us.

In fact, the morning was not that bad. Rain greeted us as we disembarked at Crowthorne, but it was light and intermittent until lunch. The scenery was a very pleasant mix of heath and woods, dry underfoot on firm paths. On a nicer day this would have been a perfect winter walk.

The Queen’s Oak pub is described in the walk notes as “walker-friendly”. They were certainly perfectly welcoming, but I suspect this establishment has undergone a change of management since the last walk update, as it is now a table-service place with a fairly posh menu. They had one unreserved table and three of us had a perfectly pleasant meal there.

After lunch, alas, the rain set in. We did the slightly longer afternoon route and were soon in hunker down mode - keep the body core warm, maintain essential functions and so forth. The best that can be said about such weather is that it tests your kit (Sealskin socks and waterproof trousers - Pass; gloves and twenty year old waterproof jacket - Fail). The section along the River Blackwater seemed very pleasant on the occasions when I raised my eyes from the ground, but they were very rare occasions. For the record, this section was not the least bit waterlogged, despite warnings in the walk document - a good gravel path throughout and the river level a metre and a half below us.

We even got to Sandhurst with clean boots, and cleaner waterproof trousers than we had set off with. Our martial spirits were somewhat impaired, though. Even though it was only 3pm and our ranks included two stalwart long walkers, plans to carry on to Blackwater were ditched. Instead we went to the pub for tea or wine, and to start the long process of drying out before variously getting the 3.30 and 4.30 trains home.

Just to correct a typo, if travelling from Waterloo via Guildford the connection is Guildford (arr 10:11, dep 10:23)

Well spotted, thanks. Connection times at Guildford corrected.

There seem to be problems with trains out of paddington this morning 0 the 10;03 cancelled suggest waterloo

I hear that some people find it hard to get their walk reports accepted by the system, so to keep the walks archivist happy I'll record that 4 people turned up at the appointed time on a cloudy but dry day. The gloomy weather and rumours of train problems with GWR at Paddington meant that only one was there in time to catch a fast train to Reading a few minutes before the cancelled 10:03, meeting three who'd arrived at Crowthorne from the other direction.

This was not the best time of year for this walk. The snowdrops were long gone, the daffodils fading and the bluebells still slumbering; on the lakes the winter migrants had flown and the summer visitors yet to arrive. There was of course plenty of mud, if not the flooded areas reported on other recent outings. On the plus side the Queen's Oak deserves high praise for squeezing us in and serving four excellent lunches, substantial enough to put paid to thoughts of the longer afternoon or optional extension. We duly reached Sandhurst in good time for trains back around 4pm, although GWR had one trick up its sleeve: holding the train outside Guildford just long enough to miss the connection to Waterloo. I hope others got back without too much delay.

I think the info above should say " arrives Crowthorne 10.18"

Crowthorne to Sandhurst: The posted train to Reading wasn't on the Paddington board when I got there just before 9 so I took another train which should have taken a half hour but it was delayed en route, took twice as long & only just arrived in time to get the planned Crowthorne connection. On arrival not a single other walker emerged from the train. So I got on with the Short Walk extended to Blackwater, evocatively misty at first especially at Heath Pond but it cleared up later, lunched at Frog & Wicket, Eversley Cross which was very friendly & welcoming and finished just after 3.30 without seeing a single other walker all day. I'm sure some of you must have reached the area despite the travel problems and look forward to reading a report.

12 11 off the train, 1 SWC exile from Hampshire. mild overcast dry dry underfoot. Some signs of autumn but it could try harder. Pretty none the less. Good walk for fungi, mostly poisonous, some deadly. Chestnuts too.

Lunch at the Frog and Wicket was fine (with the possible exception of a microscopic beetroot tart). Most pressed on to Blackwater. 3 stopped at Sandhurst.

6 on the walk.

4 had lunch at The Queen's Oak, 2 had a packed lunch before joining the others in the pub.

2 caught the train from Sandhurst. The remainder headed to Blackwater, stopping for tea and cake at Pistachios in the Park, which is highly recommended.

6