Lakes, Mud, Twitchers, a Centenary, and Wellingtons

A group of eleven of us gathered at Wildmoor Heath, Crowthorne for our Sunday run, and though sunny weather was promised for later it was still misty and cold at 9.30 - cold enough for some of the group to be wearing three layers at the start!

We were heading for Moor Green Lakes and Finchampstead Ridges, a route that saw us starting off through the woods to the south of Wellington College's grounds. Descending the slope we had the first of what would be many swampy bits to negotiate. Then it was into Ambarrow, across a particularly boggy field, and finally into the lakes area, where the going was much better on the footpaths. Here our footpath followed the Blackwater River for a couple of miles along the Surrey/Berkshire border, and as well as passing other runners, we noticed there were a lot of people hanging around carrying big cameras, binoculars and telescopes, mostly dressed in camouflage colours and staring intently out across the river.

This is the actual bird, photographed at Moor Green Lakes

Curiosity got the better of me, so I stopped to ask what they were looking for. Apparently, a Pallas's Warbler has been spotted there over the last month. There has never been one recorded in Berkshire before - normally they migrate between Siberia in the summer and southern Asia in the winter. Let's hope they saw it - we didn't, though we did get a good close-up view of a large grey heron at one point.

Then, as the sun broke through, it was away from the lakes and up through the National Trust land at Finchampstead Ridges. As we got to the top after a steep climb we learned from a monument there that the land had been purchased for the NT by public subscription exactly 100 years ago in 1913, as had the neighbouring Simon's Wood where we were headed next. By this point, some layers of clothing were starting to be shed as the exertion and the sun warmed people up. We headed along Wellingtonia Avenue, where the redwood trees were planted in 1869 as a memorial to the Duke of Wellington who lived nearby. Then it was into Simon's Wood and a run along the edge of the very pretty Heath Pond, with the sun shining through the trees.

I thought at this time that we had finished with the mud, but no - in fact our route out of the woods along Heath Ride was the boggiest bit of the whole run, with unavoidable long stretches of trainer-deep goo for about half a mile! Then it was off for a run through the majestic grounds of Wellington College (also a monument to the Duke, opened in 1859), and back to our starting point, just under 9 miles covered.

All in all a very enjoyable run with lots to see.

Right, that's my trainers cleaned up - hope the bath water's still hot for me............

Steve