21st July
We’d been reserving this walk for the Autumn. I had the feeling the leaf colours would be spectacular. However, at the moment Sue is only willing to walk if it’s through woods…so we pick this walk from the pile.
An 8.1 mile ramble through Burnham Beeches and Egypt Woods before a return across Farnham Common. Sandwiched between the M4, M40 and M25 these woods are an oasis of wooded calm. There have been woods here stretching back to the last Ice Age and they’re surely worth preserving. So much so that 138 year’s ago the City of London Corporation bought them to prevent local developers from building houses on them…a rather enlightened approach for 1880. One wonders if someone in the Corporation had a country residence locally…nevertheless we have them to thank this morning for our walk.
It’s not clear why Egypt Woods were so called…best explanation…at one point it was believed that Gypsies came from Egypt and there was a local stopping point for Gypsies in these woods. Unconvinced? Yes, maybe you can find better?
Overall an enjoyable morning’s walk…but will probably be even better in the Autumn…perhaps we’ll be back.
Burnham Beeches picture gallery (more pictures on Flickr):
Distance: 8.1 miles ; Difficulty: Easy
Postcode for Satnav: SP2 3PS
Burnham Beeches walk profile
Where Angells Tread! 