Suggested Donation 50p to How to get there

Driving: Postcode is RG40 4LS and there is a car park on site.

Nearest Station: station is 2 miles away.

The 145 and 406 services stop 800m away on Jubilee Road. We’re delighted to present two circular walks all starting and ending at the Queen’s Oak. The Brakspear Trails are a series of circular walks. Pub Walks App The walks on this leaflet are also available as easy We thought the idea of a variety of circular country walks to follow routes with real time GPS navigation on all starting and ending at our was a guaranteed winner. the Pub Walks App. We have fantastic pubs nestled in the countryside, and we hope our maps are a great way for you to get out and enjoy Search for ‘Pub Walks’ on your iPhone or Google some fresh air and a gentle walk, with a guaranteed drink at play app store to download the free app. the end – perfect! https://www.pubwalks.com Our pubs have always welcomed walkers (and almost all of them welcome dogs too), so we’re making it even easier with plenty of free maps. You can pick up copies in the pubs taking part or go to pub-trails.co.uk to download them as a printable PDF. We’re planning to add new pubs, so the best Respect – Protect – Enjoy place to check for the latest maps available is always on our website. Respect other people: • Consider the local community and other people We absolutely recommend you book a table so that when enjoying the outdoors you finish your walk you can enjoy a much needed bite to eat • Leave gates and property as you find them and too. At the weekend, please book in advance, as this is often follow paths unless wider access is available a busier time, especially in our smaller pubs. Protect the natural enviroment: • Leave no trace of your visit and take your litter home And finally, do send us your photos of you • Keep dogs under effective control out and about on your walk. We really do Enjoy the outdoors: love getting them. • Plan ahead and be prepared • Follow advice and local signs For more info visit: www.gov.uk/government/ @BrakspearPubs publications/the-countryside-code The Queen’s Oak Brakspear recommends that all walkers bring a copy of the Reading, Church Lane & Pangbourne Ordnance Survey Map. You can borrow one from the pub for a refundable £10 deposit Finchampstead Wokingham RG40 4LS

Tel: 0118 996 8567 Route 1: Horseshoe Lake and Simon’s Wood Distance: 10.8 km (6.7 miles) Time: 3.5 hours Route 2: Moor Green Lakes and Finchampstead Ridges Distance: 8.3 km (5.2 miles) Time: 2.5 hours

Route 1

Route 2 Long walk with some mild hills, Route 1 potentially muddy areas and woodland

Directions Distance: 10.8 km (6.7 miles) Time: 3.5 hours

01 Before you start this pub walk, we recommend that you until you go through a wooden gate, then turn to the right download the free ‘Pub Walks’ app to help you navigate the immediately and carefully cross the main road. On the walk. Search for ‘Pub Walks’ on your app store to find the app. opposite side of the road, about 10m to the right, take another footpath and follow it as it tracks the main road for about 02 From the carpark with your back to the pub, follow the road 40m before turning off to the left and passing a large gas ahead for 10m and then turn right and walk uphill towards container. the church. Go through the orange gate on your left into the church gardens. 09 Follow this long path ahead tracking a river to your right. After about 2000m, the path gets to a point where it turns to 03 Follow the path around the right side of the church and the right. At this point, there is a gate to the left with a sign then walk down a steep slope into some trees. Follow this path saying “Horseshoe Lake Parks and Countryside Service” which straight ahead, down some steps, and then continue straight is a permissive path around Horseshoe Lake. ahead onto a tree-lined downhill path.

04 After about 50m you reach a gate. Go through this gate and go straight ahead along this path for around 100m until DID YOU KNOW? Horseshoe Lake covers about 22 acres and it is named you see a turning on your right. Take this turning and then after it’s horseshoe-shaped island. follow this path again for around 300m. The path then turns Originally part of an extensive network of working gravel to the left and then after 20m or so it turns to the right with a pits that have now been flooded, this site now occupies an bridge and a wooden gate. attractive setting in the Blackwater Valley and is a popular venue for those who enjoy watersports, birdwatching and 05 Go through this gate and go straight ahead for 150m until walking. you hit a T-Junction in the path at the bottom of the hill. Turn left here and then walk 20m, go through a wooden gate, and then onto a quiet lane with a wooden fence to your right. 10 Go through this gate and follow the path as it tracks Follow this lane for 150m until it reaches a T-junction with a around the Horseshoe lake with the lake to your right. After main road. Turn left onto this road and walk along the path about 700m, at the back corner of the lake, the path goes for about 80m before crossing the road and then joining a thin off to the right and there is a wooden gate on your left. Go tree-lined path you’ll see just before the petrol station. through the wooden gate to the left and immediately go 06 After 200m on this path, turn right onto a track and follow through another wooden gate a few metres ahead onto a this as it goes downhill and bends to the left before turning quiet road. into a footpath leading into more trees. Keep following this 11 Carefully cross the road and walk straight ahead through a path, bending to the left as it goes, until it reaches a metal metal gate into a field. Walk through this field with trees and gate. Go through the gate and emerge onto a small bridge bushes on your left, go through 2 more metal kissing gates, with lovely countryside and lakes in view. and then keep going until eventually, in the top left corner of 07 Walk ahead for 150m until you see a wooden bridge and the field, you come to wooden gate leading onto a quiet road. gate on your left. Continue straight on at this point and walk 12 Go through the wooden gate, turn left and carefully follow ahead for another 200m, enjoying more pretty lakes either side the road for around 50m until it bends to the left, at which of you, as the path turns into a gravel track and bends to the point you will see a footpath on your right going into the left around the back of the lake. Keep following this path all woods. Follow that path through the woods as it bends to the way alongside the lake until it turns left again at the far the right after about 200m with a fence to your left. Follow end of the lake. this path for another 300m until it bends to the left. After the 08 At the end of the gravel path, it turns into a smaller bend keep following the path as it goes quite steeply uphill footpath. Keep straight ahead on this footpath for 40m into some beautiful woodland. Long walk with some mild hills, Route 1 potentially muddy areas and woodland

Directions Distance: 10.8 km (6.7 miles) Time: 3.5 hours

A relaxing bench by a pretty pond

16 Follow that footpath until you reach a fork after another 200m and you need to take the left turning here. Then, follow The fantastic Simon’s Wood the footpath for around 700m as it passes through a wooden gate and then takes you down a hill, until it reaches the road 13 After another 400m you will then come to a T-Junction, ahead. at which point you turn right and follow the track downhill for about 300m until it reaches a busy road. Cross this road 17 Turn left onto the road and follow the path alongside the carefully and then follow the footpath straight ahead into road for about 50m before carefully crossing the road and Simon’s Wood which is a National Trust woodland. following the path on the other side of the road for another 50m. Then, turn right onto Church Lane road that is heading 14 Follow the footpath through these majestic woodlands back up towards the Queen’s Oak pub. Carefully follow this for about 300m before the path bends to the left. Follow it quiet road for about 400m until you see the Queen’s Oak pub for another 100m or so after the bend, ignoring a couple of on your right. footpaths on your right until it reaches a main crossroads in the path. At the crossroads, turn right onto this track (Hollybush Ride) and follow this for about 500m, passing a pretty pond on your left, until it reaches another crossroads.

15 Turn left onto the quiet lane at this crossroads and then walk along the pretty Heath Ride residential lane for around 1000m until you see a small lane on your left, just before a house, called Wick Hill Lane. Follow the very quiet Wick Hill Lane for about 100m and just before it bends off to the left, you’ll see a footpath sign on your right saying ‘Restricted Byway’. Easy walking with some mild hills, Route 2 potentially muddy areas and woodland

Directions Distance: 8.3 km (5.2 miles) Time: 2.5 hours

01 Before you start this pub walk, we recommend that you 07 Follow this long path alongside a river on your right. After download the free ‘Pub Walks’ app to help you navigate the about 1000m, you will see a little wooden bridge on the left. walk. Search for ‘Pub Walks’ on your app store to find the app. Just after the bridge you will then see a metal footpath sign and two footpaths going off to the left alongside each other. 02 From the carpark with your back to the pub, follow the road Turn left onto the second of these two footpaths and then ahead for 10m and then turn right and walk uphill towards follow that straight ahead, walking past a pretty lake to your the church. Go through the orange gate on your left into the right. church gardens. Follow the path around the right side of the church and then walk down a steep slope into some trees. 08 After 300m the path merges and crosses a small bridge. Follow this path straight ahead, down some steps, and then Cross the bridge and when the path splits again, take the continue straight ahead onto a tree-lined downhill path for right split and follow that path for another 500m until you about 50m until you reach a gate. walk through a carpark and onto a quiet lane. Turn right and walk slightly uphill along this lane for about 400m until you 03 Go through this gate and go straight ahead along this path then turn left at a green metal restricted byway sign. Walk for around 100m until you see a turning on your right. Take ahead up the hill for around 350m until it meets a gate and this turning and then follow this path again for around 300m. crossroads. The path then turns to the left and then after 20m or so it turns to the right with a bridge and a wooden gate. 09 Go straight ahead at the crossroads, walking through the gate, and then between the two information signs. Follow this 04 Go through this gate and walk straight ahead for 150m path straight ahead into the woods with a wire fence to your until you hit a T-Junction in the path at the bottom of the hill. right for 100m until you see a wooden post where the path Turn left here and then walk 20m, go through a wooden gate, forks. Go left at this fork and head on up the hill towards a and then onto a quiet lane with a wooden fence to your right. wooden fence at the top. Follow this lane for 150m until it reaches a T-junction with a 10 Turn left at the fence and follow the path though the lovely main road. Turn left onto this road and walk along the path for woodland, walking over two wooden platforms, and then up about 80m before crossing the road and following a tree-lined a slight hill until you meet a crossroads after about 180m. path you’ll see next to the petrol station. Go straight ahead at the crossroads and continue ahead 05 After 200m, turn right onto a track and follow this as it through the woodland for about 120m until you meet another goes downhill and bends to the left before turning into a crossroads. footpath leading into more trees. Keep following this path, 11 Go left at this second crossroads and head downhill through bending to the left as it goes, until it reaches a metal gate. Go the woods for about 200m until you hit a T-junction and through the gate and emerge onto a small bridge with lovely fence ahead. Turn right here and follow that path all the way countryside and lakes in view. Walk ahead for 350m, enjoying downhill for about 350m until it reaches a road. Turn right some pretty lakes either side of you. The path then turns into onto the quiet winding road and carefully follow it uphill a gravel track and bends to the left around the back of the for 700m until it reaches a crossroads. Carefully cross the second lake. Keep following this path all the way alongside road here and go straight ahead onto a gravel track. Follow the lake until it turns left again at the far end of the lake. this track for about 400m until turning left at a green public bridleway sign and then following that track for another 500m 06 At the end of the gravel path, it turns into a smaller footpath. Keep straight ahead on this footpath for 40m until it meets a road. until you go through a wooden gate, then turn to the right 12 Follow this road straight ahead (carefully crossing the immediately and cross the main road. On the opposite side road to get onto the footpath) for about 50m until you see of the road, about 10m to the right, take another footpath a road going off to the left, signposted the Queen’s Oak and and follow it as it tracks the main road for about 40m before Finchampstead Church. Turn left here and carefully follow this turning off to the left and passing a large gas container. quiet road for about 400m until you see the Queen’s Oak pub on your right. The Queen’s Oak Opening Hours: Monday - Saturday: 12pm – 11pm Sunday: 12pm - 7pm Kitchen Open: Mon - Fri: 12pm – 2.30pm & 7pm – 9.30pm Saturday: 12pm – 3pm & 6.30pm – 9.30pm Sunday: 12pm - 4pm

• Serves Food • Hold a Party • Places to Walk • Cask Marque • Family Friendly • Dog Friendly • Park the Car • WIFI access

The Queen’s Oak Church Lane Finchampstead Wokingham Berkshire RG40 4LS

Tel: 0118 996 8567 www.thequeensoak.com

This info was correct at the time of going to print. August 2019 v1

www.pub-trails.co.uk Brakspear, The Bull Courtyard, Bell Street Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 2BA 01491 570200 [email protected]