Pete's Walks- Goring, Hartslock, Cray's Pond (page 2 of 4)
If you are considering walking this route yourself, please see my disclaimer. You may also like to see these notes about the maps and GPX files.
At the top of the hill I briefly had a fence on my right, giving a view across fields towards the Thames Valley and Berkshire on the other side of the river. I crossed a track, close to a lane on my left, and after a short while the byway joined the lane (I was now briefly back on the route of the organised walk). I followed the lane straight on, soon passing Cockpit Plantation on my left. I kept left where another lane (actually a drive) came in on the right, and after another few hundred yards I turned left onto a public byway (starting opposite the beginning of the drive to Coombe End Farm).
View back towards the Thames valley, from the byway
The byway from the nature reserve, heading east
The byway from the nature reserve, just before it reaches the lane
The lane going east, approaching Cockpit Plantation
The lane going east, shortly before I turned left onto a byway
After passing a few cottages, the byway ran between hedges to reach a point marked Cold Harbour on the OS map, where a bridleway went left and a lane went right. I followed the lane, but only for a fairly short distance before I turned left along a bridleway, running along a surfaced track past a few houses. Just beyond the last house, on my left, a footpath went half-right. This crossed the corner of a paddock, then crossed another paddock to reach the far right corner. I was now in the hamlet of Blackbird's Bottom, where I turned right and followed a track or drive (a public bridleway) to reach a minor road.
The start of the byway going north to Cold Harbour
The byway going north to Cold Harbour
The lane going east from Cold Harbour
The bridleway, after I turned left from the lane
The footpath approaching Blackbird's Bottom
The bridleway going east from Blackbird's Bottom
A few yards to the left, a footpath started on the other side of the road. This crossed an area of grass and wildflowers, then turned right along the edge of some school playing fields (the path has been diverted fairly recently, it used to cross the playing fields). The path then turned right, between a hedge and the playing fields. I then continued along a road for about a hundred yards, then took a footpath going half-left through a wood (Oakwood Covert is the nearest name I can see on the OS map). After a pleasant few hundred yards, the path crossed a track (Eastfield Lane) and then continued through the wood.
The footpath across the school grounds
The path through Oakwood Covert
The path through Oakwood Covert
The path through Oakwood Covert, just after crossing Eastfield Lane
The path through Oakwood Covert