A Short Evening Walk to a Hilltop Viewpoint

Why the Evening Is the Best Time to Climb

There is a particular satisfaction in a walk that takes less time than the drive to a busy beauty spot, and gives you more. On a June or July evening the light over the Pang valley softens after eight o'clock, the day-trippers have gone home, and the chalk ridge west of Reading is more or less yours.

This is a short walk — about three miles there and back — with one proper climb of roughly 80 metres, and it earns its keep with a west-facing viewpoint, skylarks singing over the arable fields and a quiet return through beech woods. It suits anyone who can manage a steady twenty minutes uphill. Boots are nice but not essential in dry weather; decent trainers will do.

The Route at a Glance

• Distance: about 3 miles (4.8 km) there and back
• Time: 90 minutes at a gentle pace, including 20 minutes at the top
• Climb: roughly 80 metres (260 feet), almost all of it in the first half
• Terrain: tarmac lane, woodland bridleway, chalk footpath across fields
• Start: roadside near Sulham, west of Reading, off the lane climbing Sulham Hill
• Map: OS Explorer 159 (Reading, Wokingham and Bracknell)

Step by Step: Lane, Wood and Ridge

Begin on the lane heading north out of Sulham. Take it slowly for the first few hundred metres — this is the warm-up, and the hedgerows deserve a look, with dog rose and hogweed in flower through early summer.

Where the lane bends, look for the waymarked bridleway heading up into Sulham Wood on your right. Follow it uphill through beech and ash. The surface is firm but can be muddy in the dip after rain, so watch your footing. After about ten minutes the trees thin and you pass the brick tower on your left — a folly built in the eighteenth century, now roofless and draped in ivy. It is not the destination, but it is a useful landmark to know you are nearly there.

Carry on past the tower and out through a gate onto the open ridge. Turn left and follow the field-edge path westwards for a few hundred metres until the ground opens out and the whole valley is below you.

At the Top: Skylarks, Swifts and a Wide Sky

This is the spot. The ridge sits high above the Pang, and the view runs west and north-west over farmland, copses and a handful of village roofs, with the downs beyond. There is no bench, no signboard, no interpretation panel — which is exactly the point. Bring a coat to sit on, or simply stand and look.

In late May, June and early July skylarks sing over the wheat well into the evening, and swifts and swallows hunt low across the fields. By August the skylarks have largely gone quiet and the fields have turned gold — but the sunsets are often better, because dust and haze give a deeper orange than the clear skies of midsummer.

Where the sun actually sets shifts through the season, which is worth knowing if you are after a photograph. In mid-June, sunset is around 21:20 and the sun goes down well to the north-west, almost behind you as you face along the valley. By the end of August it is nearer 20:00 and much closer to due west, straight down the valley. Plan for that and you will get the light you came for.

Coming Back Down in the Fading Light

Give yourself thirty minutes of daylight for the return. Retrace your steps east along the field edge, back through the gate, and down through the wood. The descent takes about half the time of the climb, but the light under the trees goes first, so a small torch or the lamp on your phone is worth carrying even in July.

If you have the time — and on a summer evening you usually do — drop onto the lane and take the footpath looping south of the wood for the final stretch. It adds ten minutes, avoids the steepest part of the descent, and delivers you at the bottom with the smell of cut grass and the last of the light still on the fields.

Finish with a flask on the tailgate, or a drink at the village pub if it is still serving. Either works.

Practical Notes Before You Go

• Timing: aim to reach the ridge an hour before sunset. That is roughly 21:20 in mid-June, 20:55 at the end of July and 20:00 at the end of August.
• Dogs: fine on the lane and in the wood, but keep them on a short lead across the ridge fields between March and July — ground-nesting birds, and occasionally cattle.
• Livestock: if cattle are in the field, walk around the edge, stay calm, and never get between a cow and her calf.
• Gates: leave them as you find them, and keep to the waymarked line across any crops.
• Kit: water, a light windproof layer and a head torch for the descent.
• Midges: the wood holds them in still, humid weather. Long sleeves after dusk make all the difference.

Best of all, this is a walk you can do after work without rearranging your day. Leave the car at six, be on the ridge by seven, and be home before dark with the feeling that you have genuinely been somewhere.