This mini series of caches is along a regular dog walking circuit of about 1-1.5 miles. The route is around the residential area of Camberley, between Park Road in Camberley and the M3 motorway. The suggested start is the top of Heatherdale Road, where there is some street parking (please show consideration for the local residents) and proceeds down Brackendale Road towards the motorway. It can get noisy near the footbridge over the M3, but if you’re feeling energetic, nip over the footbridge and snaffle the caches ‘Operation Drop (GC5H74G)’ and ‘Operation Rise (GC5HCHN)’ on the south side!
Our series takes you down to Watchetts Lakes and then back past Camberley Cricket club (where as a Premium Member you could collect ‘Cricket Pitch Micro #15 Camberley’.
Our route is largely on pavements, although the section near Watchetts Pond can get muddy in the Winter or after heavy rainfall!
At the end of 18th Century, the estate of the ‘Manor of Fremley’ included Tekel's Park, Barossa Common and the whole of what is now Camberley. In the early 19th Century, the land was divided and approx 1500 acres were sold to John Tekells, who built a large house, known as Tekells Castle within the Tekells Estate. The house was destroyed by fire in 1906 but some of the gardens and some traces of the house remained. The Tekells Estate has diminished in size over the years and in 1964, the compulsory purchase of land for the construction of the M3 motorway cut off parts of the estate and reduced its size further.
Although this walk doesn’t take you into the Tekells Estate one of the original major access routes to the Castle was along the line of Heatherdale Road. The path linking Brackendale and Tekells Estate is no longer open.
Well done to Coinman for FTF on a cold January morning!