Aldworth

About the walk

After the heavy recent rain, the only place to go for a walk seemed to be the Berkshire Downs. I decided to go to Aldworth and graft some new elements onto a walk I had done before. Although the afternoon was dry and mild, the light was too poor for it to be worth taking any photos.

I started at Aldworth church and followed the nearby track on its curving route towards the Ridgeway. After a while it joins the other main route up, which comes from centre of the village by the Bell pub. I turned left and continued the slowly rising route to reach Starvall Farm, a few hundred yards short of the Ridgeway. (I have always thought that this is a worrying name for a farm - I would love to know where it came from. For once Google yields nothing.)

Here I broke new ground and turned left (i.e west) towards Compton and headed along a slightly muddy track. This soon reached a local landmark - a junction of paths marked on the map as Crowfoot. Obviously, one path splits into three. Here I turned right to follow a sunken lane back up to the Ridgeway.

After a stretch along the Ridgeway I took the track back past Warren Farm to rejoin the route up. The initial section of this track has fine views across the Goring Gap. In fact, I think these are some of the finest in Berkshire. I took a nice photo when I last walked this way, in August.

Distance: 5 miles.

Map: Explorer 170 (Abingdon, Wantage & Vale of White Horse).

Rating: four stars.


Reflections

I was very conscious as I walked of the the steady drone of the traffic noise from the M4 - which is several miles to the South. I can't recall noticing it in the summer and no doubt the absence of leaves on the trees and bushes , and perhaps the prevailing wind, can be identified as explanatory factors. But it is disturbing that there seems no escape from noise, in this, one of the most rural parts of Berkshire.

The other thought I had was how easy it was to pick out a new route from the map in this sort of terrain. There are clearly other excellent walks to be constructed on future days over towards Compton and East Ilsley.