Walking in the country

Warwick

2012-02-24T09:12:00.000Z

The Westgate

About the walk

We met up with our friends Sally and Malcolm for this city walk at a point equidistant between our respective homes. We started the walk - in less than ideal conditions, with cloud and rain - outside the imposing Westgate. This already existed in 1129 (Pevsner) and already had a chapel over it at this point. What you see today seems to be 14th century.

We went through the gate and doubled back to visit the wonderful Lord Leycester Hospital, which surely must be one the finest almshouses in the country.

It was founded in 1571 by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, using premises of two Guilds of the town. The little chapel of St James over the Westgate (rebuilt1383) has a small but delightful stained glass window by William Morris.

You go through into a lovely courtyard. I was staggered to discover from Pevsner that the building on the left, the Master's Lodge, dates only from about 1850. Pevsner laments the "overdone" details, but we all found them rather charming.

The Hospital also includes two fine halls, one with the very interesting Museum of the Queen's Own Hussars, and a small millenium garden and the celebrated Master's Garden - closed of course until April.

The Hospital now houses seven ex-Servicemen, known as Brothers, and we rather had the impression that they ran the place as a sort of family business. One handled reception duties in an exceptionally friendly way, one was in the museum. OK, one was practising the trumpet in the hall, so perhaps this theory doesn't quite hold up.

Across the street, you can see one of the boundaries of the great fire of 1694: the half-timbered houses on the right pre-date it, but the brick one on the left and the rest of the street were the result of subsequent rebuilding. We recently saw an even more comprehensive rebuilding after a fire of a similar period in Blandford Forum.

We now walked along High St and Jury St, mainly Georgian in character. So to the East Gate, which Pevsner tells us was built before 1426. The chapel was rebuilt in 1726 and is now part of the Girls' High School.

We carried on eastwards into Smith St. At the end of this street, which is notable now for some truly niche shops (vacuum cleaner spares, unpackaged tea), is St John's House, which dates from about 1626. It is now a museum.

At this point, we turned round and retraced our steps up Smith St. There is a nice group near the top of the street, with the Landor House of 1692 dominating.

Back into Jury St and left into Castle St for a quick peek at Warwick Castle.

Then back again and into Church St, where the massive tower of St Mary's stands proudly at the end, 174 ft high to the finials.

Inside the church is extraordinary. The tower, nave and aisles were destroyed in the great fire and were rebuilt to the designs of Sir William Wilson - completed in 1704. The windows are massive and the aisles are the same height as the nave, so the effect on entering is of a vast airy space.

The east end of the church survived the fire and at the end of the nave you immediately see the chancel, finished in 1392, with its unusual flying ribs in the roof.

Immediately to the right is the tiny Dean's chapel, with an extraordinary plaster ceiling.

And further to the right is the fabulous and celebrated Beauchamp Chapel: the chantry chapel of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. It was begun in 1443. Fantastic tombs, decoration, stained glass.

Now, finally, to the Market Place, a large rather characterless space, dominated by the former Town Hall of 1670, now a museum (another museum!).

We repaired to the excellent Rose and Crown, more a restaurant than a pub, for an excellent and by now much-needed hot lunch.

Distance: about 2.5 miles

Conditions: wet, cool

Rating: four stars. Full of character and charm. Many interesting things to see, without even getting a proper look at the castle.

Deane Down Farm to Bull's Bushes Farm (Wayfarer's Walk 6)

2012-02-20T21:15:00.012Z

Deane House

About the walk

I picked up my route at Deane Down Farm, crossed a railway bridge and crossed a large field, with extremely clingy mud, to reach the hamlet of Deane. Deane Cottages presents an odd mixture of charming thatched ones and undistinguished brick ones, but soon you come to the impressive Deane House, with its park stretching out in front. Pevsner does not give much information but dates the main block to the late 17th century.

I noticed a side turning with a church at the end and diverted to explore. The charming church of All Saints bears the date 1818 over the porch and struck me as rather lovely. Pevsner thinks it is the "most complete and successful early C19 Gothic church in the county".

Across the curiously busy B3400 and then the route heads off in a more easterly direction, along a hedged track.

This involves a slight climb, from 105m at the road up to 120 at the highest point. The Hannington TV and radio mast can still be clearly seen across the fields on the ridge in the distance.

The track meanders on between fields and under another railway line to reach a road at Bull's Bushes Copse. For the first time, the waymarked route diverged from the map to go round the outside of the Copse. I decided that I had had enough when I reached the farm.

I came back through the copse and took this photo on an angle which disguised the fact that it was actually a plantation, with the trees all in rows.

Map: Explorer 144 (Basingstoke, Alton and Whitchuch)

Conditions: some blue sky and sunshine, about 8 degrees

Forward distance: 3.5 miles; distance now traveled 21.5 miles.

Rating: three stars. Modest changes of level, farmland with no real views. Thank goodness for Deane.

Sightings

There were plenty of snowdrops of course, but I was pleased to see these primulas - the first of the year.

Reflections

We saw the David Hockey exhibition, A bigger picture, at the Royal Academy the other day. It had set me thinking about the visual properties of trees and about the choices to be made about the point of view in taking a picture of a tree, a wood or a landscape. The photo of the copse was the first product of this reflection. I thought it worked quite well.

West Bexington to Eype Mouth (SW Coast Path 18)

2012-02-16T17:35:00.131Z

Looking west towards Golden Cap

About the walk

Back in Dorset after a month's gap to resume the SWCP. The last leg (Langton Herring to West Bexington) ended with 2.5 miles along the back of Chesil Beach in a howling wind. Today we start with another 2 or 3 miles until we reach Hive Beach near Burton Bradstock. As the photo above shows, it is fairly unexciting initially - but the enticing prospect of Golden Cap, the highest point on the south coast, can be seen in the distance.

Some interest was provided by Bexington Nature Reserve (Dorset Wildlife Trust), a reedy, wetland. We saw quite a large number of colourful Shelducks here. Then the path leaves the beach and follows the same line across grassy fields behind a line of bushes.

After about 2 miles the path emerges onto a dune behind the beach and begins to climb: you can look down on the beach, gravelly at the back, but with reddish sand at the front.

After passing the first of several holiday-home camps, we descended to Hive Beach, with the famous Hive Beach cafe doing a roaring trade with all the half-term visitors.

We walked down to the shoreline to see and photograph the cliffs with their extraordinary striations. Clearly this marked a transition from the mainly flat coast we have seen since Portland to a new zone of red sandstone. Golden Cap, in the background, is getting closer.

We climbed up, and then walked along, Burton Cliff to descend again to Burton Freshwater, where the tiny and short-lived River Bride reaches the sea (the map shows its source only about three miles away). It is a significant point, because so as we can see, this is the first river we have crossed since we began the Coast Path in Poole, 70-odd miles away.

Burton Freshwater beach is extraordinary. There is a massive gravel slope at the back of the beach, apparently built by the Environent Agency specifically to keep the river flowing smoothly.

You are forced inland here to cross the river and then back along the other bank. It passes through a sort of canyon to reach the sea and it is a fine sight.

Freshwater Bay is dominated by a huge caravan site with a large array of mobile homes at the back of the beach. We spent a moment articulating the difference between mobile homes and caravans and concluded that mobile homes were the ones that weren't in fact mobile - moveable, perhaps.

Now we were really back to classic Coast Path walking. Up the cliff from Freshwater Bay, along a bit, then down a steep slope to nearly sea level, then up again. The crumbling, nearly vertical, East Cliff looks very dramatic.

Bridport was inland to the right and soon West Bay appeared.

Pevsner doesn't have much to say about it, but does reveal that the little harbour is entirely artificial and was first constructed in 1740-4 and was rebuilt in 1824. The fine twin piers are part of sea-defence project and channel the River Brit into the sea.

We had a fantastic fish lunch at the West Bay Hotel. It doesn't look much from the outside, but don't be put off.

We walked past the old Salt House, an early 18th century building once used for storing salt for the Newfoundland fishing trade.

We knew that fishing boats went from Poole to Newfoundland and sold their salted cod in Spain and Portugal on the way back - it was the basis of Poole's prosperity in the 18th century, as evidenced by the fine Georgian houses in the old town. Apparently, a similar trade was carried on from Bridport.

We now climbed the West cliff and soon found ourselves overlooking Eype Mouth where we had left our car. We got a taxi back to the start. I explained that we wanted to be picked up at "eip" - but was gently corrected - the correct pronunciation is "eep".

Maps: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset) - now completed - and 116 (Lyme Regis and Bridport)

Distance: about 7 miles. Distance covered now 77 miles.

Conditions: cloudy, sunny intervals

Rating: four stars. The first part was not that interesting, but the stages from Hive Beach were excellent.

Sightings

The most interesting sighting was a Billy Bragg. We knew that he lives somewhere near Burton Bradstock and we were pleased that our paths crossed on a clifftop walk.

Portsmouth

2012-02-15T19:27:00.113Z

The Spinnaker Tower

About the walk

We met our friends Viv and Giles for this city walk around Portsmouth. Giles had gone so far as to do a test-walk beforehand, which was way above the call of duty.

We started at the Spinnaker Tower and began by taking the lift to its various viewing platforms. The tower is 170m high and was originally conceived as a "Millenium" tower when funding was approved in 1995. It did not in fact open until 2005, but it does provide a striking landmark on the redeveloped waterfront.

Our first view from the viewing deck was over the historic dockyard, with HMS Warrior (launched 1860, Britain's first iron-hulled, armoured warship) in the foreground and new Type 45 destroyer in the background. The bluish tint is the effect of shooting through glass.

Below, is another view of the unknown destroyer leaving the harbour mouth.

We walked along the waterfront past an impressive array of bars and eateries and soon picked up the Millenium Trail, quickly encountering one of the former naval buildings that Portsmouth is famous for. This was the Vulcan Building, an elegantly simple Georgian construction, built in 1814 as a naval storehouse. It has a handsome slightly projecting pediment, a clock tower, and wings coming forward on either side. The right hand wing houses a small art gallery, the Aspex Gallery.

Soon we came to the curved waterway known as The Camber which houses the old harbour. The Bridge pub stands in splendid isolation.

We merged into Broad St and were delighted with this arch, with its painted capitals and precise location recorded in the arch.

We headed right to reach the Point, which is clearly the best place to view the Spinnaker Tower.

Next we walked along the picturesque West St ...

... to emerge by the Round Tower, one of a pair which faced each other across the harbour mouth. Pevsner notes that the ground storey probably dates from Henry VIII's reign.

We walked past further fortifications including the equally imaginatively named Square Tower, originally built in 1494, to emerge, via an area of amusements and other traditional seaside stuff, onto Clarence Esplanade, laid out in 1847-51. We passed the small hoverport and walked as far as the Royal Naval War Memorial, 1920-4, designed by the Scottish architect Sir Robert Lorimer. The memorial is the handsome column in the photo; a Second World War memorial stands to the left.

We walked back along the Esplanade, this time noting a wonderful shelter ...

... and, turning our eyes inland, focused on the Royal Garrison church.

It was originally the church of the Hospital of St John and St Nicholas, founded in about 1212 to accommodate travellers and was under the control of Southwick Priory. After the dissolution of the monasteries it became a military store and then a residence, and was restored as a church by GE Street in 1866. The nave roof was destroyed by a wartime bomb. According to Pevsner, "both as a basically medieval building and as a piece of Street restoration the church is first-rate".

Now we headed towards the Cathedral. We admired this lovely group of 17th century houses with their Dutch gables ...

... and then entered the Cathedral from the north side, into the most modern part. The Cathedral dates from 1188, but the west end is 20th century and the west front was not completed until 1991. It seems to have echoes of French cathedrals such as that at Albi, while the towers resemble those of the Tower of London. The nave is light and spacious, although not very long, and has the feel of a Wren church.

The older parts of the church are the medieval choir and transepts, and the 17th century nave and main tower. So effectively there are two discrete sections of nave. It is all a bit of a hotch potch, but it sort of works.

Distance: About three miles

Conditions: quite bright and sunny

Rating: four stars. Full of interest.

Reflections

One thing which makes these walks so much fun is that we usually develop a running joke. This time we had all just seen Steve McQueen's excellent, but in some ways gruelling, film Shame. In the film you do see a lot of that fine actor Michael Fassbender. Fassbender became the basis of today's running joke. I won't say more.

North Oakley to Deane Down Farm (Wayfarer's Walk 5)

2012-02-04T16:47:00.000Z

Looking back towards Hannington

About the walk

Another lovely bright, but cold day, and the perfect opportunity to continue with the Wayfarer's Walk. I picked up the route at North Oakley and headed through a farm and uphill in a south-easterly direction. Near the the top of the hill there was a nice view back towards Hannington, quite high at around 200m.

At the top of the hill, I turned left along a track which zig-zagged through a farm and continued parallel to the ridge to the north.

Now the path headed south-east again, around the side of fields and then through some light woodland. I would like to say that it was quiet and peaceful, but low-flying helicopters, presumably on training flights, kept intruding on the rural calm.

It was very cold and the ground, much marked by horses' hooves, was frozen solid. There were some interesting patterns where rainwater had frozen in the depressions in the mud.

After crossing White Lane, I descended beside Great Deane Wood and watched four roe deer, first grazing then watching me as I got closer. At about 200m I got too close for comfort and they loped off across the large field.

Now there was an area of large open fields. I so liked the look of this curving line of oak trees that I failed to spot a sign for the correct path heading half right across a field of cabbages. Still, a right at the end of the trees brought me back on track.

A couple of further fields brought me to Deane Down Farm. I chuckled at the sign near the farm warning of "free range animals and children". Here unfortunately I had to call a halt because of pain in one knee. I put on the knee support I always carry, just in case, and retraced my steps, without too much discomfort.

Map: Explorer 144 (Basingstoke, Alton and Whitchuch)

Conditions: blue sky, sunshine, frozen underfoot

Forward distance: 3 miles; distance now traveled 18 miles.

Rating: three and a half stars.

Sightings

There were fewer birds about than last time, but I did see a small flock of Lapwings and some Mistle Thrushes. As well as the four roe deer mentioned above, I saw another group of three and a group of seven - presumably all the same group.

Gloucester

2012-01-30T22:40:00.228Z

The Cathedral

About the walk

I have visited Gloucester quite often - my daughter lives there - but never really had a proper walk around the city. It dates back to Roman times, but much of the centre has a rather depressing 1960s sort of feel. Today it is time to have a closer look. I started to plan my route on the basis of a walk around Norman Gloucester that the BBC publicised around the time of a TV series on the Normans. Other influences were the City Council's City Centre map and a work meeting that led me to park at the end of Westgate.

It was mid-afternoon when I started then from the Westgate car park, and walked up Westgate St into the city. The four main streets are Westgate St, Eastgate St, Northgate St and Southgate St: sadly, the gates themselves are long gone. Immediately on the left is the redundant church of St Nicholas.

According to Pevsner, the church is of Norman, with all sorts of later additions and embellishments. The "conspicuous and pretty tower" dates from repair work of 1783.

Almost opposite is the half-timbered Bishop Hooper's Lodging of about 1500,which has been a folk museum since 1935. The house to the right early 17th century (Pevsner).

A bit further up Westgate St, past Shire Hall, I turned left into College St, with a handsome late Victorian Tudor-style block on the corner, and entered the Cathedral Close.

The Cathedral dates from about 1100 with a Norman nave with massive round columns. Much of the rest is Perpendicular Gothic of the 14th and 15th centuries. It was probably not the best day to visit the Cathedral as the south side is being renovated and so is covered with scaffold, and inside the whole of the nave was taken over for filming. Various figures in chain mail could be observed popping out for a cigarette or a cup of tea.

I managed to enter via the tea room and make my way into the spectacular cloisters. The East walk of the cloister has the earliest known fan-vaulting, dating from 1351-1377 according to Pevsner. The other three sides are slightly later.

It is quite spectacular, as impressive as some of the more celebrated examples such King's College chapel, which we visited recently.

The only other part of the interior I was able to see was the 15th century Lady Chapel. Below is a view from outside, inside you have the sensation of a wall of beautifully coloured glass, held in place by a remarkably small amount of stonework.

I returned to the Cathedral Close, a charming and rather eclectic mixture of styles and exited through 13th century St Mary's Gate.

You emerge into St Mary's square. It is a most extraordinary space, with the medieval gate and houses behind you, the 19th century statue of Bishop Hooper, and the church of St Mary de Lode in front - the oldest church in Gloucester. Behind the Norman chancel and tower, a much larger and rather discordant nave was added in 1826.

So far so good, but both sides of the square are formed of nondescript brick buildings apparently dating from the 1960s and 70s. It creates a very uneasy juxtaposition of old and new (-ish).

Just across the road, in a small grassy enclosure is the ruins of St Oswald's Priory. What you see is a row of Norman arches set in Saxon stonework. According to the BBC, they are the oldest remains which exist above ground in the city.

I now followed Pitt St, intending it as the shortest route to reach Northgate St and some sights in the city centre. I was surprised to find a fragment of the former Bishop's Palace on the right, part of the King's School which forms an extension to the Cathedral Close.

At the of Pitt St is the Probate Registry (1858). Pevsner describes it as "fanciful", but I rather liked it.

I swung right, past St Lucy's garden, to reach Northgate St, where I paused to look into the New Inn. I was amazed and delighted by the open gallery which runs all round the courtyard. Pevsner dates it to 1457 and commenst "few inns in England can be so old and retain so much of their original character."

From here, I walked down to The Cross, where the four main streets intersect. There was a famous medieval High Cross here until 1751, when it was pulled down and replaced by a Tolsey House (where market tolls were collected), and in 1984 by a bank, also now demolished. Pevsner says that its current appearance "could hardly be more unworthy". Even the 15th century church of St Michael has only its tower still standing.

Just past The Cross and into Southgate St, there is a wonderful chiming clock of 1894 with a series of large figures (Father Time and representatives of the main parts of Britain).

Further down Southgate St is the church of St Mary de Crypt, with the one-time St Mary de Crypt Grammar School (founded 1539, restored in the 19th century) to its left.

The church is again of Norman origin, but it now appears mainly Perpendicular, with Victorian restorations. Opposite is another lovely half-timbered house, 16th century, but recently restored. It was the home of Robert Raikes, the founder of the Sunday School Movement.

Next I turned right into Blackfriar St to reach Blackfriars Priory. Apparently, only two other Dominican friaries have survived in any degree of completeness (in Norwich and Newcastle).

After the dissolution of the monasteries, it was converted to be a private house and cloth factory, which no doubt explains why one's first impression is that it does not look like a monastery. It is now owned by English Heritage, whose website says that they are converting it into a venue for the performing arts. This is part of its continuing history and will give the building a new lease of life" (!)

Now it was a short walk to the docks, or rather the Historic Docks, most of which have been very nicely restored.

Finally, as I was heading back towards the Westgate car park I diverted to follow a sign to Llanthony Secunda Priory. This was especially interesting as we had seen the ruins of the parent Abbey at Llanthony in Wales last March. It was in the event rather disappointing. The ruined gatehouse was reasonably encouraging, but the only other remains were those of a stone tithe barn and the ruins of a timbered Tudor house.

A notice revealed that the Llanthony Trust was doing some restoration work, so perhaps they will be
more to see in the future.

I walked along the Quay, with the River Severn on my left, and just had time for one more surprise: the 18th century Customs House.

Distance: just under 3 miles

Conditions: cold, but bright

Rating: four stars. Really enjoyable and full of surprises. Gloucester hasn't conserved its heritage awfully well, but there are many delights. The Cathedral is a wonder.

Nuthanger Down to North Oakley (Wayfarer's Walk 4)

2012-01-27T19:10:00.001Z

Heading East by the gallops

About the walk

My current idea idea is to push myself a bit to walk further on each walk. The there-and-back approach I am using for the Wayfarer's Walk provides the ideal opportunity, and today was such a lovely bright day that there was no excuse not to get out there.

I picked up the route at Nuthanger Down and headed uphill beside some trees to emerge into the open beside some gallops and above the famous Watership Down. Not that you can see anything of it, because the hillside slopes so steeply.

A bit further on, the grassy track becomes a gravel one and the Hannington TV and Radio mast on Cottington Hill comes into view ahead.

As you approach it, there is a fine view to the north towards Kingsclere: the church is just visible in the dead centre.

To the right lie Combe Hole and The Warren.

You pass behind The Warren and descend to cross the Kingsclere to Overton road. On the other side, the path climbs towards the south east. At the top of the climb, there is a comprehensive view of the path you have just walked along.

You cross a lane, pass a farm (unusually with a small plane parked in one of the fields) and enter a hedged track to reach a delightful shady cross-roads.

A bit further on, on the right, a curious excavation was visible in a field. Possibly it was the tumulus marked on the OS map.

The track emerges by a farm and a sharp left turn leads you down into the small, but very well-kept, village of North Oakley. I was struck by the berries on this tree behind someone's wall.

By now I had walked four miles and with a four mile return to follow, I had a short rest sitting on a style, but harassed by a corgi, and then retraced my steps for a pleasing 8 miler.

Map: Explorer 144 (Basingstoke, Alton and Whitchuch)

Conditions: blue sky, sunshine, frozen underfoot in places

Forward distance: 4 miles; distance now traveled 15 miles.

Rating: three and a half stars.

Sightings

Kestrels, Red Kites, Buzzards, Fieldfares, Larks, Yellowhammers.

Reflections

The thing that is noticeable about the Wayfarer's Walk so far is how little it touches human settlements. Just one farm house and a few houses in North Oakley. Although it is all farming land, it does feel very remote. Not quiet exactly, because previously there was traffic noise from the busy A34 and today a whole series of helicopters disturbed the rural peace.

Langton Herring to West Bexington (SW Coast Path 17)

2012-01-22T10:32:00.091Z

Rodden Hive and The Fleet

About the walk

Our friends Judith and Tony joined us for today's leg. We did the two car thing and starting walking from the centre of Langton Herring, retracing yesterday's path down to pick up the Coast Path by Rodden Hive.

From here, the route heads inland and stays that way until Abbotsbury. We went across fields then up a steadily climbing field-edge path, then across a hillside with fine views towards the South Dorset Ridgeway and Hardy's Monument to the north. Then up again, to reach a long straight section half-way up a hillside. This we traversed for a mile or so, initially with great views to the south east. The full length of Portland can just about be discerned in the rather hazy distance in this photo.

Soon we could also see the sea, Chesil Bank, the Fleet - in fact the point where it ends - and Abbotsbury's celebrated Swannery.

The path swings just a little to the down to descend into Abbotsbury and the 14th century St Catherine's Chapel - which we had had glimpses of earlier - is revealed in the full glory of its location.

By now the path had become a ridge descending into the valley, with hills all around. A wonderful piece of walking.

We decided to save Abbotsbury's many charms and attractions for a full day's visit later in the year and skirted round Chapel Hill, almost covered as Pevsner notes with strip lynchets. The path goes down towards Stavordale Wood, with Abbotsbury sub tropical Gardens hidden behind it.

Here a sharp left brought us finally back down to the coast. We looked with some anxiety at the path which ran behind the pebbly beach, but was little more than an extension of it. We knew it was 2.5 miles to today's end point at West Bexington. Would it all be like this?

Mercifully, the gravel quite quickly gave way to a tarmaced road and we were able to make good progress. Tony told us that in the 1950s it was possible to drive all along here, but now the road has been downgraded to just serve the few houses found on this rather desolate section of coast and there is nowhere to stop. Traffic is actively discouraged. Seems fine to me.

At the point at which we joined the pebble path, the pebble bank was still quite high, though lower than it had been yesterday. It fairly quickly declined in height and after a mile or a mile and half, it was possible to get a clear view of the now normal-looking beach stretching away to the west.

We finished up with an excellent lunch at the recently refurbished Manor Hotel, West Bexington. It would be well worth going back for the sole purpose of eating here.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset)

Distance: about 7 miles. Distance covered now 70 miles.

Conditions: cloudy, extremely strong wind again, not too cold.

Rating: four stars.The last part was a bit of a struggle, but the walk down to Abbotsbury was magnificent.

Ferry Bridge to Langton Herring (SW Coast Path 16)

2012-01-21T18:38:00.000Z

Oyster beds on The Fleet

About the walk

Time to begin this year's assault on the Coast Path. Last year we did 56 miles in mainly circular walks, but our target this year is another 70, which will take us into Devon. Our plan is to park at the end of each stage and get a taxi or bus back to the start. Eventually of course we will have to stay in the locality for two or three days at a time.

We picked up the route at the Ferry Bridge pub and immediately walked past the Crab House Cafe, where we had a wonderful lunch on my birthday last year. Soon there is a grassy path, then you cross a little beach to continue on a grassy headland. The Fleet - the lagoon which lies behind the barrier of Chesil Beach - with the Crab House Cafe's oyster beds is alongside. There were lots of dog walkers in this area.

After a detour round an army depot, The Fleet widens out into the area known as Littlesea. There was a nice view ahead, although the red flags indicated that the Army Firing Range at Chickerell was in use, which meant another detour.

At least the detour was extremely well signposted. As we went round we heard and then saw a squad of soldiers returning from the firing range. Do they always have practice on Saturday or were this lot especially poor and requiring extra work?

Soon we passed a pair of crows apparently having a fight to death on the ground. A third crow, perhaps the object of their affections, was nearby. Many other crows were in the air, taking no part. We found this rather disturbing: we don't usually see nature so raw.

We now approached Butterstreet Cove and were increasingly conscious of how this coastline is unlike anything else we have seen in Dorset.

We also reflected on the ever-present gravel bank of Chesil Beach. It is still quite high here and it obscures the sea and foreshortens the horizon. It began to feel like a giant wall keeping us away from the outside world.

After we rounded the grassy headland, we were surprised to see an eclectic collection of buildings at the back of a substantial Georgian mansion.

This it transpired is Moonfleet Manor, now a hotel. As we walked on we saw a quite substantial, if somewhat decayed, wall surrounding the whole site and we could imagine it in its original state.

There followed a very quiet and isolated stretch to eventually reach Rodden Hive, another of the various bays along the back of The Fleet. A signboard revealed that it is major winter roost for water birds.

Now for the final stage up the hill into Langton Herring, past the church of St Peter, with its blocky tower ...

... to reach the Elm Tree Inn, where we were just in time for an excellent lunch. Fish is a speciality and we look forward to going back.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset)

Distance: about 7 miles. Distance covered now 63 miles.

Conditions: fairly clear, extremely strong wind, quite cold.

Rating: three stars.The Fleet is quite interesting and unusual and a haven for sea birds, but overall probably the least rewarding leg so far.

Sightings

Little Egrets, Widgeon, Redshanks, Brent Geese, Mute Swans.

Upper Woodcott Down to Nuthanger Down (Wayfarer's Walk 3)

2012-01-18T19:12:00.057Z

Seven Barrows

About the walk

We are planning to start this year's onslaught on the South West Coast Path this weekend. Although we had a good walk in the Cotswolds on Sunday, I thought a decent midweek one would aid my preparation. So I decided to continue my solo project, the Wayfarer's Walk. Difficulty accessing where I ended up last time meant a back-and there approach made more sense than the there-and-back model I have been following. However, I will just describe the forward part.

By the time I picked up the route at Upper Woodcott Down, the already dull weather had worsened with low cloud, drizzle and poor light. I began the descent to cross the A34 at about 220m above sea level and walked across grassy meadows with abundant sheep to then take a muddy track, made the more difficult by large tractor wheel ruts, down to meet the A34 at 125m. Just before this point there is the area called Seven Barrows, which a a plaque reveals to be the place where the aircraft pioneer Geoffrey de Haviland flew a home-made plane in 1910. Three of the barrows can be made out in the photo above. Beacon Hill lies behind.

The map shows the Way continuing straight ahead, but the A34 here is a busy dual carriageway with a crash barrier in the middle and no central reservation. So I decided to follow the diverted path .6 of a km south to find an underpass and .6 back again to rejoin the route.

On the other side a narrow defile sloped upwards and I realised that I had come this way before on a walk from Burghclere in February 2009. This was quite significant because it was the moment when I first conceived the idea of doing the Wayfarer's Walk, even though at that point I didn't know where it went from or to. This is the view back to the west.

The route continued on a winding, climbing course past vast open fields and some woodland to pass a substantial cairn, with one of the ubiquitous pheasants silhouetted on the sky line, towards the left.

A bit further on, I reached the highest point - Ladle Hill at 232m. According to Wikipedia it is the best known unfinished iron age hill fort, but has never been excavated. It looked suitably enigmatic in the mist.

I now went across some fields and along a grassy ridge to regain a clear path bordered by some fine trees and return to my car parked at the lay-by at Nuthanger Down.

Map: Explorer 144 (Basingstoke, Alton and Whitchuch)

Conditions: low cloud, drizzle, but quite mild

Forward distance: 5 miles, including the detour; distance now traveled 11 miles

Rating: three stars. Would have been much more enjoyable in summer. This was walking just as exercise.

Hawling to Bourton-on-the-Water (Windrush Way 2)

2012-01-15T22:46:00.116Z

The Windrush Way

About the walk

Our next project with Merv and Pud is the Oxfordshire Way. Today was the second stage of the Windrush Way which links the Cotswold Way (last year's project) with Bourton-on-the-Water, where the Oxfordshire Way begins. We picked up the route near Hawling Lodge.

We walked across a field and then along one side of a narrow valley. At the end we turned south to walk through Gazeley Wood and then across fields almost to the A436. Here we turned east once more across the wide open valley in the photo above.

We passed a clay-pigeon shooting centre (must try that some time - not as a substitute for killing animals, of course). Then the valley began to narrow.

Somewhere round here we found ourselves on the Gustav Holst Way which runs the 35 miles from Cranham to Wyck Rissington and apparently connects places where Holst lived and worked. He was born in Cheltenham and the house is now a Museum to him.

Now at last there was enough of the River Windrush for us to be able to walk beside it for a while.

Later, we were forced away from the river again and climbed through woodland to then descend and rejoin it after a mill, and soon thereafter come to the edge of Bourton-on-the-Water. To the right we noticed a couple of solidly constructed railway arches and the route of the railway is very clear on the map: it was the Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway.

The route into the town delightfully follows the right bank of the river and emerges opposite this imposing Georgian house, Harrington House. Pevsner describes it as "by far the most splendid house in the village" and dates it to about 1740. He comments on the "wonderful golden ashlar", which clearly continues to shine.

In the very centre, the river is crossed by three low bridges, with the Green on one side and lovely golden stone houses, mostly 18th century, all around. No wonder it is so popular!

Conditions: cold, sunny - rather wonderful.

Distance: 7.5 miles

Map: Explorer OL45 (The Cotswolds)

Rating: fours stars. The country part was maybe not as special as the previous leg, but Bourton was a delight.

Sightings

We were pleased to see these fine Snowdrops. Looking back through this blog, I see that the earliest I have previously commented on Snowdrops was 27 January.

I wish I could master the technique of focusing successfully on white flowers!

Cambridge: Trinity to Corpus

2012-01-13T15:40:00.021Z

King's College Chapel

About the walk

Were were in Cambridge to catch the excellent Vermeer exhibition at the Fitzwilliam before it closed. Having to queue for an hour to get in - and then needing a nice lunch - left us with little time to walk, but this shortened version of the walk I had planned was still extremely worthwhile.

We started at the imposing sixteenth century Great Gate of Trinity.

Then across Great Court to Nevile's Court and then through to see Wren's great Library of 1768.

The two ranges which adjoin it were apparently added on almost immediately, and not much later as one might expect.

We now retraced our steps to exit into Trinity Lane and walked past Clare to enter King's for a quick look at King's College Chapel. Pevsner describes it as "one of the major monuments of English medieval architecture" and explains that the first stone was laid in 1446 and that it was completed in 1515. The dominant impressions are of size, height, light and harmony. The fan vaults are spectacular.

We then walked round the great lawn down to and along by the river and wondered at the incongruity of the Gibbs Building which is at right angles to the Chapel. Why couldn't they at least have used the same colour stone?

Leaving King's through the screen-walled front by William Wilkins (1823), we turned right into King's Parade to quickly reach the extraordinary Grasshopper Clock on the Bene't St corner of Corpus Christi college. I must confess to being unaware of its existence until I was doing some research for this walk.

The blue lights in the two inner circles display the time as hours and minutes (4.22), while the seconds flash rapidly around the outer edge. The pendulum swings, but sometimes pauses alarmingly. The clock is mechanical: the grasshopper escapement mechanism (an eighteenth century invention) converts pendulum motion into rotation. It was conceived and funded by John C Taylor, an old member of the college, as a piece of public art. It is entirely successful. I like the way in which my photo has caught the pink evening light.

Finally, we popped into Corpus to see The Old Court, which Pevsner says gives the best idea of what a 14th century Oxford or Cambridge College was like.

Distance: a mile at most

Conditions: dry, dusk

Rating: four stars

Reflections

This walk illustrates perfectly that a "walk" doesn't have to cover a great distance or involve great difficulty to be wonderful. It just needs to be undertaken deliberately in an enquiring and attentive way.

Even in places you think you know well, there are wonderful things to see if you go looking for them. Obviously, Cambridge is better endowed than most with wonderful things, but I think this is, if not universally true, certainly a good philosophy.

Blandford Forum

2012-01-06T14:25:00.000Z

East Street

About the walk

We were in Poole and fancying a walk, but not fancying the high likelihood of heavy mud on the Coast Path, so we decided on an urban walk to explore Blandford. I took the route mainly from the "perambulation" described in Pevsner and was helped by a nice little leaflet downloaded from the Blandford Town Council website.

We arrived in Blandford from the south and found a large car park just across the river Stour. The handsome bridge dates from 1783 and 1812. The river was swollen and muddy after the recent rain.

We walked up West St to reach the Market Place, the centrepiece of the town. Blandford has a remarkably uniform Georgian character and it is all due to the great fire of 1731 which destroyed almost the whole of the centre. The architect-surveyors in charge of rebuilding were the brothers William and John Bastard, who were already important citizens.

On the north side of the Market Place is the stately Town Hall of 1734 - quick work! Inside the pediment over the central window is the wonderful inscription "BASTARD ARCHITECT". We had to chuckle.

To the right of the Town Hall is the fire monument, erected by John Bastard in 1760. It was not merely ornamental, having a head for a water supply for fire hoses in the event of further incendiary problems.

The inscription concludes, "This monument of that dire disaster and provision against the like, is humbly erected by JOHN BASTARD, a considerable sharer in the general calamity". What a lovely phrase.

Behind the monument is the church of St Peter and St Paul of 1733-9, by William and John B. It was hard to photograph as the street in front was clogged with traffic resulting from lorries unloading in the centre of the town. It is a handsome church ("noble" in Pevsner's assessment). The tower and cupola, which are visible from all directions, were for once not the work of the Bastards, who had intended a spire.

We now walked up Salisbury St to find the Ryves Almshouses (described as a Gerontocomium on the plaque under the main pediment). They date from 1682 and make a lovely group. This means that the pre-date the fire and must have been right on the edge of the town when they were built. They are in beautiful condition.

We then walked back down Salisbury st and turned left into a street with the wonderful name of The Plocks and turned right into Church St to pass Coupar House - the "finest post-fire house in Blandford" according to Pevsner.

It is certainly imposing. It is now the home of the local outpost of the Royal British Legion.

Reaching the church, we turned left into East St (see photo at the head of this post). We remarked on Eastway House and were childishly delighted to then read in Pevsner that it is "the only house to deserve comment"in the street.

This part of the town was unaffected by the great fire of 1713, but had already suffered an earlier one in 1714.

We walked to the end, crossed the river and walked back to the car park via a path around the water meadows and then a footbridge.

Distance: no more than two miles

Conditions: cool, cloudy coming on to rain as we reached The Plocks

Rating: three and a half stars

Bunkhanger Copse to Upper Woodcott Down (Wayfarer's Walk 2)

2011-12-22T10:36:00.000Z

Ox Drove

About the walk

It was a lovely morning at home, with a bright blue sky, and it suddenly felt exactly right to do a bit more of the Wayfarer's Walk. Naturally, by the time I reached the start it was cloudy with a threat of rain. I picked up the route by Bunkhanger Copse and followed a pleasant path along the edge of the wood to emerge on a muddy track with fields on both sides.

The track crossed a road and became the wider and better Ox Drove. I met some chaps on motorbikes here who said they were enjoying the challenge of staying on their bikes as they slid this way and that in the muddy ruts in the track.

The route then crossed the A343 and became tarmaced for a while until it reached this splendid building. It is Grotto Lodge (Grotto Copse is opposite), a gatehouse of Highclere Park.

The Lodge was followed by a pleasant track with fields to the left and woodland to the right.

After a while you reach a vantage point marked on the map as Rabbit Warren, at 260m. The track now descends with wide views over open country all around.

The fractionally higher Beacon Hill (261m) is a major landmark to the east (left).

Time was now almost up: I would have to turn round if i wanted to get back to the car before it became dark, so I descended another quarter mile / 50m of descent and began to retrace my steps just short of this fine oak tree.

Map: Explorer 144 (Basingstoke, Alton and Whitchuch)

Conditions: cloudy with a threat of rain which fortunately did not materialise, but quite mild

Forward distance: 3 miles; distance now traveled 6 miles

Rating: three and a half stars

Sightings

I was surprised to see a few examples of Red Campion still in flower.

I was even more surprised to see this fantastic growth on the edge of a fallen branch.

A bit of Googling identified it as the jelly fungus Tremella mesenterica, known as witch's butter in the US. In the UK the name seems to denote a similar looking but black fungus, Exidia glandulosa.

The South West Coast Path - Poole to Portland: A review

2011-12-21T08:43:00.001Z

Background

We started the 630 mile South West Coast Path in January 2011, having recently bought a holiday flat in Poole. We decided we would approach it as a series of circular walks, so as to also get to know the interior. At the start we thought we might eventually reach Weymouth or perhaps even Lyme Regis.

What has happened is that we have gathered momentum as the year has gone on, and we have finished the year having already reached Weymouth and then gone on to complete the circuit of the Isle of Portland. As we approached Weymouth, we decided to shift to doing linear walks and used a combination of train and taxi to do so - which of course greatly accelerated our progress along the coast. We are now thinking that perhaps we can do the whole thing over the next several years. In a nutshell, we have been hooked!

Reflections

We had previously done next to no walking along the coast, just one memorable walk in Crosby and others on holiday in Nice and the Costa Brava. At first there was the novelty of a few miles along the beach to Studland and then the already-familiar area around Old Harry Rocks and Ballard Down. After the interesting town of Swanage comes Durleston and what feels like the beginning of the Coast Path proper. Certainly one of the striking things between here and Weymouth is that there very little development actually on the coast. So one of our abiding impressions is how quiet and rural it is.

From about Dancing Ledge onwards the coast becomes much more dramatic with the spectacular chalk cliffs that extend as far as White Nothe - where there is a dramatic change to red sandstone to Weymouth and then Portland Stone around the gigantic quarry that is Portland. The climbs and descents of the chalk cliffs will live in the memory. And there is no doubt that we are fitter as a result and more confident of our ability to tackle anything else that the Coast Path may have in store.

We were pleasantly surprised that for the most part the Coast Path is not crowded. The section between the car park at Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door is the only real exception, but even here as soon as you pass Durdle Door things quieten down straight away.

Wildlife sightings were relatively limited, but quite interesting. Fulmars, a Short Toed lark, a Serrin, a Clouded Yellow butterfly and a common seal were the highlights.

There was a noticeable theme of war: from the castles built by Henry VIII when he feared attack by the Spanish, to the pillboxes, radar research and preparations for D-Day 500 hundred years later.

There was also constant evidence of erosion of the coastline and several places where the path had been temporarily or permanently moved inland. The most dramatic example was the Clavell Tower which had been moved 80ft inland in 2005. I suppose walking the Coast Path must increase the rate of erosion, but as both erosion and walking are fundamentally natural processes, I think this is acceptable.

The stages in which we did the walk are listed below. Flowers Barrow to Lulworth Cove was the most demanding and Lulworth Cove to White Nothe probably the most pleasing.

Stages

1 South Haven Point to Studland Bay

2 Studland Bay to New Swanage

3 Swanage to Anvil Point

4 Anvil Point to Dancing Ledge

5 Dancing Ledge to Winspit

6 Winspit to Chapman's Pool

7 Chapman's Pool to Rope Lake Head

8 Rope Lake Head to Kimmeridge Bay

9 Kimmeridge Bay to Flower's Barrow

10 Flower's Barrow to Lulworth Cove

11 Lulworth Cove to White Nothe

12 White Nothe to Osmington Mills

13 Osmington Mills to Ferry Bridge

14 Ferry Bridge to Portland Bill

15 Portland Bill to Ferry Bridge

Portland Bill to Ferry Bridge (SW Coast Path 15)

2011-12-09T09:07:00.000Z

Portland Bill

About the walk

Today marks our 15th and final leg of the Coast Path for this year. We picked up the route at the Lobster Pot and walked down behind the light house to Portland Bill itself. The Bill marks the contact point of two different currents: the relative calm to the east contrasts markedly with the the rougher sea to the west.

As you can see from the photo it is marked by an obelisk: it is 23 ft tall and was put there is 1844. The inscription also carries the initials TH - presumably Trinity House. It was apparently installed as a warning of a low shelf of rock extending 30 metres South into the sea.

We passed to the back of the active lighthouse which was built in 1906 and is 35 metres (115 ft) high.

There are two other older lighthouses nearby: one is now a private house and the other is a bird observatory.

Soon afterwards, we passed the fancifully named Pulpit Rock. Apparently it was left after a natural arch was cut away by quarrymen in the 1870s.

The route now crosses a grassy area to reach the west coast proper and then continues along the cliff top. The rocky headland of Blacknor dominates the view.

As you approach it, you pass the soviet era buildings of Southwell Business Park and the village of Weston.

Then there is a curious single-storey round house, quite modern in appearance built right on the cliff top. Our taxi driver on the way into Weymouth told us that the site was once a gun emplacement. The house appeared abandoned. We wondered what the full story was.

Just after this we headed inland to see the church of St George which we had noticed on our taxi ride down to Portland Bill. This striking church is built of Portland stone, as is only proper and has an Italianate feel (the tower and the sort of dome over the crossing), as well as echoes of Wren's London churches in the design of its windows. Our taxi driver thought it was in fact the work of Wren.

Pevsner describes it as the most impressive 18th century church in Dorset (which could be seen as fairly faint praise). He reveals that it was designed and built 1754-66 by a local mason, Thomas Gilbert. "His conception has true grandeur" says Pevsner. We thought that the ends of the transepts were especially dramatic. The church is no longer consecrated and was closed, so we could not see inside.

After this cultural interlude, we returned to the Coast Path and soon found ourselves walking along West Cliff and then above Chesil Cove, where the eponymous beach begins. There were some great views of Chesil Beach.

We descended some steeps steps to reach sea level and were struck by just how steep the beach is. From the landward side, it does appear like a great gravel dune.

That was about it really. We wandered through Chiswell, had a refreshing drink at the pub, and walked the two miles or so back along the causeway, the last part into the face of an icy shower.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset)

Distance: about 6 miles. Distance covered now 56 miles.

Conditions: fairly clear, very strong wind, quite cold

Rating: three and a half stars. We preferred this side of Portland.

Reflections

When we started the Coast Path in January, I said that we intended eventually to get to Weymouth or perhaps Lyme. Having already reached Weymouth, we are now beginning to contemplate doing the whole thing. At the current rate of progress, that would take 10.25 more years, by which time we would be into our seventies (ouch!). But as we have now shifted to doing linear rather than circular walks, it should be possible to make faster progress. We are moving towards a goal of completing it by the I am 70, in 2020. How thrilling is that?

Walbury Hill to Bunkhanger Copse (Wayfarer's Walk 1)

2011-11-28T11:02:00.000Z

Background

I fancied a walk today, after a couple of days of mixed work, personal admin and DIY, but all the local walks seemed too familiar and dull after this year of more exciting walks along the Dorset coast and in the Cotswolds - not to mention the Alps. Then it came to me as I was looking at the map of the area around Kingsclere: I could do a there-and-back walk along the Wayfarer's Walk, which starts at Walbury Hill and later passes south of Kingsclere.

The Wayfarer's Walk runs for 70 miles from the car park at Walbury Hill to Emsworth near Portsmouth. A detailed account can be found on the British Walks website.

In trying to discover why it is so named, I found that it has been adopted by Macmillan Cancer Support and you could register to support the charity and access a wealth of information about the walk. Unfortunately, when I tried to do so I found that registration had closed. I still haven't found out where the name comes from.

About the walk

The start point is at 267m and the view over Berkshire, with the scattered village of Inkpen in the foreground is very impressive.

You follow a chalky track which initially passes over the iron age hill fort of Walbury Hill. It runs just below the ridge line of the North Hampshire Downs, but briefly you are on the ridge and can see south into Hampshire as well.

After a short stretch along a lane, there follows a long section on a grassy (read muddy initially) with fields on the left great views down to the flat Berkshire farmland below. The path ahead looks very inviting.

A bit further on, behind a projecting section, the Hannington radio mast - a landmark for miles around, can be seen on the horizon.

In this whole section the geometric pattern of the farmland is a fine sight.

It is remarkably quiet and isolated up here, and then all of a sudden you come upon a rather splendid modern house - Charldown. I often take photos of impressive old farmhouses and cottages, but this may be the first modern one.

The path leads down the drive of Charldown to reach a quiet lane and now Highclere House is increasingly clearly visible.

I walked along the lane as far as the point where the path leaves it to enter the unusually named Bunkhanger Copse. There is a handy parking area here, so it will be easy to pick up the route again. And now I turned back, puzzling about the car parked half on the grass verge whose driver was intently studying something, looking towards the fields below us. She had seemed a touch sheepish when I first passed, and drove up as I turned back towards her. What was she up to?

Maps: Explorer 158 (Newbury & Hungerford) and 144 (Basingstoke, Alton and Whitchuch)

Conditions: cloudy, some sun, cold and windy in the open, but quite warm when sheltered

Forward distance: 3 miles

Rating: four stars

Sightings

I startled any amount of pheasants into flight as I passed by and as I drove back down to Inkpen I must have seen at lest fifty pheasant chicks wandering along the lane.

At least three kites wheeling around the sky, often very low.

Ferry Bridge to Portland Bill (SW Coast Path 14)

2011-11-25T08:27:00.009Z

The gates of Portland

About the walk

We had more or less decided to end this year's onslaught on the SWCP at Weymouth, but we saw an opportunity to keep on going, and now we hope to complete the circuit of Portland before Christmas. This would be very satisfying as for a large part of the walk so far, certainly since we turned St Aldhelm's Head the western horizon has been closed by Portland. It will be great to continue the walk in the new year with open views to the west.

We picked up the route at Ferry Bridge and followed the causeway which links Portland to the mainland for about two miles to reach the gates of Portland above. The gates were funded by the six Masonic Lodges on Portland - a surprisingly large number we thought for a population of around 13,000.

Once on the island proper, we headed for the castle - another of Henry VIII's coastal forts, of 1539 (see also Sandford on the previous leg of this walk and Brownsea Island. This is landside view.

And below is the view from the shore side. In this view the tunnel entrance to the Verne citadel can be seen near the top of the hillside behind. It was initially a prison for convicts who were employed building Portland harbour in Victorian times and then became a military base; is now a prison again. To left is a large block (I first wrote "blot" - a nice slip) of flats, which had apparently been left unfinished.

The path follows the right side of the hill leading up to The Verne and as we got higher there was an increasingly good view back along Chesil Beach, which starts at Chesil Cove on the west coast of the island and forms the west side of the causeway. It was unfortunately rather hazy.

The route then follows the back of the peak, passing the route of railway lines which were once part of the Portland quarries to come to an entrance to the prison - presumably not the only one! Apparently The Verne, a category C prison (for prisoners who cannot be trusted in open conditions but who are unlikely to try to escape), is known for the large number of separate nationalities which are represented there.

The route now heads east with a "family farm" improbably located on one side and a working quarry on the other.

We then followed the East Weares (which I think means cliffs) and passed the Young Offenders Institution to emerge onto an open grassy area, crossed by quarry tracks which led down to the village of Church Ope. We were struck by Pennsylvania Castle which was built by John Penn, the grandson of the founder of Pennsylvania on land given by his friend King George III (who has been frequently mentioned lately). It is has recently become privately owned, but before that was a hotel.

After a short section of road, the path finally descends to the coast. It is wilder and quieter here and there is a good view back towards towards white chalk cliffs of the south Dorset coast.

This whole area was formerly stone quarries and the evidence is everywhere. We had the rather melancholy feeling of walking through a town that has been devastated by heavy bombing, with piles of rubble all that remained.

There were several of these derricks, which were used for loading stone onto barges.

As we approached Portland Bill along a grassy headland, a whole collection of huts came into view. They looked more like garden sheds than the more typical beach huts you see in Mudeford or Weymouth. But beach huts they are. On the way back to the station our taxi driver told us that they were highly prized and changed hands for "silly money". We had more the sense of a shanty town, but no doubt it all looks different in summer.

Then as one of the three lighthouses loomed ahead and we were fading fast, we saw the Lobster Pot restaurant. At first I thought it could not be open, but we were in luck and enjoyed a reasonable, but extremely welcome meal and a bottle of dodgy sauvignon blanc.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset)

Distance: about 8 miles, all forwards on the Coast Path. Distance covered now 50 miles.

Conditions: cloudy, hazy, mostly quite mild

Rating: three and a half stars. Penal settlements, military remains, transport links and industrial archeology dominated the walk. Interesting, but not very pretty.

Osmington Mills to Ferry Bridge (SW Coast Path 13)

2011-11-18T08:39:00.131Z

Looking towards Redcliff Point

About the walk

Our goal for the year is now in sight: Weymouth. We took the train from Poole to Weymouth and then a taxi out to Osmington Mills to pick up where we left off two weeks ago. The route initially goes inland, but soon you take a left to head parallel with the coast.

We skirted route a large sort of holiday camp for kids and regained the coast path above a long shingle beach, unnamed on the OS map, with Redcliff Point at the end.

As we approached the point the path goes over a grassy area, but is forced inland a bit by erosion of the cliff edge, which becomes more and more evident as the Point gets nearer. Looking further inland, there is a view of the Osmington White Horse. This was sculpted into the limestone hillside in 1808 and depicts King George III. There are lots of white horses, but this one is apparently unique in having a rider. George of course played a large part in establishing Weymouth as a seaside resort. I should really have used a more powerful zoom lens, but we were by now walking into a very strong headwind.

You descend to skirt Bowleaze Cove with the massive white Riviera Hotel (no longer operating, but perhaps being restored), an amusement park and a holiday park in close proximity. This gives way to a grassy cliff below a row of expensive-looking houses, until you reach sea level and the wide concrete walkway which speeds you along at the back of the shingle beach, with a sea wall behind.

I had intended to drop in to see the RSPB reserve at Lodmoor while we were passing, but I hadn't understood from the map that once on the walkway you can't get off until you are some way past it. I contented myself with a photo (the structure on the right is a hide) and a plan for another day trip especially for the purpose.

A little further on there were a number of fine beach huts. One set were in a cast iron structure and another in this imposing terrace. The beach hut evolved from the early wheeled bathing machines used by pioneers of sea bathing, like George III.

Soon you are on the Esplanade and you pass the wonderful Jubilee Clock, erected to mark Queen Victoria's diamond Jubilee in 1887.

A little further on there is the celebrated equestrian statue of George III (again) - Victoria's grandfather. It was erected in 1809 to commemorate his diamond jubilee (he came to the throne in 1760). The statue has only been painted since 1949.

At the end of the Esplanade we walked up beside the quayside, past the Customs House and paused for lunch at the Ship Inn. Suitably restored, we crossed the swing bridge and enjoyed the peaceful view of the harbour.

The path then follows the other bank of the river and climbs up to the Nothe fort - a route we followed when we had a lovely day trip to Weymouth earlier in the year. At the top of the stairs from the quayside, there was a great view through the masts of some ships to the Esplanade with its Georgian and Victorian terraces.

You pass through Nothe Gardens and descend behind a housing estate to get a view of the fort, with White Nothe on the coast behind.

A bit further on you pass the sad remains of Sandsfoot Castle, another of those castles that Henry VIII built in 1539.

The final section followed the Rodwell Trail down to Ferry Bridge, the point at which the long causeway to Portland starts. The Trail was very straight and had a sort of embankment on each side. We must have been getting tired by now, because it was only as we were chatting to the taxi driver on the way back to Weymouth station that we realised it was the route of a disused railway.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset)

Distance: 7.5 miles, all of which, at last, were forwards on the Coast Path. Distance covered now 42 miles.

Conditions: cloudy, sunny intervals, about 12 degrees, extremely strong south west wind, muddy underfoot in places.

Winchcombe to Hawling (Windrush Way 1)

2011-11-13T10:23:00.095Z

Winchcombe

About the walk

Last month we completed the Cotswold Way with Merv and Pud. After some research and discussion, we decided to do the Oxfordshire Way next. We are all really looking forward to this, but it struck me that it would nice to join it up to the Cotswold Way - and that this could readily be done by walking from Winchcombe to Bourton-on-the-Water, where the Oxfordshire Way starts. We studied the map and saw that we could leave Winchcombe on either the Wardens Way or the Windrush Way. We decided on the latter, as offering a more lowland route.

The great discovery, made as I started writing this post, is that the Windrush Way is a short self-contained 14 mile walk which simply connects Winchcombe and Bourton. How neat is that?

We set off from the centre of Winchcombe, avoiding the Rememberance Day ceremony, and headed across fields soon to pass close by Sudeley Castle. It looked a lot less perfect from close up (I took a nice photo from a distance when we left Winchcombe on a different angle during the Hailes Abbey to Cleeve Hill leg of the Cotswold Way).

After leaving the surrounding parkland, you pick up a track which meanders through a wide valley bottom, with an imposing ridge to the left. As it started to climb, we looked back at the route of the Cotswold Way climbing towards Belas Knap. We were glad today's walk was less demanding.

Further up the track, we paused again to look back towards Winchombe: Sudeley castle is in the centre, and the town and church tower are to the left.

We passed the wonderfully-situated Spoonley Farm and emerged onto the Hawling-Winchcombe road, which we followed for a while.

We took a right to head south towards Hawling and noticed a clear change in the countryside. Now it was more like downland, with several narrow V-shaped valleys heading to the east.

We turned east just before Hawling and could see the site of the medieval village of Hawling marked on the map: the line of the former streets is clearly visible. (Well, it was once Merv pointed it out.)

We ended the walk near Hawling Lodge, but not before we had spotted a fairy ring.

Conditions: mild, sunny - rather wonderful for the time of year

Distance: 6.5 miles

Map: Explorer OL45 (The Cotswolds)

Rating: four stars. Wide open spaces. Still the Cotswolds, but very different from the Cotswold escarpment.

Sightings

Still a few butterflies about: we saw a Red Admiral and a Peacock.

White Nothe to Osmington Mills (SW Coast Path 12)

2011-11-06T22:47:00.004Z

Looking back from the start

About the walk

After a gap of six weeks or so, including a break for a holiday in Arezzo, we resumed the SW Coast Path. We decided to abandon our established practice of doing a circular walk in favour of a there-and-back approach. In fact, the only realistic access point was at the end, Osmington Mills, so we did a back-and-there walk. I will just describe the return section.

We picked up the walk about half a mile short of White Nothe (nose) and followed the gently climbing cliff-top path until we reached it. There is not much there: an odd brick structure which may have been a look-out and a terrace of coastguards cottages. It seems to be at about 170m and there are fine views towards the west. Ringstead is in the foreground, with Weymouth beyond and Portland to the left.

We walked down towards Ringstead enjoying a more elaborate view of Ringstead Bay. The most striking thing is how the coast changes here: the limestone cliffs we have been walking up and down for some time have ended and a new type of terrain awaits.

We passed the chimneys of Holworth House hidden in the trees, a little wooden church dating from 1926 and then Burning Cliff. Burning Cliff is apparently so named because the rapid oxidization of iron pyrites caused the bituminous oil shale to spontaneously ignite in 1826 and burn for a year. As we left the village, with its curious straggling mixture of a caravan park and pleasant detached houses, we saw this entertaining sign.

A little further on, we left the path to briefly go down to the beach and enjoy a fine view back towards the imposing White Nothe.

A bit further on, Osmington Mills came into view.

We finished up where we had started at the car park in front of the Smuggler's Inn pub and admired the view towards Weymouth - the destination for our next walk. We then naturally returned to the pub for what turned out to be an excellent lunch.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset)

Distance: about 7 miles, of which 3.5 were forwards on the Coast Path. Distance covered now 34.5 miles.

Conditions: clear, sunny intervals, about 12 degrees, extremely strong north east wind, muddy underfoot in places.

Reflections

The circular walk model has served us well so far. We have made slow progress along the coast, but we have also enjoyed exploring the inland areas as well. However, we have decided that the next leg, to Weymouth, we will do as a simple linear walk. We plan to get a train from Poole to Weymouth and then a cab to Osmington and simply walk back to Weymouth - about 8 miles. Then we can have a nice boozy lunch to celebrate the achievement of this year's target and get the train back to Poole.

As we are now 45 minutes or more by car from our base in Poole, and getting further each time, we conclude that getting a cab or bus back to the start will need to be the model for the rest of the Coast Path. We should at least make faster progress towards next year's target end point: Bridport and the Dorset-Devon border.

Butterfly of the day

We had glimpses of ten or a dozen Red Admirals during the walk, and finally one presented itself for a photograph.

Mortimer (mystery walking)

2011-10-08T16:16:00.002+01:00

St John's church, Mortimer

About the walk

In May I did a Mystery Walk for the Ramblers around Beech Hill. This is part of a project in which members are asked to walk two miles of path in a given grid square and then rate the walk along a number of dimensions. The resulting data enables an overall assessment of the performance of local authorities. The first report is available on the Ramblers website and the headline message is quite encouraging. I naturally volunteered to do another and was assigned grid square SU6565, just north of Mortimer.

I started by walk in the car park in front of St John's church in Mortimer and headed north along teh side of the recreation ground, and then through woodland (which marked the start of the Mystery element) to reach Bridge's Farm.

After a short stretch of road, I continued northwards through Starvale Woods, already beginning to look autumnal as the bracken dies down.

This gives way to the quite similar Wokefield Common (in fact more woodland). At the edge of Burghfield Common, I turned back at an acute angle to emerge from the woods and walk along Lockram Rd.

Here I turned right and headed south across a series of ploughed fields in welcome open country, with a few gentle hills to provide variety.

Wokefield Park, an extensively modernised Georgian house, now a conference centre, provided a view to the east. At Wheat's Farm I turned west, back to the start.

I gave it the highest possible Mystery Walking ratings, as the signposting, waymarking and condition of the paths were all exemplary. Well done West Berkshire Council!

Map: Explorer 159 (Reading and Pangbourne)

Distance: just over 4 miles

Conditions: cloudy, mild, 18 ish

Rating: three stars

Reflections

I was quite pleased with the ease with which I designed the route and then followed it in the map. My skills in these areas must finally be improving. I have had some practice on the South West Coast Path, although it must be acknowledged that the presence of the sea makes the whole thing so much easier.

Flower of the day

Not many flowers about of course, but this, I think, Oxeye Daisy caught my eye. I have sometimes had trouble getting a good photo of mainly white flowers, but this one came out quite well.

The Cotswold Way: A review

2011-10-04T16:17:00.072+01:00

The Cotswold Way

The Cotswold Way runs for 102 miles from Chipping Camden to Bath. It was originally developed as a long-distance footpath in 1970, and was formally launched as a National Trail in 2007, with some changes to the route.

I have described our experiences of walking the Cotswold Way in a number of postings (listed below). It now seems time to stand back and offer some reflections. I will divide them into two broad categories: our experience of walking the Way and the route itself. Reviewing the route also identifies a number of places we would like to go back to and investigate further.

Our experience

We agreed that it had been a good idea! The things that the four of us liked were many and varied: wonderful views, friendly people (especially the guy who brought us tea near Birdlip), appreciating how the geography fits together, hospitable pubs, deepening our friendship, little villages, discovering new places on our own doorstep, not too many golf courses, good signposting, great fun, variety, catching up with each other's news, working out the ramifications of the two-car model, learning about butterflies, learning about geology, the miraculous weather, finding that we were all up to it, taking photos, the way it managed to be in country right to the end, how we got fitter and increased our expectations of what we could do.

It was a good move to go from Chipping Camden to Bath. It felt a better place to end up.

We all felt our guide book had been a great help. It took some getting used to, but once mastered was invaluable. The Cotswold Way by Tricia and Bob Hayne (Trailblazer Publications, 2009).

The route

The route follows the edge of the Cotswold escarpment virtually all the way, so there was a long series of fantastic views off to our right. Some personal highlights were views from Wistley Hill, Crickley Hill, Ring Hill / Haresfield Hill and Cam Long Down. (These and other places mentioned can all be located using the search facility above.)

We also passed through many lovely towns and villages, notably Broadway, Painswick, Winchcombe, Wotton-under-Edge and Stanton.

We saw some lovely churches, of which All Saints at Selsley was perhaps our favourite for its Morris and Co stained glass. Hailes Abbey and its nearby church were also very special.

Other especially interesting buildings and structures were: Broadway Tower, the Tyndale Monument and the Market House at Dursley.

Throughout there was a great sense of history: from stone age barrows, to iron age hill forts and civil war and later battles.

And finally, there were many nice pubs, of which the Mount at Stanton was a particular favourite.

Places to go back to and explore properly

Snowshill Manor
Stanway House
Sudeley Castle
Painswick Rococo Garden
Dyrham Park
Beckford's Tower

Stages

1 Chipping Camden to Broadway Tower

2 Broadway Tower to Stanton

3 Stanford to Hailes Abbey

4 Hailes Abbey to Cleeve Hill

5 Cleeve Hill to Seven Springs

6 Seven Springs to Birdlip

7 Birdlip to Painswick

8 Painswick to Randwick

9 Randwick to Coaley Peak

10 Coaley Peak to Wotton-under-Edge

11 Wotton-under-Edge to Hawkesbury Upton

12 Hawkesbury Upton to Tormarton

13 Tormarton to Cold Ashton

14 Cold Ashton to Bath

Cold Ashton to Bath (Cotswold Way 14 - and last)

2011-10-01T18:59:00.095+01:00

Looking back towards Cold Ashton

About the walk

We started the Cotswold Way in April last year, and today we finally embarked on the last leg. We picked up the route at Cold Ashton and headed south west along a long through fields, slowly descending. After Liliput Farm we gradually climbed back up again to reach the site of the civil war battle of Lansdown, fought in July 1643. A series of plaques describe the evolution of the battle. It seems that, just as often happened in the American civil war, the two generals had been personal friends.

Near to one of the plaques was this stone image of a looting soldier, copied from a 17th century print. There are other similar images, which mark the battlefield way, beside the other plaques. Well done to Bath and North East Somerset Council.

A little further on was a monument to Sir Bevil Grenville. It was erected in 1720. The forward-facing side of the monument is in poor condition, but it looks well from the side.

Sir Bevil was a royalist and the monument commemorates his heroism in the battle - in which he died - and that of his Cornish pikemen. Apparently his men then refused to fight for any other officer and went home, carrying their leader's body.

A bit further on, at Hanging Hill, we started to get great views down towards Bristol to the west.

Now we skirted then crossed a golf course and then paused for a picnic lunch on a hillside overlooking Bath's northernmost suburb, Upper Weston. From here and for a while afterwards, as we followed the ridge towards Weston, Beckford's Tower could be seen on the opposite ridge.

It was was designed by Henry Goodridge and completed in 1827 for William Beckford (1760-1844). He used the tower as both a library and a retreat, located at the end of pleasure gardens called Beckford's Ride which ran from his house in Lansdown Crescent. Beckford previously had built the massive gothic revival house of Fonthill (architect James Wyatt), whose enormous spire collapsed soon after it was completed. Beckford had, wisely as it turned out, already sold it by then.

The route now passed behind Bath Racecourse and we could at last discover the source of the loud tannoy announcements we had been hearing for some time. We went past the Racecourse on the way home and established that the event concerned Agility, but of what we could not discover.

We walked through Weston and made an unwelcome climb to reach Summerhill Road, for the final descent into Bath from Sion Hill. We skirted the Royal Victoria Park and walked beneath the Royal Cresent, where many people were sunbathing on the grass in the surprising October heat.

Finally, we reached the Abbey and the end of the walk. It was too crowded to take a photo of the Abbey to mark the occasion, so I am re-using this one from an excellent city walk we did there in December 2009.

Map: Explorer 155 (Bristol and Bath)

Conditions: very hot, about 27 degrees. The hottest October day since records began 101 years ago.

Distance: 10 miles

Rating: four stars

Cortona

2011-09-28T11:28:00.000+01:00

The Porta Santa Maria

About the walk

For today's outing we have come 30 km or so south east of Arezzo to visit Cortona, which has the distinction of being one of the oldest towns in Tuscany. It is also fully surrounded by walls which date back to the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE, the Etruscan period.

We parked outside the walls and entered the city through the Porta Santa Maria, but almost immediately looked left into via Jannelli, a street which contains a group of medieval houses - among the oldest in Italy apparently - with projecting upper storeys supported on wooden braces.

We carried on up the steep via Roma to reach the small piazza della Republica, dominated by the 13th century Palazzo Communale. The tower was added in the 16th century. It is still the civic offices.

We located the Tourist Office, at the back of the nearby Palazzo Casale, now the Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca, and set forth on the best approximation would could manage to a tour of the walls.

First stop was the Duomo, a 16th century reconstruction of an earlier romanesque church.

Opposite, the diocesan museum contained a wonderful Annunciation by Fra Angelico.

We now walked along inside the walls to reach the Porta Colonia and went to admire the view from the Piazza Mazzini, just outside the walls. Cortona is at 494m and we looked across to a higher round and down to the church of Santa Maria Nuova, it dates from 1554 and was designed by Giorgio Vasari, who has been a presence throughout this holiday.

After a steep climb, we reached the next gate, the Porta Montanina. The startling thing was that as we climbed the city seemed to fall away and we passed vineyards and small fields. We gradually understood that the circuit of walls contains both a tightly built up town and its immediate hinterland. A first!

We now followed the steps of the via San Croce to climb up to the convent church of Santa Margherita.

We had seen no-one since we left Piazza Mazzini, but in front of the church there was a coach party. We did then see one or two others who had ventured forth from the centre of Cortona, but most people's experience will be of Cortona as a pleasant, typical Tuscan hill town. This is a shame when it is perhaps unique. The church is late 19th century.

Now came the final ascent - to the remains of the Medici fortress. Less well preserved than that in Arezzo, it was still a reasonably impressive sight. You could just make out Lake Trasimeno from the viewpoint at one of the corner bastions, but it was too hazy to see clearly.

We now began the long descent. First back to Santa Margarita and down the long via crucis (way of the cross) which was laid out in the late 19th century with futurist mosaics depicting the passion of Christ.

At the bottom, the path turns right to follow the long south east flank of the walls. This is one place where you can actually walk on the walls rather than beside them. The views over the plain below were very hazy.

At the bottom, we joined Via Nationale which leads back to Piazza della Republica. This has the distinction of being the only level street in the whole town. Alleys in the form of steep stairways lead off from it in both directions, up and down. This is the well-named Vicolo del Precipizio - Precipice Alley.

Distance: 4 miles or so

Conditions: 28 degrees, sunny

Rating: four and half stars

Reflections

We could not help noticing the large number of American tourists in Cortona, especially in the area around the Piazza della Republica. They seemed to us to be like the parties you sometimes see off-loaded from cruise ships, wandering around seeming and sounding rather lost. We spent some time pondering what it was all about. Then we remembered the book by the American author Francis Mayes called Under the Tuscan Sun. In it she describes how, after her divorce, she buys a derelict house near Cortona and does it up. Later came Bella Tuscany, A Tuscan life, Every day in Tuscany and others. Apparently she is very popular in America.

Camaldoli

2011-09-27T18:25:00.111+01:00

The monastery of Camaldoli

About the walk

Another trip into the Casentino, where earlier in the week we saw the delightful chapel of Santa Maria della Gratie near Stia, and several other lovely places. Today's outing was more focused: to see the monastery at Camaldoli and then walk up to the hermitage a few kilometers away.

The Benedictine monastery dates from 1023 and was founded by St Romuald. As a visitor, you can see the 16th century pharmacy and two lovely cloisters: a delightful renaissance once and this stirring gothic one which you enter by descending from the main door shown in the photo above.

There is also a baroque church.

We left the monastery and followed a winding tarmac road which led up to the Hermitage. The monastery is quite high up at 850m and the hermitage appreciably higher at 1094m. Our impression was that there was a track which was criss-crossed the road as it followed a more direct - and hence steeper - route through the trees.

The woodland path was lovely in the dappled sunshine and we made good progress uphill.

In several sections there were ravines with mountains streams descending, and the sound of rushing water accompanied us most of the way.

We passed a couple of pilgrimage chapels on the way. However, after crossing and re-crossing the road several times, we made one crossing too far and headed up another path. It was waymarked, but, we later realised, not in the same way as the path we started out on. We ascended increasingly rough terrain, confident from the position of the sun that we were going in the right direction and certain we were not lost by the knowledge that the road was somewhere to our left.

Eventually we hit a level area and a path going across our line of march from right to left. We naturally headed left and, following a fine broad path, found our way to this lake. A nearby noticeboard explained that it was artificial - a monastic fish pond of the kind we have seen in Berkshire. Clearly we were nearly there!

And indeed we were. Soon we rejoined the road and reached the open area in front of the hermitage. Although quite high, it is so surrounded by trees that there is no view and very little sense of being in a high place. The hermitage was of course closed for lunch. However, we had brought a picnic which we enjoyed on a bench by the wall. Later we had a drink in the curious cafe-cum-religious-bookstore which was in the building on the right of the photo.

When we went through the gate we were struck by just how big and elaborate the hermitage was - not really what we had imagined. We saw St Romuald's cell and had a glimpse of the private area where the modern monks have their cells.

The hermitage church was an imposing building from the outside ...

... but was, shockingly to our minds, decorated in a most over-wrought baroque fashion inside. We felt there was a surprising disconnection between this ostentation and what we imagined was the simple life of prayer led by the monks.

We followed the road back down to the monastery, with the dense woods all around.
It was much quicker than the way up!

Distance: 4 miles or so

Conditions: 28 degrees, sunny

Rating: three stars

Reflections

We should probably steer clear of any building described as baroque. We always find them impossibly ornate and over the top.

On the one hand, our navigation through the woods was successful and we ended up where we intended to go. We were never exactly lost - we could always have retraced our steps to where we last left the road. On the other hand, we had no map and could easily have gone wildly astray. An exercise of skill or a lucky escape? I think I might try harder to find a suitable map next time. At a deeper level this means discovering first what map series are available.

Santa Maria della Grazie near Stia

2011-09-25T18:41:00.090+01:00

Santa Maria della Grazie

About the walk

This is one the shortest walks I have ever blogged, but it was full of interest. We were on a day's outing from Arezzo, where we are on holiday, to explore the Casentino valley. The northernmost on our list of places to see was the tiny 15th century chapel of Santa Maria della Grazie (literally Holy Mary of Grace in English. I suppose we would say Our Lady of Grace). If I understand the Italian edition of Wikipedia correctly, it was built following a miraculous appearance of the Virgin.

To reach it, we walked a few hundred yards up a path from a minor road, and as we did so, we noticed a waymark for a long distance path. At this point we made the impromptu decision to turn this little bit of sight seeing into a short walk.

Inside the church consists of a nave and chancel - and the chancel features a stunning surround by Andrea della Robbia made of painted terracotta.

This is the panel on the left hand side and is typical of della Robbia's work, which can be found in a number of churches in this part of Tuscany.

There was also this delightful fresco.

We returned to the waymarked path and followed it as it climbed through light woodland in the bright sunshine. We decided to reach the top.

On the way, we were delighted by what seemed to be wild cyclamen by the wayside in several places.

After a while, the path leveled out and offered fine views across the forests of the Casentino

Around this time, I began to notice several large brown butterflies, with a distinct white stripe on the upper wings. They were rather like a White Admiral, but the underwings were wrong. They were in fact Great Banded Graylings, which I had previously spotted in Spain.

They normally roost with their wings closed, revealing only their rather drab underwings, which make for excellent camouflage when they land on the ground. I was thrilled to spot a pair engaged in what I assume was a mating dance which involved a degree of flashing the upper wings.

Having now reached the literal and probably the metaphorical peak as well, we retraced our steps.

Distance: just over 2 miles all told

Conditions: 28 degrees, sunny

Rating: four stars

Arezzo: a fuller exploration

2011-09-24T14:14:00.000+01:00

The Piero frescos in the church of San Franceso

About the walk

On the second day of our stay in Arezzo we set out first to visit San Franceso to see the fresco cycle called the Legend of the True Cross painted by Piero della Francesca in the middle of the fifteenth century. There are three bands of frescoes on both the left and right sides of the chancel, as well as the ones on the wall behind the altar visible in the photo. They depict episodes in the legend, which essentially postulates that the cross that Christ was crucified on was effectively a descendant of the tree of life whose apple Adam ate and so created original sin. The true cross is thus the agent of man's redemption from original sin. We had seen reproductions of the frescoes, but they did not fully prepare us for their beauty and grandeur.

After that we went back down the road to the church of the Badia. It is an old church with a handsome campanile and plain, vaguely gothic, facade, but inside it was remodelled into a cool elegant renaissance design by Vasari in the later 16th century (more on Vasari in yesterday's post).

There is one older fresco on the inside of the facade: this beautiful 15th century image of St Laurence in a trompe l'oeuil niche.

Now we walked back up the busy Via Cavour and turned left up another main street, the Corso Italia, to reach the facade of Santa Maria della Pieve - the beautiful romanesque church whose apse end is a major feature of the Piazza Grande. The extraordinary square facade with its rows of columns is hard to photograph from the narrow streets in front of it, but is simultaneously both austere and extravagant.

Now we walked through the Piazza Grande, as we had yesterday, but approaching it from a different direction. We looked again at the grand side of the square which we enjoyed yesterday.

And then the picturesque cluster of buildings on the side opposite.

Now we walked up to the Prato Park and turned right to see the star-shaped Medici castle. Unfortunately, it was closed for restoration. The austere walls remain impressive.

Our route now involved a long descent through a quiet quarter, with our eventual goal being the former amphitheatre in the south east of the city. At the bottom we passed these two towers dominating the entrance to a street, inevitably named the Street of the Two Towers. A nearby plaque explained that they were typical of 13th century dwellings.

A little further on we entered the modern-looking piazza of St Agostino

After a lengthy pause for lunch, we finally made it to the amphitheatre. It is oval in shape with low remains on one side and pleasant renaissance building on the other, designed along the same curve.

From here it was quite a long walk round the peripheral boulevard to the Porta San Lorentino where we enter and leave the city. This time we looked inside the gatehouse at the bronze replica of an Etruscan statue of the Chimera.

This fierce mythical creature has three heads: one of a lion in the usual place, one of a goat coming out of its back and one of a snake at the end of its tail.

Distance: 6 miles all told

Conditions: 28 degrees, sunny

Rating: four stars

Arezzo: an introductory stroll

2011-09-23T18:48:00.043+01:00

Porta de San Lorentino

About the walk

We have just arrived for a week’s holiday based in Arezzo and decided to immediately go for a walk to get our bearings. The hotel is out to the west of the town, so the first task was discover where the road that we are on enters the city. 10 minutes later we discovered that it was at the Porta de San Lorentino (St Lawrence).

This was one of four gates in the town walls erected by the Medici rulers in 1664 and the bit of wall next to it seems to be all that remains of them.

Once inside we walked straight ahead, gradually uphill, in the direction of the Duomo. We emerged into a delightful piazza with the cathedral on the left on a high plinth, reached by steps. It was begun from 1278 and mostly finished by 1510, but the facade was only finally completed in 1914.

To the right was the imposing complex of the Palazzo Communale.

We carried on in the same direction, passing the Cathedral on our left. We went briefly in to the Park il Prato to see if there was a view from its belvedere. There was, but it was not especially interesting.

We now headed right, aiming for the Piazza Grande. We passed the very undistinguished-looking house where the poet Petrach was born and headed down the street towards the tower of the Church of Santa Maria della Pieve. This remarkable romanesque church will feature again in this walk, but for the moment I will note that the "tower of a hundred holes" dates from 1330.

On the right was a fine palazzo with an extraordinary facade. This is the Palazzo Pretorio, now the city library. Rather wonderfully, just to the right is a public cloister with tables and chairs where you can go to work. There is even WiFi.

Now we turned into Vasari’s loggia, the beautiful renaissance arcade designed by the Arezzo-born Georgio Vasari, famous still for his Lives of the Artists, but also a painter and architect of some renown in his own day. It is his 500th anniversary and there is an exhibition to celebrate. We plan to visit his house later in the week.

The loggia forms the north side of the Piazza Grande and we paused for a light lunch and a read in the late afternoon sunshine. First we studied the view across the Piazza, which being on a slope reminded us of the famous one in Sienna. On the left is the apse of Santa Maria della Pieve and to the right is the Palazzetto della Fraternita dei Laici, with Vasari’s loggia completing the picture. We noticed that one of the many columns in the wonderful apse had a kink in it (bottom row, third from the left).

Finally, we headed downhill to just see the church of San Francesco, the site of the famous fresco cycle by Pierro della Francesca, the Legend of the True Cross. This is what brought us to Arezzo in the first place, and will be our first stop tomorrow. The facade is dreadfully plain, but what riches lie within!

After an early dinner we headed back to the hotel impressed with what we had seen and looking forward to a further exploration tomorrow and later in the week.

Distance: about four miles

Conditions: hazy sunshine, 28 degrees

Rating: four stars

Kinoulton

2011-09-19T11:59:00.000+01:00

The Grantham Canal

About the walk

We were visiting friends in Kinoulton and were taken for a walk direct from their front door, which is always a fine thing. We walked along the long straggling main street of the village and turned right to follow the towpath of the Grantham Canal. As the photo shows, it is rather overgrown.

The Grantham Canal website reveals that it is 33 miles long and runs through Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to join the Trent in Nottingham near Trent Bridge. The website, perhaps rather ambitiously, identifies it as "The romantic canal". It was opened in 1797 with the main purpose of bringing coal from Nottingham to Grantham. Its prosperity seems to have peaked in 1841 and then declined rapidly after the Nottingham to Grantham railway opened in 1850. Indeed by 1861 the railway company had gained control of it. In 1968 the canal was placed into a 'remaindered' state, which involved maintenance of the water level and general maintenance of the line. Many of the hump-backed bridges had by then been flattened, with the water flowing through culverts. A restoration process is underway.

Further, along the towpath we saw the abandoned Vimy Ridge Farm with its large landmark water tower. The farm was bought and renamed by Sir Jesse Hind in memory of his son and other men of the Sherwood Foresters Regiment who were killed during the battle of the Somme in 1916. After the war it was used to train ex-Serviceman and later orphans in agriculture. There is also, at right angles to the canal towpath an avenue of Lombardy poplar trees.

We were struck by the size of the water tower and thought at first that it might be some sort of folly, perhaps inspired by northern French church towers. The truth however was more prosaic.

Standing on the Poplar path as it crossed the canal, it was clear that the next section had been cleared and was full of water - for fishing as we discovered. Looked at through the bushes, it was positively romantic.

Further on, it was possible to see more clearly what the canal was once like.

But later it became overgrown again and then dried up completely. Restoration will clearly be a massive task.

After a couple of miles along the excellent towpath, we turned right and right again to walk back to Kinoulton across fields. To the left we had a brief view of Colston Bassett Hall, which dates from 1704 but was remodeled in the 19th century. It seems to be privately owned.

Conditions: cloudy, mild

Distance: 5.5 miles

Rating: three and a half stars

Lulworth Cove to White Nothe (SW Coast Path 11)

2011-09-16T08:50:00.002+01:00

Lulworth Cove

About the walk

Much better weather today, so we decided to resume the Coast Path. We parked in the massive public car park at Lulworth and followed many others up the white brick road towards Durdle Door. I have been down this path a couple of times before, but I had been saving going up for an official Coast Path walk. The splendid view you get as you look back is shown above.

At the top you begin the descent towards Durdle Door, with St Oswald's bay in the foreground

I tried a new angle for a photo to try to capture the waves, which were more in evidence than on two previous occasions I had been here this summer (first on 14 April).

After Durdle Door there is almost nobody on the path as it descends further as it passes Scratchy Bottom, a glacial valley. Ahead lies a steep climb to the top of Swyre Head. This is not the Swyre Head which is the highest point along this section of the coast at 203m, and which we encountered earlier in the Coast Path (stage 7 and stage 8, finishing and staring at nearby Rope Lake Head), but another one. It's rather confusing! This one looks high, but is actually only about 100m above sea level.

When you get to the top, you are rewarded with great views back.

In the way of the Coast Path you then descend to near sea level and climb up to the top of Bat's Head, from which a new sort of coastline is visible: chalk cliffs still, but less indented and now there is a longer continuation of the beach which starts at Durdle Door.

The path now descends and bit then climbs steadily to pass a navigation obelisk. As you look back, you can see the jagged curve of the cliff edge as it erodes and also the way in which it has been thrown up.

Just before White Nothe we turned sharply right to follow a grassy field edge track which doubles back along a broad grassy ridge parallel to the sea. The views from here are pleasant rather than startling. This is West Bottom.

Further on, you walk on the more dramatic ridge above Scratchy Bottom, and as you descend, there is a good view of the valley itself.

After passing the Caravan Park, we took the inland route back to Lulworth Cove, with the coast fully in view ahead. We now know that the deep dip which is so clearly visible is down to Arish Mell, and we will probably never forget climbing down and up both sides of it in quick succession in the Flower's Barrow to Lulworth section we did prior to today's walk.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset)

Distance: about 6.75 miles, of which 3 were on the Coast Path. Distance covered now 31 miles.

Conditions: mainly cloudy, some sunny intervals, extremely windy, mild

Rating: four and a half stars

Milton Abbas and Gallows Corner

2011-09-10T09:10:00.001+01:00

Milton Abbas

About the walk

We had hoped to make further progress along the Coast Path today but the weather continued to be very uncertain, so we decided to try our luck inland, at Milton Abbas.

As you drive up the main street to park opposite the church, where this walk starts, it is immediately obvious from the uniformity of the houses that this was a planned village. It turns out that the new owners of nearby Milton Abbey decided in 1771 that the house needed to be rebuilt and placed in a landscaped park. They (almost inevitably) engaged Capability Brown to do the landscaping, which included a large artificial lake. The price of this was that the medieval town was simply moved out of the way, and was seemingly downsized at the same time.

The church, St James's of 1786, was covered with scaffolding and so we couldn't form much of a view of it. Opposite however was a delightful set of almshouses. They were built in 1674 and re-erected in the new location. Pevsner is quite sniffy about the "crude" Tuscan and Corinthian columns. We thought they made a delightful group.

The village was located in a narrow valley and so the walk began with quite a steep climb out of it by the side of the church. You emerge onto a high plateau with views of the undulating farm land to the south through which the rest of the walk would pass.

You follow a series of paths along the sides of fields, first south east, then making a sharp turn south west. As we approached the Milton Abbas to Milbourne St Andrew road, we were becoming increasingly conscious of how few flowers we had seen - and we were getting just a little bored with fields. Then all of a sudden a field of sunflowers appeared on our left. A closer look revealed a small set-aside in front of it with an absolute profusion of wild flowers in front. Very cheering!

Across more fields on the other side of the road and then finally we joined a green track which immediately brought us to Gallows Corner - a junction of six green paths. Presumably there was once a gallows, but just for once googling yielded no insight - the premier Gallows Corner seems to be in Romford.

We followed one of the lanes back towards Milton Abbas and enjoyed the view over fields of hay wheels. They were bound with transparent plastic which we thought was much easier on the eye than the more usual tight black plastic wrapping.

We crossed the main road again and a few more fields to eventually walk up the road into Milton Abbas, past Capability Brown's lake, now available for coarse fishing by the day. This gave us the opportunity for a closer look at the village houses. Each building originally contained two houses with a shared front door, and although some are now single dwellings most still seemed to conform to this model. This was evidenced by the separate house numbers either side of the front door and by the two different sets of curtains in the central window on the first floor.

They were obviously quite cramped then and it was fascinating to see the range of rear extensions that had been added over the years. In some cases, a whole further house seemed to have been added at the back.

From: 50 walks in Dorset (AA)

Map: Explorer 117 (Cerne Abbas and Bere Regis)

Weather: mild, cloudy, threat of rain

Distance: 5 miles

Rating: three stars - an interesting village, but the field paths were a bit repetitive.

Goring Heath and Mapledurham

2011-08-29T16:24:00.069+01:00

Clover field at Goring Heath

About the walk

A Sunday walk from home, something we don't seem to have done much lately. This walk starts from the old Post Office in Goring Heath. You initially head off past two large fields of clover, grown for animal feed presumably. The individual flowers are easily passed by, but they are very attractive.

The route then passes through woodland to emerge briefly on to the A3074. You then double back through the grounds of Cane End House to walk through what was once a vineyard, but is now just a meadow.

You pass through the hamlet of Nuney Green and pass Whittles Farm, before quite suddenly emerging on a hillside looking down towards Mapledurham House, with the North Hampshire Downs visible on the horizon.

After descending, you follow a farm road along the valley bottom past the aptly named Bottom Farm. As you approach Mapledurham House you swing right along a track and just before the lodge to Hardwick House, you take a path back up the hillside. Apparently, Charles I played bowls here.

After a short, sharp climb we sat on the benech helpfully placed at the top to enjoy the lovely view over the Thames at Mapledurham Lock, with the house away to the left.

The route now leads through Bottom Wood, skirts the hamlet of Collins End and returns you to the old Post Office. Bottom Wood is a bit of a puzzle since most of is on a ridge at about 100m above sea level.

From: Rambling for Pleasure around Reading by David Bounds for the East Berks Ramblers.

Map: Explorer 159 (Reading, Wokingham and and Pangbourne)

Distance: 5 miles

Conditions: warm, hazy sunshine

Rating: three stars

Reflections

We previously did this walk in May 2005. It was interesting first of all to notice how selective my memory was of its key features. I could vividly recall the steep descent to the bottom near Mapledurham House and equally clearly recall the steep climb back up out of it. The rest was a complete blank.

The very pleasing thing was that the descent and subsequent climb seemed much less of a challenge now than in 2005 and we accomplished them very easily. All those heroic efforts on the South West Coast Path are clearly starting to pay dividends!

Flower of the day

We saw several of these Clustered Bellflowers on the chalky hillsides.

Wimborne

2011-08-24T15:31:00.095+01:00

Wimborne Minster

About the walk

After the excitement of two walks along the South West Coast Path in recent days, we thought we wold have a gentle exploration of Wimborne and were delighted to find this walk on the AA website.

The walk begins to the north east of the town at a car park near the Eye Bridge over the Stour. You start by walking across meadows towards the town. This is a view of the river looking back towards the bridge.

Once in the town, you walk along West St to reach The Square - quite attractive and dominated by the 18th century King's Head Hotel, but busy with buses, cars and taxis - and then walk down Church St to reach the Minster.

This fine church is essentially Norman inside and Gothic outside, dominated by its two fine towers - the 15th century West Tower and the 12th century Crossing Tower. This is the view looking up the crossing tower from below.

Up a narrow staircase nearby is the extraordinary Chained Library installed in 1686 for the citizens of Wimborne. The chains prevented enthusiastic readers taking the books away. The helpful custodian told us that it is one of only four in the whole country.

We left the Minster to walk along the High Street past the Church Office, a reasonable imitation of the style of the Minster dating from 1906.

Then up East St and into Poole Road where we saw this fabulous pair of semis in a wonderful mixture of Georgian and Venetian Gothic styles, with extraordinary curved entrances to the porches.

The route then led over Canford Bridge and through a housing estate to emerge in the water meadows across from the town. After a short way, the route continued along a former road beside the A31 - presumably the old A31. It looks rather forlorn as nature gradually reclaims it.

A bit further on you join a current road and pass Merley Hall Farm. The farmhouse was a curious mixture of elements: two apparently separate structures either side of this handsome chapel-like structure with a dutch gable.

A bit further along we stopped to admire an elaborate pair of Victorian cottages which seemed very similar to some we had noticed on the outskirts of Poole. The young owner came and chatted to us and explained that they were Lady Wimborne Cottages. They were built by the owner of the Canford estate for estate workers. There were apparently 111 of them and they all display a unique number unconnected to the local street number.

After crossing the A31, we joined the water meadows again. As we walking along we noted a general similarity to the water meadows around Salisbury where we walked last November. We were just saying what a shame it was that there was no view of the Minster, when its towers popped into sight between the trees. They were briefly visible and were lit for a moment by sunlight.

This path brought us back to the Eye Bridge where a number of local children were enjoying a dive into the river.

Map: Explorer 118 (Shaftesbury and Cranbourne Chase)

Conditions: sunny intervals

Distance: 4 miles

Rating: three and half stars

Sightings

We saw a couple of Egrets on the river, but the main excitement was a pair of Goldcrests.

Flower's Barrow to Lulworth Cove (SW Coast Path 10)

2011-08-21T11:58:00.005+01:00

Worborrow Bay from Flower's Barrow

About the walk

We decided to carry on where we left off yesterday at Flower's Barrow. Our circular walk approach to the SWCP meant that essentially we had to do a there-and-back walk from Lulworth Cove, as there was no other sensible start point and a very limited choice of alternative paths.

We set off from the tourist car park and walked down the sloping street to the Cove itself, taking the stairs on the left to climb the hill above the cove. At the top we headed on up the very steep hill to find the start of the path which follows the ridge parallel to the coast. This chalky hill is a fine butterfly site and we saw several Chalkhill and Adonis Blues.

Soon we entered the Army Ranges, noticing as we did two squaddies which massive backpacks who were presumably out on some sort of punishment run.

We headed along the stony, chalky track past what seemed to be a massive TV aerial, enjoying fine views to the north and, from this point on, the sight of a tremendous sweep of coastline from St Aldhelm's Head in the east to Swyre Head and Portland in the west. To the left, inland, the Lulworth Army camp and training ground stretched out with a large network of tracks and sundry wrecked and rusty tanks scattered across it.

We walked along the top of Bindon Hill, with the long slope leading up to Flower's Barrow all too visible in front of us. We saw a number of Wall Browns here basking in the sunshine.

We thought the ridge continued all the way, but first there is a steep descent to Arish Mell at a sea level. The little beach here is closed and a crew of workmen doing something with what seemed to be an outlet of some sort. A Google search yielded a suggestion that there was once an outlet here from the Winfrith Atomic Energy Establishment. So perhaps it is being repaired.

On the other side, a long winding slope led steeply up to Flower's Barrow. Once we were there, the view back along the coast was superb.

Now we began this leg of the Coast Path in the correct direction! Walking down the long slope was actually more taxing than climbing it had been. The toes and knees complained loudly. Then it was straight back up the other side to the ridge leading to Bindon Hill.

The views forward over Mupe Bay, with Mupe Rocks behind were very fine.

As we descended Bindon Hill towards Mupe Bay, the chalk cliffs provided an impressive sight along the coastline.

At the bottom, we went to the corner of the small bay housing Mupe Rocks and puzzled over the extraordinary angle at which the strata of rock were pointing.

There was now a flat section along a grassy cliff-top path overlooking the Fossil Forest. This a literal description rather than a fanciful one. 144m years ago there was a forest here which was flooded under a shallow, saline lagoon. Thick mats of algae grew across the forest floor and around the base of the trees and fallen logs. Sediment stuck to the this and built up over time to form the large doughnut-shaped rings that can be seen today around the trees and wood.

At the end of this section you reach the mouth of Lulworth Cove, with Portland and Weymouth in sight beyond.

We climbed the long sequence of steps to the side of the cove and walked along the lower path at the top enjoying a fine view of the cove.

Then it was down the path and steps on the other side to walk back up the lane to the car - via a well-deserved drink in a bar on the way.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset)

Distance: about 7 miles, of which only 3 were on the Coast Path. Distance covered now 28 miles.

Conditions: sunny, hot

Rating: four and a half stars

Reflections

The walk took us far longer than a walk of this length normally would. Obviously this was due the five steep climbs or descents that it included - and the consequent rests that they entailed. It led us to think that we need a better way of estimating the time required for this sort of walk and I remembered my friend John once saying that with Alpine walking the total change of height was often a better predictor of time taken than the linear distance. In this case the eight climbs/descents amounted to over a kilometer of change of level.

Secondly, I realised that I still need to improve my map-reading skills in order to identify all these changes in advance, rather than be surprised by them.

When we looked in the SWCP Handbook we were delighted to see that the Lulworth to Kimmeridge section was rated "Severe" - the highest rating on a scale starting at "Easy". Who would have thought we could have handled Severe without any great difficulty?

Kimmeridge Bay - Worbarrow Bay and Flower's Barrow (SW Coast Path 9)

2011-08-20T19:41:00.001+01:00

Worbarrow Bay

About the walk

We picked up the SWCP at Kimmeridge, keen to get through the section which goes through the MOD Lulworth Ranges while they are open in August. We left Kimmeridge along the road, passed the BP "Nodding Donkey" Oil Well and entered the MOD land through the gate, pleased to be wished "Happy walking" - not like the MOD of old!

You walk along a broad grassy path with two of the Kimmeridge ledges, Broad Bench and Long Ebb, below. Hobarrow Bay lies between them and is succeeded by Brandy Bay. The Gad Cliff is in view ahead (see below) as you swing inland to climb towards and then pass beneath the lareg grassy hill of Tyneham Cap.

At about this point we encountered the advance guard of the heroic runners racing from Weymouth to Swanage (32 miles!). We would see many more in various states of fitness as our walk progressed.

As we walked along Gad Cliff there was a fine view back along the coast with the two ledges clearly displayed and St Aldhelm's head dimly visible in the background.

You then walk along Gold Down to reach the high ground above Worbarrow Bay. As you descend the large mound on the nearside of the bay becomes clearly visible. This is Worbarrow Tout - tout is an old word for a lookout point.

You descend right to sea level at the back of the beach and as you approach it there is a great view of the wide expanse of the bay.

Now the path climbs right to the top of the hill to reach Flower's Barrow. It could clearly be seen to become ever steeper the nearer you get to the top.

Still, after a quite strenuous climb the view back over Worbarrow Bay and Tout was very impressive.

We now left the Coast Path for today and turned inland along a ridge. This is the end of the Purbeck Ridge which runs in a grands curve from Ballard Point via Corfe Castle to here. The main views are inland to the north. It is mainly flat, but Lulworth Castle provides a focal point.

After a mile or so, we left this track and took a path downhill to pass through Tyneham, the celebrated deserted village. It was taken over by the Army in 1944 for rehearsals for the D Day landings and retained in MOD ownership after the war.

There is not a lot there but some of the main buildings, including the restored church, are clearly visible as you approach.

The old telephone box looked suitably nostalgic.

From here, we followed a grassy path zig-zagging up to rejoin the coastal path above Gad Cliff and retraced our steps to Kimmeridge Bay.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset)

Distance: about 7 miles, of which about 3.5 were on the Coast path. Distance covered now 24.5 miles.

Conditions: cloudy, hot

Rating: four stars

Flower of the day

I saw this rather wonderful yellow poppy-like flower on the incline above Brandy Bay. Frustratingly, I have been unable to identify it.

Tormarton to Cold Ashton (Cotswold Way 13)

2011-08-19T19:06:00.003+01:00

Strip Lynchets near Dyrham Park

About the walk

The penultimate leg of the Cotswold Way! We picked up the route at Tormarton and immediately crossed the M4 motorway. A track and field paths led us to the delightful little valley. Strip lynchets are the ridges that form on the down slope of a ploughed field.

Soon we came down a lane through the small village of Dyrham and past the gates of Dyrham Park. The rear part, shown below, was designed by a French Huguenot architect called Samuel Hauduroy. The main part dates from 1698-1704 as is rather grander.

From here the route heads south across fields and then into Dyrham wood. There is a nice view to the west - but less dramatic than many previous views on the Cotswold Way.

We cross the A46 at Pennsylvania. It seems possible that it was named by local Quakers in honour of the American state. If so, it would buck the normal pattern of American place names being derived from English originals.

From here, the path leads upwards through two fields of crops, across a road and along a drive to reach Holy Trinity church, Cold Ashton.

Pevsner reveals that it was rebuilt between 1508 and 1540. The west tower, which may be 14th century is the only remaining part of the previous church.

You emerge through the church yard on the main street of this quiet village and pass the imposing Rectory to be immediately greeted by the even more imposing Cold Ashton Manor. Pevsner suggests that it dates from about 1629.

The parking area at the front, across the road, has a splendid view towards Bath to the south.

Map: Explorer 155 (Bristol and Bath)

Conditions: warm with sunny periods

Distance: about 7 miles

Rating: three and half star. A easier walk than most we have done, but less drama.

Tunbridge Wells

2011-08-03T13:22:00.002+01:00

The Pantiles

About the walk

In Tunbridge Wells for a family wedding and at a loose end for a couple of hours, I took the opportunity of a stroll around the town and its environs.

I found this circular walk on the AA website and was delighted to find that I was able to join the route right outside the hotel we were staying in - in Crescent Road. From here, the route led uphill to the entrance to Calverley Park, a nineteenth century housing development designed by Decimus Burton. Once through the arched gateway, you swing right to pass through the landscaped park of Calverley Grounds. The central flower display was a delight.

You leave the and head down to join the very pleasant High Street. I loved the windows above this pair of shops.

Further along, there are overhanging trees with benches on a high pavement, creating what seemed to be to be rather a French atmosphere.

At end you walk through an alley, where I found a second hand bookshop and tried to buy a West Kent Pevsner - sadly without success.

Crossing the road brings you to the famous Pantiles, with its colonnades and 17th and 18th century shops. The Pantiles and indeed Tunbridge Wells itself owe their existence to the discovery of the Chalybeate Spring in 1606. Chalybeate (pronounced Ka-lee-bee-at) means iron-rich, and this is apparently evident in the unique taste of the water. The spring water can still be sampled at this elegant building.

The stage stage of the walk leads across the common ...

... and along a road through parkland which is lined with imposing 19th century mansions. I especially liked the ceramic tiled decoration on this one.

After a while you take a right turn along a path which soon emerges into a private road with another fine array of enormous houses, this time of more varying vintages.

A bit further on, after some woodland and walking along by the main road you enter an area where there is a jumble of volcanic rock. It is not too hard to see how the central one acquired its name - Toad Rock.

Now you follow the A26 back into TW. As you approach the town, you reach Mount Ephraim. It is not much of a mountain but it does offer a good vantage point over the town. There is more volcanic rock in evidence here and some houses have been built in surprising proximity to it.

You now descend to approach the town and pass by Thackeray's house, now a restaurant. This charming building has a distinctly north American air about it.

From here, a route which skirts the pedestrianised shopping streets returned me to the hotel and the wedding preparations.

From: the AA website

Distance: allegedly 3 miles, but seemed somewhat longer

Rating: three and a half stars. A good way to get to know the town, but there was a lot of road walking outside the town centre.

Sightings

Right at the start of my stroll across the common, I spotted this White Letter Hairstreak resting on the path. A first for me. I don't think it was in too good health however as it seemed oblivious to my close presence as I took my photo.

Highworth - Stanton Fitzwarrren - Sevenhampton

2011-07-27T20:31:00.001+01:00

Highworth Market Place

About the walk

I was in the area on business and decided to do a walk I had previously noticed on the Walkingworld website. It starts from the charming Market Place of Highworth, a quiet town with a Georgian ambiance.

I had a look at the 13th century St Michael's church, tucked away in a cathedral-like close to one side of the High St.

From here the route continued along the High Street, past the leisure centre and through a golf course to finally escape the town. I chap I chatted to on the golf course mentioned that it was a fine place to spot Green Woodpeckers, but I failed to - we did see one in the garden recently however, which was a first.

The route now continued across fields over Red Down and passes a derelict wind pump, which acts as a useful landmark. You soon pass the site of what was clearly once a substantial deer farm. Now there are just some caged areas and a few desultory horses grazing. Why would a deer farm go bust? Too many wild ones available to be shot?

Now you reach the quiet village of Stanton Fitzwarren, a pleasant village with a handsome and, unusually, un-restored barn in the centre.

I made a short detour to see the church of St Leonard. Of Norman origin, it has been subject to the usual Victorian restoration. The tower however dates from 1631.

You leave the village and cross fields to reach the busy A361. Over the road a track leads to Queenlaines Farm which looked rather abandoned as I approached it. The farm buildings seem however to have been adapted for use as a school.

Soon afterwards you join the minor road which leads to Severnhampton, famous as the home and later burial place of Ian Fleming. This road offers nice views over the fields towards the Ridgeway.

On entering Severnhampton, the route veers immediately away to the left, past a cricket pitch. The sight screens, nets, pavilion and score box were all in pretty poor shape, although the grass seemed to have been cut recently.

Now there was another golf course to negotiate - whoopee - followed by a field path past a derelict-looking farm house and a school playing field to return to Highworth.

From: walkingworld.com [ID 235]

Map: Explorer 169 (Cirencester and Swindon)and 170 (Abingdon, Wantage and Vale of White Horse)

Conditions: sunny and warm

Distance: about 6 miles

Rating: two and half stars. Rather disappointing, with a curious air abandonment and decay. Strangely urban too - roads, playing fields, golf courses. Highworth was pleasant.

Rope Lake Head to Kimmeridge (SW Coast Path 8)

2011-07-24T19:35:00.064+01:00

View over Kimmeridge

About the walk

After another month's gap we continue our slow progress along the SW Coast Path. We decided to park on the cliff in Kimmeridge Bay, which would be the end point of the walk. This meant in effect repeating a walk from Kingston to Kimmeridge which we did in January - but in reverse and with a different starting point. We started therefore by walking inland up to an through Kimmeridge village, past the church and up the road. This offered increasingly fine view back over the village and the bay.

At this point we made a further climb up to the top of the steep ridge which overlooks Kimmeridge and more less follows the line of the coast to the east. The map shows this as Smedmore Hill and although the contour lines are hard to read, it is clearly about 200m above sea level - so a pretty decent climb from where we had started.

The views from the ridge were excellent, and as we neared Swyre Head there were also fine views inland to the north west. Here is Swyre Head, with the sea behind, seen from the ridge.

We had climbed Swyre Head (203m) on the previous leg of the Coast Path and on January's walk and we were rather looking forward to going down it for a change. It was indeed much easier, but still quite hard on the knees. However, the fine views to the west were a compensation.

Having by now walked four miles, we started on the Coast Path itself. This is an undramatic section, with the Kimmeridge Ledges (limestone) being the most notable feature.

As we approached Kimmeridge, the Clavell Tower folly, the other highlight, presented itself for our inspection (its story is described in January's post).

Just past the folly, you begin the descent to Kimmeridge Bay, with the westward continuation of the Smedmore Hill ridge in view behind it.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset)

Distance: about 6 miles, of which only 2 were on the Coast path. Distance covered now 21 miles.

Conditions: sunny, hot

Rating: four stars

Sightings

I think this lovely pink flower may be Red Soapwort, but I am not completely sure. I could not definitively locate it in my wild flower books.

Hawkesley Upton to Tormarton (Cotswold Way 12)

2011-07-03T08:45:00.082+01:00

Looking back towards the Monument

About the walk

We picked up the route of the Cotswold Way at the Monument at Hawkesley Upton having done 78 of the 102 miles. It may have taken us 18 months, but the end is in sight!

After a short stretch along the road the route turns right along a fine drive track - this particular one seemed to be the walking equivalent of a motorway, without the traffic.

Soon, to the right there was a wonderful field of poppies, with other colours in front in a series of bands.

At the end of this, a grassy path passed above Horton Court, a National Trust property which has "fascinating remains of a 12th-century rectory, including a Norman hall and early renaissance decoration". The house is hidden behind the trees, but the church of St James the Elder can be glimpsed through them. The Perpendicular tower of this 14th century church created a fine sight.

The route then descends into the village of Horton and climbs past the early 19th century Widden Hill House. Just past the house is a folly dating from the year 2000, built for the purpose of providing a nesting place for owls and swallows. It is rather lovely - and it is wonderful that the art of the folly has not been lost.

We headed on to Little Sodbury with the handsome Victorian church of St Adeline. We thought that this was an unusual name and it is apparently the only church dedicated to this obscure saint.

The route soon passes through a large, but mysteriously unnamed, Iron Age hill fort. A large outer earthwork and an inner one are very well preserved. Of the hill forts we have seen, this one was unusual in that it is on a plateau with a slope on one side, rather than a genuine hill.

The next port of call is Old Sodbury, notable for the late Norman church of St John the Baptist. It is an interesting, but not very imposing building. The restoration of 1858 probably did not help.

The path descends over a field into the village and soon enters Dodington Park. The grounds of 240 ha were laid out around 1764 by Capability Brown, although later modified, and the current neo-classical house was built by James Wyatt between 1798 and 1813 for Christopher Codrington.The house is now owned by the inventor James Dyson.

We loved the park but could not get even a glimpse of the house.

After a steep climb, we crossed the busy A46 and headed into Tormarton where we had an enjoyable late lunch at the Major's Retreat while watching the first couple of sets of the Wimbledon final, seeing Djokovic well on his way to victory over Nadal.

Map: Explorer 167 (Thornbury, Dursey and Yate)

Conditions: warm and sunny

Distance: about 8 miles

Rating: four stars

Sightings

We saw a good number of butterflies, but this Scarlet Tiger moth, which fluttered out from its bush and then hid again, was the highlight.

Plateau de Salaison

2011-07-01T22:43:00.039+01:00

Mountains viewed from the plateau

About the walk

The final day of our visit to the Alps and John took us to the Plateau de Salaison en route for the airport at Geneva. We left the autoroute at the bottom of the valley and made the long, but scenic climb to reach the plateau at 1512m. The couple of chalets in this picture are dwarfed by the hills behind.

The scene is perhaps not quite as rural as it appears, because off the right the village boasts three or four restaurants.

We parked by the chalets and headed off across the grassy plateau with a plan to climb mont Leschaux opposite.

Soon we saw a classic alpine flower - Mountain Avens.

The path climbed steadily upwards over rock-strewn terrain, between pine trees.

But after a while we hit a steep slope covered in scree. Going became slow and we wondered if we would have time to reach the top, make a safe descent and have lunch in time to catch a our plane. We concluded that a cautious approach would be most sensible and decided to retrace our steps.

We explored a little more of the grassy plateau and were delighted delighted to stumble on this perfect specimen of Nigrittella, to quote John "a classic of exposed turf slopes above about 1800 metres, a member of the orchid family".

We followed the sensible course of going to the restaurant which had most cars parked outside, and enjoyed an excellent lunch. We made the plane comfortably, but unfortunately there was allegedly a surplus bag in the hold and so we had to all disembark for a rather chaotic process of reconciliation on the tarmac.

Distance: 3 miles or so

Conditions: hot (mid 20s).

Rating: three and half stars

Emosson Lake

2011-06-30T22:52:00.084+01:00

About the walk

Today John took us past Mont Blanc and the Aiguille du Midi, through Chamonix and over the Swiss border to see the Lac d’Emosson. Border control was minimal consisting of a momentary glance and a wave through.

It was cool (12 degrees) with very low cloud when we set out, although the forecast was that it would clear later. As we snaked up through the clouds towards the lake, we did just begin to wonder if we would be able to see anything at all when we arrived. And when we did finally reach the car park at the Col de Gueulaz (1960m), beside the dam which created the lake, the cloud was so low that we could hardly see the other side of the car park.

The walk begins in a most unusual way: you walk through a tunnel through the rock for about half a mile. I took this photo without flash and although the very slow shutter speed has led to it being blurred, it gives a reasonable sense of the tunnel - although in reality it was much darker.

When we emerged at the other end, we began to walk along a causeway high above the lake, which was apparently to our our left. The first views through the cloud were tantalising.

However, we did see the first of many wonderful alpine flowers: this lovely Alpine Rhododendron - rather like an azalea.

A bit further along the path we saw this fine collection of plants growing up the base of the overhanging cliff. We had the sense of a Japanese garden lovingly tended, but presumably it was the fruit of natural processes.

As we walked further on the cloud began to lift and the bright periods grew longer. The original 1920s dam came into view, with mountains behind it.

And now there was another fine flower sighting: this wonderful Red Gentian, just coming into flower. We also saw large and small Blue Gentian, but I could not seem to get satisfactory photos of either.

I still haven't identified this similarly coloured flower shot against the background of the mountains on the far side of the lake.

As we descended to reach a locality called Barberine, where a old workmen's camp was ornamented by a traditional French cockerel, the sky cleared further and the farthest limit of the reservoir became apparent. The water is unusually low at present as major engineering works are undertaken.

We decided to turn round here and head back. In due course the new dam finally revealed itself to us, with bare rocky mountains behind. Mont Blanc was hidden in the clouds high above to the left.

Distance: 4 miles or so

Conditions: hot (mid 20s), although cooler under the clouds. Sunburn was discovered later.

Rating: four stars

Other sightings

We spotted three splendid varieties of orchid.

We were too high up to see many butterflies. Some blues, a lone Apollo, but right at the end a Mountain Ringlet decided to land on my leg. A first.

Le Chatelet and Ayères des Rocs

2011-06-29T09:54:00.007+01:00

View across the valley

About the walk

We are in St Gervais-Les-Bains, near Chamonix, visiting my friend John for a few days to experience a little of the joys of walking in the Alps. The day dawned bright enough, but the weather forecast and the barometer warned of a thunderstorm later.

John took us to the tiny hamlet of Le Chatelet, consisting of a bar and a couple of houses. It is located a bit north of Servoz at 1418m above sea level.

We parked the car and carried on up the track, which was soon blocked for cars by resurfacing works. It quickly became clear that we would see lots of butterflies in the areas beside the track which were resplendent with a lovely assortment of wild flowers. It was like walking through a garden. Yellow Gentian was to the fore.

Progress was slow as I sought to take some pictures and I was quickly rewarded with reasonable shots of a High Brown Fritillary and a Pearl-Bordered Fritillary, of which there were lots. They look quiet similar, but the High Brown is rather bigger and closer inspection reveals differences in the shape of the wings and their markings.

We also saw, what I have since identified as a Marsh Fritillary - a quite beautiful creature.

Soon there were further successes: a Black Veined White and an Apollo, dancing together in the air before separately landing to take some nectar.

Further along, at Chalets du Soulay, the track made a hairpin turn left to continue on to Ayères des Rocs. We paused to look ahead to a delightful little river valley, where several separate streams made their way down from the higher rocks above.

We followed the track onto a wide plateau underneath a high massif, with the clouds hanging down below the edge to the left and a further massif, still partly in sun, ahead. The high sides and the low cloud created a peculiarly enclosed feeling. We were now at 1641m.

At this point we decided to head back rather than push our luck with the approaching thunderstorm. We paused to investigate the enclosed little valley. It was a charming quiet spot, with flowers, a stream and more butterflies - including now some Blues. This view reminded me of Millais's famous picture of John Ruskin - without Ruskin of course.

After this refreshing break, we headed back on down the track to regain the car and head off to find a restaurant for lunch.

Distance: perhaps 4 miles

Conditions: hot (mid 20s), although cooler when we came under the clouds.

Rating: four stars

Arne

2011-06-25T19:19:00.001+01:00

View towards Middlebere Lake

About the walk

Yesterday's planned walking was rained off and the forecast fro today wasn't much good either, but by late morning it seemed bright enough for a walk on the good tracks around the RSPB reserve at Arne.

Like the last time I walked here in March we followed the red route up past the church of St Nicholas, beside fields, through woodland and heathland to reach the edge of Poole harbour.

Once of the little pools by the track had some wonderful waterlilies ...

... as well as a couple of dragon flies which would not pose long enough for a photo.

We walked on to Shipstal Point and along the beach, quite a bit of which was visible at low tide. Just as we left the beach, there was this nice view towards Long Island.

We continued along the Red route which would have led back to the car park, but spying a gate on the left we nipped through it and headed a track across the heath towards the other section of the reserve. The heath was alive with purple heather and made a wonderful sight with the subtle variations in shade.

It turned out however that this track did not quite lead to the other section of the reserve, even though there were some lovely views towards Middlebere Lake. The path inexorably bore right and we ended up on the edge of the overflow car park. Still, it had been a delightful stroll across the purple heath.

We decided to call it a day there as lunch was now overdue. We had seen remarkably few birds, a possible sighting of a Green Woodpecker being the most interesting, but it was great to get after after a frustrating day yesterday.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset). Not that you need it, except perhaps to find your way to the reserve from Wareham. Otherwise, the paths are very well marked.

Conditions: bright and sunny, about 19 degrees.

Distance: about 4 miles

Rating: three and a half stars

Hinton Ampner

2011-06-25T19:00:00.001+01:00

Hinton Ampner

We met up with our friends Viv and Giles at Hinton Ampner, a National Trust property famous more for its garden than for its house. We started with a little detour to see the Saxon church of All Saints. Most of what you see is 13th century, although the wooden tower dates only from 1879.

We crossed the A272 to follow a track which quickly passed an information panel telling us that the field to our left was the site of the Civil War battle of Cheriton. It was apparently a strategically important victory for the Parliamentarians and meant that Charles I never regained the offensive in South East England. Of course, it looks like any other field.

Heading north, we crossed the Wayfarer's Walk (one of many long distance paths I aspire to walking) and continued along a hedged lane. On a better day this would probably have been a good place for butterflies, but we saw only a few whites and Meadow Browns, and a single Comma and Small Tortoiseshell.

After a mile or so, we turned left beside a corn field ...

... crossed a small road and reached the tiny, but clear and fast-flowing, river Itchen, near to Cheriton Mill.

The mill race was still visible, but the watercourse which passed under it was choked with reeds.

We followed the track parallel to the course of the river and were puzzled by the sight of a stationary figure one the other side of a field. As we got closer it was revealed as a remarkably life-life statue of a huntsman. It really was an excellent piece of work.

There was no clue as to its identity, but bit of Googling unearthed a report in Horse and Hound which revealed that it was the work of artist "Miranda Michels, a former joint-master of the Radnor and West Herefordshire, [who] spent last season crafting The Huntsman out of hammered and welded stainless and corten weathering steel". I have to confess I was disappointed to find that her motivation was to support the repeal of the Hunting Act. Still, it is a fine statue and it enlivened this section of our walk.

We soon came into Cheriton village and stopped to see the church of St Michael and All Angels. It is predominantly 13th century, with some interesting tracery in the chancel, a scratched mass dial by the porch and a priest's door visible on the side of the chancel. The church was altered after a fire in 1744 and the squat tower dates from this period.

After a sustaining lunch at The Flower Pots pub and brewery, we walked down the lane towards New Cheriton, crossed the A272 again and found a track which passed beside fields to go behind Hinton Ampner. One more turn past a field full of very noisy sheep brought us to the house.

It now started to rain and while we enjoyed a look around the house, we had to forgo the garden.

Map: Explorer 119 (Meon Valley, Portsmouth, Gosport & Fareham)

Conditions: cloudy, but quite warm

Distance: about 6 miles

Rating: four stars

Chapman's Pool to Rope Lake Head (SW Coast Path 7)

2011-06-14T18:19:00.003+01:00

Looking back towards St Aldhelm's Head

About the walk

After a two months' gap, today offered an opportunity to resume our progress, by means of circular walks, along the South West Coast Path. We started at a car park to the west of Kingston, just by the entrance to Encombe Park, and walked back along the lane to the village. There were fine views to the left towards Corfe Castle. You could very clearly see the way in which the castle perches on a self-contained hill, with the Purbeck ridge rising on either side of it. What led to the interruption of the ridge?

In Kingston, we turned visited the church of St James and then turned right towards the sea. We were pleased to immediately identify it as Victorian. It turns out to be by the eminent architect G E Street and was built in the 1870s, lavishly funded by the third Earl of Eldon. Pevsner describes it as his (Street's) "grandest church in the country".

We followed the road due south as it gradually became a track. After about a kilometre, we forked left on a permissive path aiming for the precise point at which we left the Coastal Path in April. We were pleased to find it successfully, but something went slightly awry because we had to carefully climb over a barbed wire fence at the end.

The path is a long way inland here, forced away from the coast by the steep ravine at the back of Chapman's Pool. As we walked along we could see the rocky side of Emmetts Hill, and remembered the many steps we had climbed up to reach it on the last leg from Winspit to Chapman's Pool.

Soon the path opened out into a wide glacial valley as we curved round under a fine rounded, but seemingly unnamed, hill 136m above sea level. When then took a path on the left, leading right down to the coast. This is the view back.

Now we climbed this leg's set of steps: about 200 of them leading up to the top of Houns Tout cliff, at 140m. The view back towards Chapman's Pool and St Aldhelm's head was exhilarating.

We were delighted to find a sun-warmed stone bench looking west and sat there for a while taking a breather and enjoying the view towards Rope Lake Head - the second headland in the picture, the first is Egmont Bight.

There now followed a long descent and then a relatively flat section, with Swyre Head, the highest point along the Dorset coast at 203m, rising to the right.

Just before Rope Lake Head, we took the path which leads, over a kilometer or so of steady climbing, to the top of Swyre Head. We came this way in January walking from Kimmeridge, to the west, so we knew exactly what to expect. Last time, it had been raining and the slippery mud added considerably to the difficulty. Today it was dry, but still a decent climb.

As we approached the top, with a hint of early sunset, the view to the west towards Kimmeridge Bay opened up.

The final stage back to the car park followed the line of the ridge overlooking the stretch of coast we had just walked along. The curve of the ridge mirrored the curve of the coastline. In the valley below Encombe House nestled, almost invisibly, in its private park.

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset)

Distance: about 6 miles, of which about about 3 was on the Coast Path. Distance covered now 19 miles.

Conditions: sunny, hot

Rating: four and a half stars

Sightings

Quite a good day for butterflies: Large and Small White, Meadow Brown, Small Heath, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Painted Lady (our first of the year), Large Skipper, and two Blues - I think Silver Studded and Adonis.

On the bird front, we watched a Kestrel circling around the cliff edge at Houn's Tout and admired the gliding flight of a number of Fulmars. Later we saw a small flock of Goldfinches and a pair of Yellowhammers. The highlight though was to definitively identify some Stonechats: a male, a female and a chick.

Flower of the day

This Viper's Bugloss grew in a number of places on the top of Houn's Tout. I have had it as my Flower of the Day before, but never in such a dramatic location.

Wotton-under-Edge to Hawkesbury Upton (Cotswold Way 11)

2011-06-05T18:45:00.002+01:00

Almshouses, Wotton-under-Edge

About the walk

We are now over two-thirds of the way through the Cotswold Way. We picked up the route in the centre of Wotton-under-Edge and soon turned into Church Road where the wonderful Hugh Perry and Thomas Dawes almshouses (above) are to be found. Hugh Perry was born in Wotton and became Sheriff of London in 1632. He left money in hill for the erection of almshouses for six poor men and six poor women. You can go through the central doorway to emerge into a charming small courtyard with the Thomas Dawes hospital of 1720 opposite, with six further apartments and the small 17th chapel to the left.

A bit further on we passed the 13th century church of St Mary the Virgin, with its 14th century tower. A service was underway, so we did not look inside.

There now followed a quite steep climb out of the town and then a dog-leg to the east and back to reach a point with fine views to the south, with the monument at Hawkesbury Upton, today's destination, visible on the horizon.

We almost took a wrong turn here, descending into the valley, seemingly drawn by the lure of the strangely-named Nanny Farmer's Bottom which lay ahead. However, we managed to resist and followed the line of the ridge round to Wortley Hill and down into Wortley.

We left Wortley across a grassy meadow with a fine view of Alderley on the hill on the other side.

Alderley seemed to be a characterful village and we passed the church of St Kenelm, rebuilt in 1802, but with a fine tower of about 1450. We passed also an imposing gateway which clearly led up to what we thought was probably a folly built on the side of Winner Hill.

A bit of Googling confirms that this supposition was correct. It dates from 1779 and has recently been restored. The great house which lay between the gates and the folly has long been demolished.

We headed south east from Alderley, walking under Winner Hill and were delighted by the view along the valley towards Kilcott.

We walked along the narrow road through this hamlet and made one last climb through Claypit Wood to finally walk beside a lovely flower meadow to reach the Monument to General Lord Robert Somerset, on the road just north of Hawkesbury Upton.

It dates from 1846 and is by Lewis Vulliamy. Somerset was a son of the 5th Duke of Beaufort (whose ancestral home was at the nearby Badminton House). He had served with distinction at Waterloo.

Map: Explorer 167 (Thornbury, Dursey and Yate)

Conditions: quite wet

Distance: about 7 miles

Rating: four stars

Ashton Keynes

2011-06-02T11:16:00.051+01:00

The Thames at Waterhay

About the walk

This was rather an unusual walk in that much of it was over flat paths around not very photogenic gravel pit lakes, but on the other hand there was a wealth of flowers, butterflies, dragonflies and other wildlife to see. So I am going to describe it in a different way to my usual model.

You leave the Waterhay car park and follow the Thames Path between fields and then gravel pits towards the village of Ashton Keynes. The Thames Path starts a few miles away at the Source, near Kemble, and travels 184 miles to the Thames Barrier. The first sighting was a pair of Small Tortoiseshells engaged in a mating dance.

You skirt the village by means of an enclosed track and as it opened out into more open country, I caught sight of a fox prowling along the edge of a field.

The next section, towards Clayhill was quite productive of wild flowers. I noticed these two previously unidentified species: Cut-leaved Cranesbill ...

... and Smooth Hawksbeard.

On the way, there was a rather sad collection of unused gravel extraction equipment.

Just before the Clayhill car park, a large meadow of low flowers and grasses, yielded an opportunity to spot and photograph a Brown Argus.

After the park, the route required walking along a section of road, but even here there was something new for me: this striking Common Toadflax.

Next was a right turn along a road in the direction of Ashton Keynes, which featured a sign to several numbered lakes. I was slightly shocked that there were too many lakes for them all to have names. Quickly however the route turned left along an overgrown path through a veritable wasteland. I did see this Banded Demoiselle, which made a nice change from the clouds of Common Blue Damselflies which had accompanied most stages of the walk so far.

Eventually this path gave way to a pleasant rural field ...

... and soon after, the route joined a fine track parallel to a disused railway line. This in turn met the Thames Path, which became the route back to the start. I was startled by three fallow deer which appeared from the right of the path and daintily leaped across a fence to the left. After a mile or so the embryonic river itself appeared beside the track.

However, the path soon left it to again pass through gravel pits. The largest and prettiest was Manor Brook Lake, which was home to swans, coots and great crested grebe.

However, their peace and mine was soon disturbed by a speed boat racing round the otherwise calm surface of the lake.

As the end approached, I was amused to see a field containing an odd mixture of cows and greylag geese. The cows seemed to be enjoying a game of chase-the-goose.

From: walkingworld.com [ID 2069]

Map: Explorer 179 (Gloucester, Cheltenham and Stroud)

Conditions: sunny and warm, even into the evening

Distance: just over 6 miles

Rating: four stars - for the rich variety of wildlife

Norden, Blue Pool and Corfe

2011-05-31T10:53:00.001+01:00

Norden Station

About the walk

This walk begins in the car park at Norden station near Corfe Castle, where most other people were catching the steam train to Swanage. You leave the car park, cross the road and head north (appropriately) to a locality called, for some reason, Scotland.

The path leads across alternating fields and woodland. On the edge of the first section of wood and in the next large field we saw these curious wooden structures, which seemed rather like a rustic tennis umpire's chair. We still have no idea as to their purpose; on hearing a pheasant, we wondered if they may have something to do with pheasant rearing.

At Scotland Farm, you turn left (i.e. west) and head along a pleasant lane, then a track, with views across open land to Corfe Castle.

You eventually reach the busy A351 and continue, after crossing the disused section of the railway line, across Norden Heath to reach the entrance to the Blue Pool. This is an old clay pit which has - obviously - filled with water which has turned blue. It is surrounded by nicely arranged gardens, paths and places to sit, and a tea room. The Pool itself is very pretty.

The story of ball clay mining in the Purbecks can be discovered at the Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum near Norden Station - or from its informative website. There is evidence of clay mining in the
area from Roman times, but two fashions gave it a massive impetus: the introduction of tobacco in the 16th century created a demand for clay pipes and the fashion for tea drinking in the 18th century which led to the growth of Staffordshire china making. Josiah Wedgwood regarded Purbeck Blue Clay as the best in the world for making his wares.

On leaving the Blue Pool, we soon joined a path back to Corfe which runs through some delightful woodland parallel with the Purbeck ridge. Further evidence of clay mining could be seen on all sides. This in fact was the return leg of an earlier walk from Corfe along the ridge which we did last November. After a while you climb up through a campsite towards the ridge, with nice views to the west, away from the tents and camper vans.

You then continue along a line parallel to the ridge, but higher up, to skirt Corfe Castle, taking yet another picture.

The final leg of the walk follows the Purbeck Way from the Corfe Visitor Centre alongside the railway back to Norden. I was pleased to be offered an opportunity for an action shot of the train as it came past. I was amused to see that it was pulled by a streamlined Battle of Britain class locomotive (a "flat top") which I recorded in my notebook when I was a boy. 34070 Manston for the record, named after an airfield in Kent.

From: walkingworld.com [ID 3771]

Map: Explorer OL15 (Purbeck and South Dorset)

Conditions: 14 degrees or so, sun, quite windy

Distance: 6 miles or so, including the tour round the Blue Pool

Rating: three and half stars. Interesting and varied.

Flower of the day

I can't recollect ever noticing this Dove's-foot Cranesbill before. The tiny flowers are very close to the ground, but provided an intense spot of colour beside the path through one of the areas of heathland.

Beech Hill (Mystery Walking)

2011-05-25T12:24:00.002+01:00

St Mary's Beech Hill

About the walk

The Ramblers are running a project in which members are asked to walk two miles of path in a given grid square and then rate the walk along a number of dimensions. The walk has to stay within a single Highway Authority area, and clearly once enough ratings are available a national picture will emerge about the state of paths which will highlight differences between local authorities. This all seemed a good idea, so I volunteered and was allocated a grid square quite near home.

The first challenge was to construct the walk. I know that I am not very good at this, tending to rely on walk books rather than make up my own walks, and I have realised that one of the obstacles is that I am poor at assessing distances on the OS Explorer maps. This is pretty pathetic of course and so I thought I would use my experience of Mystery Walking to address this weakness.

The grid square in question only has one real path and it can only be accessed from two points. Secondly, the grid square is right on the extreme edge of West Berkshire District, so only one direction of walk was possible. I decided to park in Beech Hill, opposite the beautiful church of St Mary (William Butterfield, 1867). I walked towards Spencers Wood to join a path through Beech Hill coverts to join my target path right at the top of my grid square.

The path was in fact a Byway and wound through trees to briefly become a road and pass Beech Hill House, an imposing Georgian mansion of 1720.

The path resumed shortly after and continued through woodland on the same south-westerly line.

It ended at a road, like many paths in this area, and I followed two short sections of road to join the Devil's Highway - a one-time Roman Road heading towards Silchester (Roman Calleva Atrebatum). I have waled in the other direction along this section on a walk from Stratfield Mortimer to Beech Hill. It is a very pleasant green lane, with glimpses of fields on both sides.

When the Devil's Highway ended, there was the option of completing the early walk in reverse, but time was running out. The price of not doing so was two and half miles back along the road. Still, I was lucky enough to be get a good look at a kestrel sitting on a telegraph wire - the sound of my approach was presumably drowned out by the traffic noise.

Map: Explorer 159 (Reading, Wokingham and Pangbourne)

Conditions: warm, but cooling as evening arrived

Distance: about 7 miles

Rating: two and half stars. Too much road!

Reflections on Mystery Walking

The Mystery Walker rating process was quite straightforward and it was quite interesting to focus on the quality of the paths, rather than the countryside, nature and buildings as I usually do. Ratings were required for (man-made) Obstructions, Signposting & Waymarking, Surface, Overgrowth, Level of "Welcome" and Enjoyment. All of these were rated on a five point scale from Excellent to Terrible, with each point defined in words, which should help to reduce the inevitable element of subjectivity.

I think it is an interesting initiative and it will be interesting to see the results.

My only concern was that the "Satisfactory" point on the scales seemed to be pitched too low. Consider the rating scale for Obstructions (examples of obstructions were "dangerous stiles; paths which have been ploughed or cropped without reinstatement of the route; missing bridges; unopenable gates; strategically-placed muck-heaps"):

Excellent there were no obstructions on the walk

Very good there were a few minor obstructions on the walk

Satisfactory there were some obstructions on the walk but they did not interfere with the walk as a whole

Not very good some parts of the walk were virtually impassable due to the nature of the obstructions faced

Terrible the walk was almost impossible to carry out due to the obstructions faced

Given the definition of obstructions, I can't see how having some (i.e. more than one of them on a walk could be seen as satisfactory). It is also clear that there are two dimensions at play here: the number of obstructions and their severity.

In general for social survey questions (which is something I am involved in professionally), I am very keen on five point rating scales balanced about a midpoint, but here I rather think a four point scale would work better. Here is my offer:

Excellent there were no obstructions on the walk

Satisfactory there were only minor obstructions on the walk, but they did not interfere with the walk as a whole

Not very good there were frequent or serious obstructions, but it was still possible to complete the walk

Terrible the walk was impossible to carry out due to the obstructions faced

Reflections on map reading

I noted down times and step counts as I did different sections of the walk and compared them with the map when I finished. This helped to fix a greater sense of map distances as translated into walking time distance in the moment.

At home I finally gave the Explorer map scale a careful study. It is 1:25,000 scale so 4 cm represents 1 km, or 2.5 inches (6.5 cm) represents 1 mile.

Or, perhaps more practically, one grid square is 1 km or .62 miles; 2.5 squares is 1.5 miles.

I think I have got it at last. What was difficult about that? Of course the next challenge is to factor in the effect of climbs and descents - what the French call dénivelisation (change of levels).

Coaley Peak to Wotton-under-Edge (Cotswold Way 10)

2011-05-23T17:31:00.002+01:00

View from Coaley Wood

About the walk

Back on the Cotswold Way with Merv and Pud., after a break of almost two months. We resumed the walk at Coaley Peak and follow the Cotswold escarpment south to Coaley Wood, where I captured the fine view to the west. It would have been more normal to capture the view from Coaley Peak, but unfortunately a sharp shower struck just as we were setting out.

The path then descended through woodland to pass Hodgecombe Farm and emerge in a valley opposite Cam Long Down.

The change of level to the top of Cam Long Down was almost 100m and the section just below the tree line was especially steep. You emerge onto a thin ridge with fine views in all directions.

Looking back to the right (north east) the classic patchwork field pattern was very much in evidence, with a few highlighted in a patch of sunlight.

You now descend into the former wool town of Dursley. The 15th century church of St James is one notable building, but our attention was grabbed by the Market House and Town Hall of 1738. The statue depicts Queen Anne.

A second steep climb leads up to Dursley Golf Club and Stinchcombe Hill. We decided here to take the shorter route across a corner of the gold course, rather than the longer one which goes round the perimeter of the course and then around the side of Stinchcombe Hill.

The route soon became more open and we admired the des res of Stancombe Park, sitting serenely in its parkland.

Soon we reached and walked through the quiet - but wonderfully named - village of North Nibley. At the edge of the village the route follows a steep staircase of 120 or so steps ...

.. up to Nibley Knoll, where there is a splendid monument to William Tyndale.

Tyndale was the translator of the Bible into English who was martyred (in Flanders) for his trouble in 1536. He was born in North Nibley. The monument was designed by the Gothic Revival architect S S Teulon and dates from 1866. It is 111 feet high.

You walk along the grassy side of the Knoll and then enter woodland to pass Brackenby Ditches - an unglamorous name for another iron age hill fort to eventually emerge on Wotton Hill, with a view over the town and the surrounding plain.

A plaque explains the story of the trees in their brick enclosure: "Trees were planted here in 1815 to commemorate the victory at Waterloo. They had become thin by the end of the Crimean War and were felled for a bonfire. This walled enclosure was erected and the site replanted with trees to commemorate the Jubilee of Her late Majesty Queen Victoria (1887), following the burning on this spot of one of a chain of celebration beacons which then spanned the country."

We ended our walk at the Swan Hotel in Market Street, where we enjoyed some much needed drinks and hearty food. Just a short way down the street is the Town Hall of 1872. The columns which partly emerge from the facade are remains of the market built in 1798.

We look forward to seeing more of Wotton next time - it seems an interesting small town.

Map: Explorer 167 (Thornbury, Dursey and Yate)

Conditions: often cloudy, but the threatened rain did not materialise

Distance: about 9 miles

Rating: four stars