Sugar Hill and Liddington

                                                                                                        Sugar Hill

We followed up Saturday's walk from Aldbourne by going further along the B4192 to park in a lay-by and walk towards Sugar Hill. The last part involved a steady climb. Below is the view looking back from just below the top. In the distance is the ridge we will walk back on and then turn left to walk down the hill back to the car.

 

On reaching Sugar Hill we turned left and followed a path which gradually got nearer to the road (the line of trees in the photo). We enormously enjoyed the wide open country.

 

 

 

We reached and soon afterwards crossed the road and climbed up to be confronted by this World War II gun emplacement. It was a bit different from the pillboxes you see all along the Kennet and Avon Canal.

 

There was a nice view looking back towards Sugar Hill, but unfortunately the cloud had begun to thicken.

We carried on along the track to soon see Liddington Castle off to the right. It dates from the Bronze and Iron Ages and was one of the earliest hill forts in Britain, with first occupation dating to the 7th century BC. Perhaps wrongly, we decided not to pay it a visit, feeling that we have seen quite a lot of hill forts on our walks.

 

A bit further on we turned left on a track with a Ridgeway sign and headed south, with again nice views across to Sugar Hill.

 

A little further on we turned left and headed downhill towards where we had parked.

Conditions: cool but pleasant.

Distance: 5 miles.

From: 100 walks in Wiltshire.

Maps:  Explorer 157 (Marlborough & Savernake Forest), with slight incursion into Explorer 170 (Abingdon, Wantage & Vale of White Horse).

Rating: four stars.