DAC is away...
Length: 26.3 km (16.4 mi) [with a bus option to shorten the walk, see
below]
Ascent/Descent: 607m
Net Walking Time: ca. 6 ½ hours
Toughness: 7 out of 10
or
Length: 17.2 km (10.7 mi)
Ascent/Descent: 340m
Net Walking Time: ca. 4 hours
Toughness: 4 out of 10
Take the 09.20 Exeter St. David’s train from Waterloo
(09.27 Clapham J, 09.46 Woking), arriving Tisbury at 11.06
(you have to be in the front 3 cars).
Return trains: xx.01 (from 108 mins).
This walk explores parts of the Upper Nadder Valley (also known
as the Vale of Wardour) in the south westerly parts of the West Wiltshire Downs
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which is spectacular walking country with
some breath-taking views. Heading west from Tisbury, initially it broadly
follows the valley, while never being flat for long, before routing through Wardour
Park with its large neoclassical mansion and romantically ruined 14th
century Castle to then bypass the Donheads via a hill crossing.
After lunch in Ludwell, it is a long and steady
ascent to South Wiltshire’s highest point: Win Green Hill, providing for
360°-views to the coast and the inland valleys. After a stretch along the
Cranborne Chase ridge a steep descent into the Chalke Valley is
followed by a re-ascent up Berwick Coombe to White Sheet Hill, followed
by a steep and rough descent from the chalk escarpment. A few woods, an
often-boggy brook crossing and some smaller copses are followed by the descent
back into Tisbury, a remarkably unspoilt village.
Bus Option: Line 29
(Shaftesbury - Salisbury) stops outside the lunch pub on the main
walk (13.33, 15.18, 16.33), as well as in Berwick St. John later in the
afternoon (15.25, 16.40, 17.55), it gets you to Salisbury Bus Station (a 10
minutes’ walk from the train station) in just over an hour.
Lunch: The
Forester in Donhead St. Andrew (7.3 km/4.5 mi,
food to 14.00) on the short walk; The Grove
Arms in Ludwell (10.6 km/6.6 mi; under new mgmt as of
2023; food to 15.00) or The Talbot Inn in Berwick St. John
(17.6 km/10.9 mi, food to 4.00) [currently closed due to change of ownership]
on the main walk. Tea: Plenty of options in Tisbury; check page
2 of the walk directions pdf.
For summary, walk directions, map, height
profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.251
1 comment:
5 regulars plus 3 occasionals convened on the patform (n=8) on a w=sunny-with-some-clouds-to-lunch day.
The Nadder meadows were waterlogged and muddy in many places, so the first 45 minutes or so one needed to be alert where to trod and the gaiters were certainly worth their expense. The walk author/'leader' was often at the back taking notes as this served as a 5 year text-check, so when at New Wardour Castle the 'false leader' marched on to the right of the stately pile, the 3 occasionals followed him. Along the route of another of the Tisbury walks...
The 3 eventually saw the error of their ways and turned back to soon catch up with the other 4. The 'false leader' we only bumped into again just before lunch, so he had somehow gotten back on route.
More mud was to come in the infrequent woods and on some of the farm tracks and fenced paths, but it was not too bad all in. Views were tremendous, group chat was lively, and we mostly kept together as one, with 1 slower regular occasionally falling behind.
1 occasional then departed to walk the short walk (16.01 train).
At the Grove Arms in Ludwell, 3 lunched (taken into the Hall & Woodhouse fold, I had hopes for it now being food-let but not so, the menu was short and the food just OK; but still: a very friendly pub with fine interiors, so we hung around for more than an hour), while 4 picicked either on the slope above the pub or further along on the ascent up Win Green, and we never saw 3 of them again.
From the top of Win Green, Dorset out to Bournemouth and even the Isle of Wight were clear to see and saddles in the westerly ridges seemed to allow peeks into Somerset and to some other hills (the Quantocks maybe?).
Several off-road bikes were encountered on the chalky ox drove before our descent down the ever deeper holloway bridleway, washed out down to the chalk bed now and flanked with acres of wild garlic. Generally, bluebells were way behind, but anemones, celandines and primroses in good shape where encountered.
We then bumped into the slow picnicker just before the ascent onto White Sheet Hill and stayed together from there to Tisbury. Hundreds of lambs and ewes as well as many pregnant ewes and had been passed in many places, a herd of deer was spotted below our elevated path grazing in a field below just after lunch, birds of prey were aplenty, some pheasants that had survived the autumn cull and the not-so-harsh winter weather, and the birdsong became more prominent as the day wore on, with especially blackbirds (we think) giving it a right good go; butterflies were spotted here and there, and eventually we got to Tisbury.
We walked under the railway bridge just as the 19.01 was crossing it and a determined sprint would have probably been enough to catch it, but an unspoken agreement had developed that we deserved, maybe even needed a drink in a pub, so no one made an attempt to catch it.
Up to the top of the village to the Boot Inn, which is a great old pub with a fine menu of classics and a mini pizza oven behind the counter (as well as now having an earlier opening time compared to previous years, so it's a good dinner option for all Tisbury walks).
21.01 train for the 4 of us, after sqeezing in a visit to the Co-Op for sustenance for the long journey. The 3 picnickers presumably caught the 19.01 or even the 18.01. A grand day out.
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