Length: 36.5 km/22.7 mi
Ascent/Descent: 616m
Net Walking Time: ca. 8 ½ hours
Toughness: 9 out of 10
Take the 08.35 Plymouth train from Paddington (09.02 Reading, 09.18 Newbury, 09.27 Hungerford), arriving Pewsey at 09.38.
Return trains: 17.05, 19.22 and 20.45 (56-65 mins journey time).
An Off-Peak Return is £49.00 at full price, and cheaper with Senior, Two Together, etc. (but not Network) Railcards or as a Group Ticket. At the station on the day, you may be able to fetch a slightly cheaper Super Off-Peak Return. Splitting the ticket is the cheapest option if travelling on a Network Railcard (buy separate London – Newbury [with Network RC discount] and Newbury - Pewsey [without a discount] returns). Note: the 20.45 return train does not stop at Newbury so you’d have to split tickets at Reading if intending to take that train. Freedom Pass travellers may have to split the ticket at Reading, as the machine may say “No fare available” from BZ6 to Pewsey.
This is a strenuous excursion into the heart of Neolithic Wiltshire, a mysterious landscape full of pre-historic earthworks, standing stones, sarsen fields and hillforts as well as barrows – burial mounds of kings and warriors. The route passes through or past four of the most important prehistoric sites in Britain: Fyfield Down Sarsen Stones Field, Avebury Standing Stones and Bank & Ditch Earthworks, Silbury Hill and West Kennett Long Barrow (two other sites, The Sanctuary and Windmill Hill, can be explored on extensions).
You walk out of the beautiful Vale of Pewsey over the southerly ridge of the Marlborough Downs, from where there are stunning far views over this land of wave-like hills, with its scarps, ridges and valleys, before heading through West Woods, England’s best bluebell wood (source: Forestry Commission), to Fyfield Down and Avebury.
Later the walk leads along the Wansdyke, a 5th century earth bank and deep ditch. It was built by the beleaguered Romano-British Celts as a fortification to stem the Saxon advance. From there it is just a short walk to Wiltshire’s highest peak (Milk Hill) with its stunning Down.
Later the walk leads along the Wansdyke, a 5th century earth bank and deep ditch. It was built by the beleaguered Romano-British Celts as a fortification to stem the Saxon advance. From there it is just a short walk to Wiltshire’s highest peak (Milk Hill) with its stunning Down.
After a scenic descent into the Vale of Pewsey an undemanding stretch along the Kennet & Avon Canal leads back to Pewsey.
There are four different options to finish the walk in Avebury, with a rating of between 4/10 and 8/10. Buses to Swindon or Marlborough (for connections to Bedwyn station) are then needed.
[Buses 42 and 49 serve Avebury, enabling a finish there on a shorter walk:
Line 42 (Calne - Marlborough) runs 7 buses on weekdays and 6 on Saturdays (in Marlborough connect to lines 20/22 to Bedwyn Station); Line 49 (Devizes-Swindon) runs hourly Mon-Sat and two-hourly Sun (this requires a separate train ticket Swindon–Reading!).]
Line 42 (Calne - Marlborough) runs 7 buses on weekdays and 6 on Saturdays (in Marlborough connect to lines 20/22 to Bedwyn Station); Line 49 (Devizes-Swindon) runs hourly Mon-Sat and two-hourly Sun (this requires a separate train ticket Swindon–Reading!).]
Circles
Restaurant at
Avebury Museum, 17.5 km (10.9
mi) into the walk;
The Red Lion in Avebury, 18.1 km (11.2
mi) into the walk. Open all day every day. Food served all day.
Tea: Plenty of options in Pewsey, for details check the pdf.
For a detailed route map, gpx/kml file, photos and pdf directions click here. T=swc.255
Stargazer is away
1 comment:
n=5 walkers, incl. 1 returnee from The Land Down Under, in weather that was w=sunny-with-a-breeze
Some muddy patches on the forest bridleways and water in the often dry Upper Kennet River, they must have had some rain up here recently! Else there were no obstacles to a brilliant day for walking, the temps being not too high, the breeze always blowing, so hardly any sweat was broken.
We reached Avebury at 13.20, did the loop around the stone circle and went to the pub, where 1 ate inside, 2 outside and 2 picnicked to then come inside. The returnee had plans on taking a bus to Swindon (not much walking was done Down Under apparently), so only 4 set off an hour later. 2 of us had never been to the West Kennet Long Barrow, so of course they went inside, as one must and 1 of those then went on his very own afternoon route (a little longer with a bit more tarmac), as he so often does.
The remaining 3 got to Pewsey with just enough time on our hands for having a drink at The Waterfront Bar before taking the on time 19.22 train, where we met walker 4.
Brilliant far views today, wiht no haze at all: the Downs by Westbury, some faraway hills in Somerset, all crystal clear.
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