Length: 26.0 km (16.2 mi)
[shorter walk possible, see below]
Ascent/Descent:
628m;
Net Walking Time: ca. 6 ½ hours
Toughness: 7 out of 10
Take
the 09.20
Exeter St. David’s train from Waterloo (Clapham J. 09.27, Woking 09.46, Salisbury
10.47), arrives Tisbury at 11.06. You have to be in the front three
coaches of the train.
Return
trains:
17.01, 18.01, 19.03, 20.01, 21.01 and 22.02.
Note: this walk is written up in both directions, with both versions available in separate pdfs. This was necessary as The Crown Inn was closed for many years. It is open again. I will walk the clockwise direction, as it is due a text-check. Both versions are tremendous walks.
This
is the blurb describing the original anti-clockwise walk:
"This
walk heads south from the Vale of Wardour through the southerly parts of the
West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which is spectacular
walking country with some breath-taking views. The full walk reaches the
hilltop boundary with the Cranborne Chase AONB (with views all the way to the
coast, around Bournemouth and Poole). You’ll find picturesque villages and
atmospheric pubs in the beautiful undulating countryside, as well as a wooded
Iron Age hill fort site and plenty of dry chalky U-shaped downland valleys. The
middle part of the walk especially leads through – or around the rim of –
several very pretty coombes.
The
walk starts with a gentle ascent out of Tisbury across fields but features a
few short and sharp ascents later on as well as three more prominent ascents,
spread out through the day, before descending back into Tisbury, a remarkably
unspoilt village."
Shorter
Walk:
Bus
number 29 (Shaftesbury to Salisbury) stops outside the lunch pubs in Ebbesbourne
Wake (13.49, 15.34, 16.49, 18.04) and in Alvediston (4 minutes
earlier, approx. 40 mins journey time).
Bus
number 26 (Salisbury to Tisbury) stops in Swallowcliffe, St. Peter’s
Church at 15.38 and 17.18 (6 minutes journey time).
[Kilometerages below assume you are walking in clockwise direction!]
Lunch: The Horseshoe Inn, Ebbesbourne
Wake (9.7 km/6.1 mi) into the walk. Open 12.00-15.00. Food served
12.00-15.00;
or The Crown
Inn, Alvediston, (16.3 km/10.1 mi) into the walk. Open 12.00-14.30.
Food served.
Tea en route: The
Royal Oak, Swallowcliffe. (21.5 km/13.4 mi) into the full walk
and 16.5 km (10.3 mi) into the short walk. Open all day every day. Great tea stop, just before the last ascent.
Tea
in Tisbury:
Star Grill, Tisbury Fish & Chips, Tisbury Delicatessen, Beatons Tearooms
and Bookshop, The Beckford Bottle Shop, Coffee Angels, The Benett, The Boot Inn. See the pdf for details.
For
walk directions,
map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml
files click here.
T=swc.250.
2 comments:
cheap Advance Tickets still available
N=11 people lined up on the platform, incl. - a first I think - one who was going to run the route (and stop at all 3 pubs en route). 1 walked anti-clockwise, the rest clockwise.
The usual white, yellow and blue spring flowers were in attendance, plus lots of wild garlic. The flowers were most impressive on the long descent from the Salisbury Ox Drove, where they lined the steep earthbanks on either side of the track. Then there were carpets of bluebells later in the hanging woods around Castle Ditches hillfort.
The scenery is almost second to none in Southern Britain, although the far views were a bit hazy today.
The 4 pub stoppers amongst the walkers had a longish stay (the often grumpy landlord was quite chatty), so much so that we never saw the picnickers again (they must have gotten the 6 o'clock train). A large nursery pasture was quite impressive, with at least 100 lambs (and mother sheep) in it.
We bumped into the runner in Tisbury, who took the 7 o'clock train, with 4 of us currently on the 8 o'clock one. A very fine day out. W=sunny-with-a-breeze-on-the-tops
Post a Comment