COVID 19
Track-and-Trace: please provide email address (preferred) or mobile phone number at the start
Rule of Thirty: for the foreseeableLength:
26.8 km (16.7 mi) [shortcuts possible, see below]
Ascent/Descent: 413 m
Net
Walking Time: ca. 6 hours
Toughness:
7 out of 10
Outside
of the Network Railcard Area, and without lunch pubs. But the scenery…!
Take
the 10.35 Paignton train from Paddington (11.01 Reading,
11.16 Newbury), arriving Pewsey at 11.34.
Return
trains:
17.06 (63 mins, stops Newbury and Reading), 19.23 (60
mins, stops Newbury and Reading) or 20.43 (56 mins, stops Reading
only)
Buy
a Pewsey return (the
full undiscounted off-peak price is £42.60, but it’s of course cheaper
with Railcards, and in any case cheaper if you buy separate return
tickets London-Newbury and Newbury-Pewsey, or – if travelling back on the 20.43
train – London-Reading and Reading-Pewsey).
!!
For example, if you are using a Network Railcard, buy a discounted
London-Newbury return and a separate off-peak Newbury-Pewsey return (and travel
back on the trains that DO stop at Newbury, see above).
Exhilarating
excursion through the solitude of the Vale of Pewsey, which separates the chalk
upland of the North Wessex Downs to the north from that of Salisbury Plain to
the south, including an ascent up the southerly hill chain of the Marlborough
Downs, from where there are stunning far views in all directions over this land
of wave-like hills, with its scarps, ridges and valleys. It is a mysterious
landscape, full of pre-historic earthworks and hillforts as well as barrows –
burial mounds of kings and warriors. After
a scenic descent back into the Vale of Pewsey, your tea option is in the
hamlet of Honeystreet. Finally, an undemanding stretch along the Kennet
& Avon Canal leads back to Pewsey.
Two
Shortcuts on the downs are possible, they reduce the walk by 3.5 km (2.1 mi) or
3.4 km (2.1 mi) respectively. See route map and pdf for details.
Lunch: Picnic.
Tea: Honeystreet Mill Café in Honeystreet (19.6 km/12.2 mi, open to 17.00), or The Barge Inn, also in Honeystreet, plus one other en route and several others in Pewsey; check page 2 of the walk directions pdf.
For summary, walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.127
13 comments:
Bit of a disaster, the train is sold out for booking online.
You can get first class tickets only on 10.35 train, Gavin
Yes and No.
As this train is a Long-Distance Service, seat reservations are required during Covid-times, and GWR only releases a fraction of the seats on each train for that. We had the same thing on the Hanborough - Charlbury walk on 17 April. Punters who just walked up to the station on the day and bought from the machines reported no problems. But, of course I can't guarantee that the same thing will be true this Saturday.
So, if you are concerned, you could book yourself a PAD - Newbury return (booking onto the 10.08 departure, arrives 10.58), and a separate Newbury - Pewsey return. The Newbury - Pewsey tickets are still bookable for the posted trains, certainly for the 19.26 from Pewsey, which is the train anyone walking the full walk will be on.
How do I know? I have just done that.
I should add, it is just the morning train that is full.
Yes Gavin you are right only first class ticket for 10.35. So if i am attending I will be taking the 08.35 train as I will much slower than usual. May struggle with the heat. But since I have done this walk before i am willing to have a go. So might see you all.
Monica.
I would prefer the 08.35 train and will try and catch it.
Mind you, it might be cancelled at the last moment. But then so might the 10.35.
Austen
I'm in Pewsey now at 4.30pm on Friday. In the Royal Oak. If anyone wants to start the walk now!
Train that said it was sold out. Was nearly empty.
Yes, I might join earlier walk.
It's very hot here at 7pm, so can slow down a bit tomorrow.
All boundary 6 tickets to Newbury or Pewsey are not available online so I shall go early to Paddington and see if I can get the ticket and if not successful will do walk somewhere. I am still aiming for 08.35 train. Hope to see you guys after a long absence. Monica.
No, as first stop is outside boundary zone 6, no discounts. Only third off discounts.
4 of us started at 9.40 from Pewsey Station
4 off the early train, was it? My usually 110%-reliable embedded reporter tells me it was 5 (4 off the train + 1 overnighter), and he's given me their names for the (how will we miss it?) track-and-trace email. So, let's go with 5, shall we?
As suspected, the ticket machines at Paddington (and presumably at all other London terminals) DO indeed dispense Day Return tickets to places like Pewsey, even if the seats are 'fully booked' by online bookings. So, no cause for alarm or any danger of not getting on the train.
2 of us had arrived early and/or had booked seats on the 10.07 to Newbury anyway, just in case, so we took that train and had time in Newbury to fetch a coffee and a pastry, before getting on the indeed relatively busy (for Covid times) but still not even half-full Paignton train. 1 other was already on the train, and we were met at Pewsey by 2 car drivers, i.e.: 5 late starters and n=10 in total.
Views: terrific. Heat: quite bearable, as on the Downs there was a breeze, and along the canal we were mostly in the shade. We had a few more breaks than usual and had picnic under a tree right on the escarpment, with views of Huish House's pagoda below. Later, Silbury Hill seemed oh so near (the splendid far views), Milk Hill was w/o any hang gliders, and the Alton Barnes White Horse looked a bit overgrown. Some tlc needed there. Because of the extra breaks and a general unrushed pace, we passed the Honeystreet Mill Cafe just after it had closed, and gave the Barge Inn a miss as well.
On to Pewsey, where most of my group turned into the Waterside Inn, while I text-checked the other 'tea' options in town, ending in the Royal Oak for a swift pint and a half.
Delayed 19.26 train for us (minus the car drivers, plus the overnighter). As per the embedded reporter, 2 of the 5 early walkers took shortcut 2, and 1 even took both shortcuts. All of those (bar the overnighter) made the 17.06 train quite comfortably.
Flora and fauna spotted: marbled whites, meadow brown, red admiral, gatekeepers, pyramid orchids, cows, sheep, a heron, plenty other birds. w=warm-with-a-breeze
oh, how could I forget: there also were ringlets, small tortoise shells and small heath butterflies
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