Another bright day and a good forecast – not a walk I had originally planned to do with SPR but in a quest to complete my self set challenge I decided to give it a go. Not too far to travel.
Our starting point was Aldbourne which I had seen signed many times but never been to visit. Whilst parking by the village pond I realised it was not that far from Lambourn and easily reachable.
Our route took us through the village and alongside an impressive village green and large wealthy looking church. I suspect that this Wiltshire village may have been on an important route from the Cotswolds and been a provider of either sheep or fleeces.
We followed at track which climbed steadily upwards until we reached the top of a hill and we were able to walk along the ridge of Sugar Hill. Quite a sharp escarpment to our left (west) and a well defined straightforward path.
There were four of us walking today – Jane, Debbie, Betty and myself.
At the end of the ridge we dropped down to the road and luckily there was a path inside the field. Familiar surroundings visited on day 2 of the Ridgeway. This time going up hill to wards Liddington Hill. Just as on my previous walk we stopped in the copse by the WW2 bunker – a memorial woodland overlooking the edge of Swindon. Coffee and snack time.
We had been quite warm up until this point but as last time there was quite a strong wind and as we rejoined the main path the virtue of walking in the other direction was realised. Walking into the wind is not much fun. We did have about four kilometres to go along the Ridgeway so it was just a matter of battling against it and enjoying the view!
We did eventually turn off taking a sharp left turn and headed towards Upper Upham. This quite muddy track was a byway and we soon met a couple of motor cyclists coming towards us.
The path met the village and we awarded ourselves a lunch stop in the sunshine sitting on a wide grassy bank. On the map there are medieval villages of both Upham and Snap marked and also evidence of Field Systems. As we set of we look back and can see a very splendid large house – Upham House.
More motorbikes this time in our direction – not an obvious byway and the ruts were so deep that even the most reliable ‘defender’ may have struggled not to catch its undercarriage on the soil.
A very round copse made me wonder if this was once planted by a rich estate.
The path continued down hill until we reached the road into the village which sadly we had to walk on for about one and a half kilometres. This had been a good walk with sun shine and wind but no rain! Back to the village pond. 16.5 kilometres today.
Marion's 50 Walk Challenge 