Walking The Ridgeway - Vale of the White Horse

This was a leg of the Ridgeway that I was particularly looking forward to. Once it was again to be a circular walk starting off at the village of Ashbury in Oxfordshire. The rather boggy footpath took us past the parish church of Saint Mary, originally Norman but was rebuilt in the 13th century. Quite unusual to see a white stone church! Next port of call was the village of Compton Beauchamp before veering off up Woolstone Hill towards the Ridgeway.


We had already had some tantalising views of White Horse Hill in the distance. The White Horse at Uffington is believed to have been cut into the hillside around800 BC. From the  summit there is a good view of the flat topped 'Dragon Hill' . Believed to be where St George battled and slew the dragon.
The horse itself is one hundred metres long and best viewed from the bottom of the valley. There are a number of other hillside horses but this one is generally regarded as the best.

The White Horse with Dragon Hill in the background

Passing the ramparts of the Iron Age Hill fort of
Uffington Castle we head towards the next landmark  'Waylands Smithy'. Thankfully the forecast rain showers have held off and it ia starting to warm up a little but no sunshine...
Waylands Smithy is a Neolithic long barrow. A burial place for important ruling families built around 2800BC.The name 'Wayland' comes from the Saxon God of Smiths. The Blacksmith who made the shoes for the White Horse of Uffington.

Continuing along the Ridgeway which is quite uneventful after all the previous excitement. We then take the Bridleway  towards the village of Bishopstone. There is a large village pond and some lovely footpaths , once of which was taken in error. The landscape is quite interesting leading down to Bishopstone with the 'Strip Lynchets'. I had too look up what exactly they were.'A lynchet is a bank of earth that builds up on the downslope of a field ploughed over a long period of time. The disturbed soil slips down the hillside to create a lynchet They are also referred to as strip lynchets. 

Strip Lynchets

From Bishopstone after the false start we head towards the Hamlet of Idstone where once again we go slightly wrong. Finding ourselves on the wrong side of the footpath. It was either a long walk back round or  navigate the brambles and barbed wire fence... We decided on the risky option only crawling under the barbed wire fence rather than climbing over it. Unfortunately I seemed to have crawled through a patch of stinging nettles resulting in my arm swelling massively. 
Thankfully the rest of the walk back to Asburypassed without further injury or incident . The length of the walk was in the region of 12 miles and a well deserved pint was in order. The drinking hole in question was the 'rose and Crown' where a pint of Arkells  'Hoperation' IPA (4.5%) accompanied by pork scratchings went down very well.