Cranborne to Ackling Dyke and return via Wimborne St Giles

We'd had an absolutely delightful day yesterday with our grandson, who adored the little wheelbarrow that we'd taken, the one had once belonged to his uncle and mother; I hadn't remembered our children particularly enjoying the wheelbarrow, but 30-something years later they both have fond memories of it. However, I don't think it had ever caused as much hilarity as yesterday, with Bertie and his Dad chasing round the garden in circles, each pushing their wheelbarrows. Unfortunately the delightful day came to an end and we were all awake rather too early this morning (thanks Bertie!) so I wasn't feeling at my best; during the day I also developed a blister on each foot. For all that, it was a pleasant enough walk. The landscape was rolling Dorset countryside; characteristically different from the typical Cranborne Chase downland further north, though both have pretty villages a-plenty and where we were walking seems to be indisputably  considered to be part of "The Chase".

It was to one of these pretty villages, Cranborne, that we drove. There was plenty of space in the little car park at SU057133 (behind the primary school) that we'd discovered last time we were here.  There were a few locals about and we got into conversation with a woman who had been walking past with a wicker basket containing two pints of milk and a box of eggs; the handle of the basket broke, but she managed to catch the basket and so to avoid breakages. We set off on the same route we'd followed into the village from the west  last time we were here, but today we stayed close to the mighty River Crane (whose bed was completely dry today) rather than heading further north. The other difference in the six weeks since we were last here was that Cranborne Manor had gained an exoskeleton of scaffolding; we had no way of telling whether this is linked to major building works or just indicates that they've got the builders in. 

We noticed a giant chair to our left.  We'd seen this, beyond the Cranborne Manor Gardens, when we visited in April, though I'd forgotten. It was somewhat incongruous in this landscape, if amusingly so, but research on our return home revealed that it wasn't intended for Cranborne at all. This is the Dartmoor giant chair, constructed on private land near Widecombe-in-the-Moor by the artist Henry Bruce in 2006. It was initially granted retrospective planning permission there, but this was not renewed and in 2010 it had to be removed from Dartmoor because of concerns over traffic congestion from all the tourists coming to see it. That very few people seem to realise it is now in Cranborne speaks volumes of how undiscovered this part of the world is. Shhhh! 

We crossed the "river" and emerged into crop fields, which we crossed, with excellent views to Wimborne St Giles and the rolling countryside. We reached the road up Creech Hill (the approach road to Cranborne from the west) and continued up it to the B3081, which we had expected to be walking along. We were pleased to see a path alongside the road on the other side of the hedge, so we wouldn't need to walk along the road, but our pleasure was short-lived as the path took us through long grass and we soon had wet feet and legs. The tracks on which our route continued, as we meandered our way north of Wimborne St Giles, weren't much better, despite having names like "Ringwood Lane"; they weren't completely overgrown, but there certainly hadn't been many people along here. This was not the problem I'd expected at all: I'd thought that the tracks might be rather hard and boring!

We'd been walking on a path shared by the Jubilee Trail and the Hardy Way, but the Hardy Way left us to head down a road to the River Allen and Wimborne St Giles, while we continued on the track. It was less overgrown for a while but, between North Barn Farm and the hamlet of Monkston Up Wimborne we had to follow the road rather than a footpath as the footpath was completely impenetrable. This was no great hardship; there was no traffic at all on the road and we were walking alongside an attractive chalk stream (the River Allen again I think). Jubilee Trail signs were distinctly thin on the ground, and indeed the track by which we were to leave Monkston Up Wimborne was completely unlabelled, but it was clear from the apps on our phones that this was the way to go. We climbed and were rewarded by good views from the top of the ridge, before turning right and following a track along the top of Harley Down.

There was next a Jubilee Trail sign at Harley Gap, just at the point we left the trail and where it crosses Ackling Dyke.  Ackling Dyke is (or was) actually a Roman road, but it looked quite a good walking route. However, after stopping to advise some DoE students on the route of the Jubilee Trail (oops, I later realised they had a teacher with them and suspect he was trying to get them to work it out for themselves) we headed off onto a track which followed through and then alongside Harley Wood for the next couple of kilometres. We weren't on a named trail, but I particularly enjoyed this section of today's walk. The track, now labelled as "Harley Lane" on the OS map, led to Gussage All Saints (one of several "Gussage" villages where the name appears to refer to the gushing stream that rises at Gussage St Andrew and flows to the River Allen). At All Saints Church the Sunday morning service was still in progress, but there was a bench by the war memorial and we stopped for a very early lunch.  By the time we'd finished the church service had finished and as we continued through the village, we passed two women who had left the church and were now discussing the lavender hedge in one of their gardens.

We reached "Amen Corner," as described by "The Dorset Rambler" who has clearly wondered about the name, as I have.  Apparently, in some churches the term refers to a place where the enthusiastic worshippers said "Amen" a lot, and this was extended to places where monks etc would pass regularly.  Perhaps that's it, or perhaps it is simply that the cottage opposite is called "Amen Cottage". However, there is a particularly blind corner here, onto a road down which cyclists were whizzing, and I couldn't help but wonder if the name refers to the need to pray before stepping onto or across the road. Whatever, we continued to a little bridge where we turned left onto "Brockington Lane" (again, actually a fairly overgrown footpath), joining the Hardy Way. There were a few other walkers about and we advised one woman, coming the other way, on where the path would emerge and how far she was from that point.

After Brockington Farm the landscape was more open and after passing Farringdon Clump (of trees) and Farringdon Copse we reached the village of Wimborne St Giles. It's a pretty place, but my blisters were hurting so we sat down on the seat beneath the village sign. The "St Giles" in the village's name simply refers to the saint to which the  church is dedicated ("Wimborne" means "meadow stream") but the village sign portrays Saint Giles and a deer. The story goes that Giles, who was a hermit in the Rhone valley, lived with just a deer for company. One day, a hunter tried to kill the deer, but hit and injured Giles instead and thus Giles became the patron saint of the disabled.  There was plenty to watch as we sat under the village sign sorting out my feet and eating apples:  First of all, a car that had pulled into the side road by us, reversed back out, almost hitting another car that was driving along; next, the car that had nearly been hit stopped and a woman (one of the people we'd passed on our walk from Amen Corner) got out, looking for a pair of sunglasses which she thought might have been left where we were sitting - they weren't there. The final entertainment was watching people arriving at a an entrance opposite and trying to get through the remote controlled gates. 

We moved on eventually, stopping to admire the pretty church and almshouses as we left Wimborne St Giles. We decided to walk back to Creech Hill along the road, to make the route slightly shorter (for the benefit of my feet) and also to avoid the particularly overgrown section of path we'd followed this morning. The road was somewhat busier than ideal, but OK. The walk from Creech Hill back across the fields to Cranborne was absolutely glorious, and I was able to take the photos that I hadn't managed this morning because of the direction of the sun.  We got back to the car around 1.45pm and had a good journey back to Milton Keynes.