Ansty to Maiden Newton

This was quite a challenging walk, but absolutely glorious, with dry sunny weather (though still quite a lot of mud!). We had breakfast (smoked salmon and scrambled egg again) at 8am, with just one other guest, and we left The Fox Inn before 9am. As we were paying, the lady expressed surprise at the distance we were walking today, though we realised that this was because Maiden Newton is a lot further by road! We walked back through the village and to Breach Wood, to rejoin the Wessex Ridgeway where we left it yesterday.

We climbed up the farm access road to Melcombe Park Farm, said 'hello' to some men in the farmyard, and went through a gate at the far side into a muddy field with cows at the far side. We climbed up, just above woodland and eventually emerged onto a ridge with cowslips and good views across Blackmoor Vale.

We descended to a meeting of paths - this is the 'Dorsetshire Gap' towards which we had been following signs for some time. The guidebook alerted us to a book where all who pass this way are invited to sign their names. The book was not in a tin as advertised, but rather in a plastic bag within a plastic box by a post topped by an upturned Wellington boot, but it was here! However, the arms of the signpost in the Dorsetshire Gap were not well aligned with the directions of the paths on the ground; fortunately we took the correct route, up a sunken lane through trees.

We reached a level field near the hill fort Nettlecombe Tout and, again as directed by the guidebook, used a green water tank on the far side of the field to guide us; given that the book is 15 years old it is amazing that the tank is still here. We turned right onto a pretty little track, lined with bluebells and requiring some climbing over fallen down trees. We descended to the road at Folly (with no folly..) then climbed. We passed through woodland, then we were on glorious downland, up above Plush (where we stayed many years ago).

We descended on a long track to Alton Pancras, ending up closer to the village than we should have done, but it really didn't matter and it looks a pretty place. We turned right (instead of left) onto the main road and soon turned off it on the other side of the road and began the climb to another summit. The path divides near a low barn and we followed the route of the Wessex Ridgeway rather than going to Cerne Abbas. However as we approached the road things became confusing. We took a rather overgrown path behind a field of oil-seed rape towards the campsite; I suspect that most people go to Cerne Abbas at this stage rather than following what we believe to be the official route. We were relieved to be overtaken by two women and a dog, running the route of the Wessex Ridgeway; one of them had walked the path before and they seemed to know what they were doing. We followed them through the 'Giant's Head' campsite to the busy road (marked as a minor road on the map, but much busier than the A road further to the west), across the road and into a large field of oil seed rape.

Ah, the field of oil-seed rape. As we got towards the far side of the field, having lost sight of the two women runners, we realised that there was no way out. We noticed some footpath signs a few tens of metres away across the crop, but we couldn't get to them, so we retraced our steps and went round the edge of the field to the signs - but we were then on the wrong side of the hedge, so we had to go back AGAIN. By now we were using our GPS, and realised that we were further south than we had thought. We planned a route to put it right, towards what we thought was Minterne Parva down below us. However, with the benefit of hindsight, we both knew that the alignment of map and landscape was not right, and when we looked at the GPS again a few minutes later, we realised that we were heading in the wrong direction, and we were actually walking towards Cerne Abbas. ARGHHH...

We eventually worked out where we were, and headed back across the field of oil seed rape, at right angles to our original route. As we got towards the other side, we could either go right and then left back onto the Wessex Ridgeway or (safer) go straight ahead then turn right onto a bridleway to rejoin the Wessex Ridgeway slightly further on. As we were trying to make our minds up, the two women runners with their dog appeared up the hill coming towards us. We assumed they had reached their destination and were on their return leg, but no, they were lost too! We told them where we were and they went one way whilst we went the other. We saw them again a few minutes later, by now all back on the route of the Wessex Ridgeway. Phew.

We passed a couple out on a butterfly survey, who must have been puzzled by four of us, plus dog, passing them in quick succession. We descended and crossed a crop field then, at last, we reached the hamlet of Minterne Parva. We stopped for a late lunch in a strip of woodland just before the A352 then we crossed the road (which was remarkably quiet) and descended to Up Cerne.

The estate village of Up Cerne is delightful and we turned right into a valley which the guidebook rightly says 'seems to have contrived to hide itself away from the rest of the world'; it really is a special place.

We turned left and climbed up Wether Hill, delighted that there was a view back to the Cerne Abbas Giant, which we had thought we'd miss. We reached the summit and the riders' route went left, but the walkers' route went straight across a field then through a hedge onto a track, with open views to a valley beneath us. We turned left and followed the sometimes muddy and puddly track to a radio mast and beyond. The guidebook enthuses about this section. It was OK, but perhaps the least good walking on such a superb day.

We eventually crossed a road then turned right between barns onto Cowdown Hill. Sydling St Nicholas was below us, and we descended steeply to the village. It is an extremely pretty village, but it doesn't have a tea room or a shop (and the pub was not open) so we sat on the Green and ate some more of our own provisions before setting off for the final climb of the day.

The track from Sydling St Nicholas climbed up past the Church, then descended slightly, then climbed steeply up to the main road (the A37) at the top of Break Heart Hill. We crossed the road and descended steadily to Maiden Newton. Our destination was the little station. We had failed to find a local B&B who could accommodate us, so we were heading to Dorchester for the night. We reached Maiden Newton Station about an hour before our train was due and I didn't want to walk any further! Richard 'parked' me here and went off to explore the village, returning with provisions for our evening meal.