Broad Chalke to Downton

Helen and Tom had walked the rest of their "Cranborne Canter" as a series of circuits from a single parking place, but suggested that we might walk today's route in a more linear fashion, leaving one car in Broad Chalke and walking to their home in Downton, then using the other car to drive back to Broad Chalke to rescue the first one... I'd travelled to Wiltshire by train from a conference in Bristol whilst Richard had driven from Norfolk by way of Milton Keynes and we were all looking forward to a decent walk on a bank holiday Saturday that was forecast to be dry but hopefully not too hot for walking. The "dry" bit was accurate, though both today and tomorrow turned out warmer than we'd expected, with temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius breaking records for temperatures over a late August bank holiday. Fortunately, we set out quite early.

The drive out to the west of Downton was delightful, mostly along minor roads through a series of sleepy villages, and Helen knew where there was a car park in Broad Chalke, at SU041254, and we left a car there. After a false alarm in which we turned left out of the car park (to the north) rather than right - though the incorrect route gave us a good view of the river - we were soon on a footpath meandering its way to the south of the River Ebble and with the higher land of Knighton Hill to our right. Helen explained that most of their walks had involved a morning climb up onto the downs, a walk along the ridge, then a descent to a valley and a repeat performance of climb, ridgewalk and descent on the second part of the walk. Today we would follow the valley for the first half of the walk and only climb for the second half, eventually descending to the Avon Valley at Wick, the other side of the main A338 from Helen and Tom's house in Downton.

We continued on footpaths and very minor road to Croucheston and Bishopstone (it is not clear where one of these ends and the other begins), passing thatched cottages and an attractive stone Dovecote. We continued past Throope Manor House to Stratford Tony, where we hoped that there would be a bench near the church where we could stop for a break. This wasn't to be, so we sat on the footpath verge by the church and then descended to the river. A slight diversion across the river gave a rather Constable-esque view back to a cottage. While I was photographing this, the others were worrying about our onward route. The route we were planning to take was marked as "Private" on the ground, though it was shown as a public footpath on the map. Fortunately, for the second time today, it appears that "private" only refers to motor vehicles; it certainly doesn't preclude following the footpath across the land (indeed, at our first such private sign this morning, a woman grooming a horse at the stables whose land we were crossing had given us directions). Now, to the east of Stratford Tony, we crossed a stile onto a particularly attractive footpath by the river, and we were soon at the A354 on the outskirts of Coombe Bissett (with plenty of cars south heading towards Blandford Forum).

We admired Tottens Down Barn (which would make a magnificent barn conversion) and the road became a track between hedges. We passed a few dog walkers, including a couple with at least six dogs between them, but the heat was building and I was beginning to want a rest. We reached the woodland of Great Yews, but unfortunately the track was bordered by barbed wire fences. Then, much to our delight, we reached a point where the track widened and to our left was a section of tree trunk on the ground, on the shade, with sufficient space for five people to sit - and there were only four of us. I'm not sure if a tree just happened to fall into such a helpful or (more likely) whether this was actually a horse jump; whatever, it was a perfect place on which to sit to eat the hummus wraps that Helen had prepared.

The next section of the walk continued through the shade of the Great Yews woodland, but thereafter we were out in the open. The open downland was beautiful and on a cooler day it would have been invigorating. However, today it was just a bit too warm. Fortunately there were no ascents and the descent was slow and steady, and after bearing left immediately after Great Yews, then left again onto a more major track, we eventually reached a road which took us down towards Wick. In a few weeks time there will be plenty of hedgerow pickings along here - sloes, blackberries and apples.