Fox, Horse, Hare.....its all here!

A new day, a new section of the Ridgeway path. My car having been left
in a handy pub car park I climbed, in a slight drizzle at first,
up the slope onto Fox Hill (with the radio mast.
This is a "whence I have come" shot with the Marlborough Downs and the
various clumps of trees on the furthest ridge and Liddington castle just near
to the little tuft of trees in the middle!) .

Once again the pathway was pleasingly edged with thick hedgerow
and this good days walk was one to have plenty of wildlife, and flora.

Campion

Viper's buglose

a plethora of species.

Of bird life, their were lots of whitethroats (above)with their scratchy songs, yellowhammers,

a bullfinch (which is the first one I have seen for some time!), goldfinches, corn buntings, sky larks (of course), meadow pipits, blue and great tits, lapwings and red-legged partridges. There were also buzzards, a kestrel and (rather surprisingly I thought)

herring gulls (I couldn't help thinking of Keehar in "Watership Down" with his German "Yah!Yah!" in the animated version....heehee!) . As for mammals...well one dear, one (very quick glimpse ) bank vole, and rabbits. Domestically, of course, there were also sheep a-grazing, pigs a-squealing...And then, of course, there was an occasional curious heifer.

This one stopped by to help me located myself on the map. (I was interested in the abrupt occurance of the little dry valley in the background.)

Todays big features, however, were further ancient ones. First of all
I reached Wayland's Smithy, a large long barrow burial site dating back

to ahout 3000bc.

Wayland (oe Weland) the Smith was an Anglo-Saxon god/elf who (they supposed)

would re-shoe your horse for you here overnight, if your left the horse and a coin

here. More information here:

http://www.stonepages.com/england/waylandssmithy.html

Well, there were no horses to be seen here, So Weland was having a quiet

rest no doubt. I, however, had to be on my way once more.

the next site of interest was approached soon after a throng of school children

and accompanying adults passed me by, on their way to the Smithy, no doubt.

"I timed that well" I thought to myself!

So "Where to next?" you ask

Yes. Another hill fort on the horizon....

White horse??

Yes!!

White horse indeed!

The White horse of Uffington
Oldest and biggest of the lot.

The horse is gracefully sprawling on a (relatively) gentle slope of the scarp face, and tantilisingly impossible to view fully at close range, except from the air.

see this LINK for clearer views and more detail!!

http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/uff/uffing.htm

At the foot of the slope is the odd little lump of Dragon Hill

and to the west of it some weird little chalky crinkles, apparently known as

"the manger"

So Fox Hill

White Horse Hill.

so next "Hare Hill"?
No. A live one!

Hare here....

Go on! From Og....

Ogbourne St. George formed the starting point for today's

walk. I was much relieved to find, on reaching the Ridgeway path,

that today's section had the propect of being much less spartan

in nature.

Green hedges bedecked with may blossom were

much in evidence. The weather too was kinder on me.

Gone was the forceful wind, and the bright sunshine
was moderated by cloud. Gone too was the bright yellow

of oilseed rape flowers. Whew!

From my Ogbourne start point the pathway

heads northwards back along towards the

head of the Og valley, where, lo and behold...

another hill fort, Liddington Castle

"stands guard", again affording

a place for a lunchtime stop. It also allows

for a wide panoramic veiw, whether towards

Marborough, across towards Barbury castle,

beyond the sprall of Swindon to the Cotswold hills,
or even over towards Oxford.

Another feature (like Swindon, worth trying to ignore

for aesthetic reasons, even if its jolly handy

for getting places....!) nearby is the M4 whose

traffic forms a little aural backdrop to the scene

as it clambers over a little lip onto the chalklands

before dashing onwards to the east.

On the plus side, at least the mtorway

is not TOO glaringly obvious, its embedded into

the downs that roll around it....

you may have clouds to spot above.....

and there are always things near at hand, like

poppies splashing red, or corn buntings jangling

their keys in the hedges alongside.

On the far side of the motorway stands Fox Hill, awaiting me tomorrow.

Cloud spotting

I am loving "The Cloudspotters Guide" book by Gavin Pretor-Pinney
and a link to the "Cloud Appreciation Society" website from my blog
is thus a must.

So, done (just click on the title here
....or on the side panel!).

Berwick Bassett figure of 8

Today was a bright but breezy day, and time to be
getting on with my Ridgeway project!
So a bit of a drive (....frustratingly finding myself
touching on bits of Swindon on the way, which I had
no desire to do! Grrrrr!) brought me eventually
to the village of Berwick Bassett, where I left my car.
From here I more or less followed the course of a stream
towards Winterbourne Bassett
(not a hound in sight by the way!)
and then out towards Windmill Hill,
the last of the prehistoric features in the vicinity
of Avebury.
This site is a "classic Neolithic 'causewayed enclosure'"
apparently. More about it here: http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba67/feat3.shtml

I must admit to not being very excited about
this spot, but anyhow at least now
I know what it's like....
Whilst enjoying a skylark singing I enjoyed a view
towards "yonder hills" onto which I then progressed
via Avebury....



and onto the.....



As I mentioned, it was a windy day and I walked
for the most part with the wind buffeting me from
off to my right. The bright blue sky, with the bright
yellow of flowering oil-seed rape, the bright chalky
whiteness of the path ahead and the grassy pastures
gave me something of a feeling between sensory overload
and sensory deprivation (if that makes any sense).
Anyway, here is an artst's impression (without the wind!)!!!


The spartan landscape at this point is relieved by
the three clumps of beach trees (as seen afar off in tyhe
topmost photo). I also passed close to another white houre
at Hackpen Hill, but I failed to spot it. It is not a tremendously
old one anyway (1830's)


Then with lunchtime approaching, I ascended a small slope
to Badbury castle (hill fort) which stands as if guarding
the westward entrance to a small valley running down towards
Marlborough. As another welcome role its "ramparts" gave me
temporary relief from the wind, to unwind listening to skylarks
once more, eat some lunch....


and admire the wildflowers that also sheltered here,
away from the ravages of high intensity agriculture.

A speedwell



Another attractive little blue flower.....
any suggestions????



Ah! These I know...cowslips!




Kidney vetch?

Time to move on.....

Leaving Barbury Castle behind I headed out

along Smeathe's Ridge where a stretch of open

access land is being grazed in ways to return it

to old-style chalk-land - with a reasonably full assembly

of wildflowers and wildlife one hopes. Not much in

that way evident at the moment, however.

The ridge took me down eventually, and to my relief,

out of the wind and into some blessed shade from trees

and hedges in the small valley I refered to earlier.

This valley was formed, it seems by the gentle

erosion of the river Og, a tributary stream to the Kennet,

and thence to the Thames

the valley has a cluster of villages named by it...

Ogbourne St. George, Ogbourne St. Andrew,

and Ogbourne Maizey. They are olde style villages

of the thatch cottage ilk.

I had had thoughts of walking through each of these

(leaving the Ridgeway path for today)

downstream into Marlborough and along the canal

for some scenic contrast. But time and wearines
now constrained me and I took a more direct path

which took me passed Barton Down Gallops and

across Fyfield Down.

This latter spot is a a National Nature Reserve

and is, in essence the quarry site for Avebury

and (most of) Stonehenge. Before doing a little

research on this stone formation I thought

the rocks strewn across the landscape

had been dragged there by labourers on the

stone circle from some other far off place.

This notion arose partly from memories of

visiting the Presselli mountains where the rest

of Stone Henge was quarried, and partly from

geological ignorance of any solid rocks which could

have overlain chalk (which I think is an excusable error!)

Apparently greywether stone is formed from sandstone

glued together ("indurated") with silica in the Tertiary period.

The overlying softer sandstone has largely gone but these more

solid chunks remained and have been shuffled about on the surface

during glacial episodes. In places they form a "river of rocks"

as they slither down into chalky valleys.

Like shown here:
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=a312&file=index&do=showpic&pid=3671

The grey wethers are also significant, apparently,

for the communities of lichens that grow on them.

Like these, I guess! (shrugs shoulders)

In another part of the reserve the grey wethers

create a natural rock garden amidst the trees.

Leaving Fyfield Down I followed a path back onto

the ridgeway path briefly before descending the

slope near Berwick Bassett clump, then along a

slighty uncomfortable bit of busy road finally to bring me

back to my car. 8 well figured!