{"id":1808,"date":"2019-05-11T01:28:39","date_gmt":"2019-05-11T00:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=1808"},"modified":"2019-05-10T18:17:13","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T17:17:13","slug":"walbury-hill-and-the-test-way-berkshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=1808","title":{"rendered":"Walbury Hill and the Test Way, Berkshire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; varwalkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=740,width=1230,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script><br \/>\nFirst published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('WalburyHill.jpg');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7842\/32492649567_a9840a4b97.jpg\" title='Test Way in the valley under Cleve Hill Down'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7842\/32492649567_a9840a4b97_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7836\/32492651827_bea2f2bd52.jpg\" title='view of the Combe valley from Sugglestone Down'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7836\/32492651827_bea2f2bd52_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7880\/32492651227_dd9933b781.jpg\" title='coltsfoot growing on the downs - always a joy to see in early spring'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7880\/32492651227_dd9933b781_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7880\/32492650767_efbc6036a2.jpg\" title='Byway from Sugglestone Down'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7880\/32492650767_efbc6036a2_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7835\/32492648887_d0727de84a.jpg\" title='Test Way in the valley under Cleve Hill Down'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7835\/32492648887_d0727de84a_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7901\/32492648147_5d64ab837e.jpg\" title='Test Way on the outskirts of Combe Wood'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7901\/32492648147_5d64ab837e_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7903\/47434473821_4f02288ece.jpg\" title='muddy old stretch of the Test Way above Combe Wood'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7903\/47434473821_4f02288ece_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7837\/46519345505_bc54efef49.jpg\" title='Test Way going towards Inkpen Hill'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7837\/46519345505_bc54efef49_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7801\/47434472191_90a52374f2.jpg\" title='view west from Test Way 1'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7801\/47434472191_90a52374f2_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7919\/40468672693_10022b9397.jpg\" title='view west from Test Way 2'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7919\/40468672693_10022b9397_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7844\/47434471171_421885f582.jpg\" title='mighty view north from Inkpen Hill'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7844\/47434471171_421885f582_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nFacebook Link: <script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=1808\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\n<a href=\"javascript:pwindow=window.open('\/Walks\/prn.php?f=1808','pwin','height=700,width=1000,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes');\" title=\"Click for printable version\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Walks\/print.gif\" align=\"right\"><\/a><br \/>\nChaffinches spurting out their stuttering song, a wren squeaking and trilling, blackbirds fluting, the throaty cooing of pigeons &#8211; Combe was a valley full of birdsong. White violets dotted the mossy lane banks, and a partridge scuttled brainlessly ahead of us before ducking at last gasp under a gate. <\/p>\n<p>The broad field beyond Combe village was more flint than soil. Our boots clinked with every step, disturbing a sleek and handsome brown hare who cantered away across the young wheat like a miniature racehorse.<\/p>\n<p>Steeply up the face of Sugglestone Down and we were up on the heights under a wide and blowy Berkshire sky. From the crest we looked back over the Combe valley, a patchwork of milky chalk soil and green wheat, all under the eye of a red kite riding the wind with exquisite balance as it scanned the fields two hundred feet below.<\/p>\n<p>A long flinty holloway dropped through hazel copses where sheaves of wild garlic leaves rustled and long-tailed tits swung twittering on the topmost twigs. At the bottom under Cleve Hill Down we found the Test Way footpath, a guide through the quiet hollows and inlands of these downs.<\/p>\n<p>Someone in a conifer plantation was whistling to the kites, a close imitation of their sharp descending wail of a call. Two of the birds were flapping and playing over the wood, swooping together, springing apart at the last moment, while much higher overhead a pair of buzzards performed the same springtime dance.<\/p>\n<p>The Test Way tilted and steepened as it climbed to the roof of the downs once more. An ancient ridge-way on Inkpen Hill ran east past the tall stark T-shape of Combe Gibbet, at whose yard ends in 1676 murderers George Broomham and Dorothy Newman had swung. They had drowned Broomham&#8217;s wife Margaret in a pond after she had caught them in flagrante delicto on the downs nearby.<\/p>\n<p>On the great Iron Age rampart of Walbury Camp hill fort we paused for a final stare out over a prospect of farmlands, villages, woods and hills, stretching away west, north and east for dozens of miles &#8211; one of the great high vistas of southern Britain.<\/p>\n<p>Start: Walbury Hill easterly car park, near Inkpen, Berks RG17 9EH approx (OS ref SU 380616)<\/p>\n<p>Getting there: Kintbury (signed from A4, Hungerford-Newbury); Kintbury Cross Ways, Rooksnest, Inkpen Common, Crown &#038; Garter PH, then follow &#8216;Faccombe&#8217; to car park.<\/p>\n<p>Walk (8 miles, moderate, OS Explorers 158, 131): West up trackway. In 200m, left (378616, fingerpost\/FP) down path to Combe. At memorial bench, left (373609, FP) past cottages; in 200m, left (373607), then across wide field. From old fencepost (378606) path goes half right, steeply up Sugglestone Down to stile (379604). Aim for mast; path curves right to road (384601). Right (red arrow\/RA) on Byway. In 1\u00bc miles cross road (372587, &#8216;Linkenholt&#8217;). In 100m, right on track. In \u00bd mile pass Adventure Centre (364586; Test Way\/TW joins from left). In 250m, TW forks left past barn (364588). In 1 mile, at west edge of Combe Wood (353598), TW turns right, steeply uphill. In 1 mile, right through gate (358613, TW, Buttermere Estate notice). In \u00bc mile at hedge break (359617, 3-finger post), ahead (not right) to ridge track (358621); TW right to Combe Gibbet and Walbury Hill.<\/p>\n<p>Conditions: 2 short steep climbs<\/p>\n<p>Lunch\/Accommodation: Crown &#038; Garter, Great Common Rd, Inkpen RG17 9QR (01488-668325, <a href=\"http:\/\/crownandgarter.co.uk\">crownandgarter.co.uk<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Info: West Berks Museum, Newbury (01635-519562)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/satmap.com\">satmap.com<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/ramblers.org.uk\">ramblers.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ships of Heaven \u2013 The Private Life of Britain\u2019s Cathedrals by Christopher Somerville (Doubleday) out now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chaffinches spurting out their stuttering song, a wren squeaking and trilling, blackbirds fluting, the throaty cooing of pigeons &#8211; Combe was a valley full of birdsong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}