Pete was coming with, Annie & Grae picked us up at 10.30 (needed a lie in this morning), and we headed off to Stourpaine to start the walk. It was a fine day, but very cold. We set off at about noon and headed for Hod Hill (439 ft) , an easy climb to start the walk. This is an Iron Age fort, with a Roman camp as it was captured by them in AD 43. Next, after a small section of the Wessex Ridgeway, was Hambledon Hill (630 ft) which was occupied as far back as the Stone Age and is a wonderful and atmospheric example of an Iron Age fort. We passed some paragliders climbing up with their canopies in large backpacks and stopped for lunch in the shelter of an embankment. Then we passed through the pretty village of Child Okeford and dropped down to its somewhat uglier cousin Shillingstone to start the long, tough climb up Okeford Hill (731 ft). This did seem like hard work! Eventually we reached the beacon, which was last lit for the Queen's diamond jubilee. The rest of the walk was downhill / level across fields and lanes to Durweston and back to the White Horse at Stourpaine for a couple of well deserved drinkies. I definitely need to get more hills in - Okeford is a mere tussock compared to the Lake District. I think will try another hilly walk on Bank Holiday Monday. Highlight of the day was definitely the Iron Age forts, and walking with friends as the sun struggled to shine.
It was time to head for the hills. It's all very well covering long distances on the flat, but I have to start getting some hills in. Not being one to do things by half, I decided to walk the Dorset Stickler route again. This 11 mile route is also known as the 'Dorset 3 Peaks Challenge' as it covers 3 of the highest hills in the county - Hod Hill, Hambledon Hill and Okeford Beacon. It's usually done as a race by the Dorset Doddlers - bonkers if you ask me! The fastest 2012 time was 1 hour 7 mins; we took a mere 5 hours, and we actually did nearly 12 miles. I had unintentionally adapted the route slightly due to not having one of the three OS maps and having to plot a page from memory using the OS get a map site (which is brilliant for plotting your own routes and downloading directly to GPS - if only I could get the GPS to talk to new Windows 7 laptop.....) Isn't it a pain when your walk is on the edges of three different maps?!
Pete was coming with, Annie & Grae picked us up at 10.30 (needed a lie in this morning), and we headed off to Stourpaine to start the walk. It was a fine day, but very cold. We set off at about noon and headed for Hod Hill (439 ft) , an easy climb to start the walk. This is an Iron Age fort, with a Roman camp as it was captured by them in AD 43. Next, after a small section of the Wessex Ridgeway, was Hambledon Hill (630 ft) which was occupied as far back as the Stone Age and is a wonderful and atmospheric example of an Iron Age fort. We passed some paragliders climbing up with their canopies in large backpacks and stopped for lunch in the shelter of an embankment. Then we passed through the pretty village of Child Okeford and dropped down to its somewhat uglier cousin Shillingstone to start the long, tough climb up Okeford Hill (731 ft). This did seem like hard work! Eventually we reached the beacon, which was last lit for the Queen's diamond jubilee. The rest of the walk was downhill / level across fields and lanes to Durweston and back to the White Horse at Stourpaine for a couple of well deserved drinkies. I definitely need to get more hills in - Okeford is a mere tussock compared to the Lake District. I think will try another hilly walk on Bank Holiday Monday. Highlight of the day was definitely the Iron Age forts, and walking with friends as the sun struggled to shine.
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White Mill - Sturminster Marshall Picking up where I left off last weekend, today I covered 20 miles from Bear Cross to Blandford Forum, and so am officially past the half way mark on the Stour Valley Way. The walk seemed easier going this week. I was surprised that the ground wasn't as boggy and muddy as I was expecting, given that it has not stopped raining. The route was, for the most part, on good paths, country lanes and an old railway track and also on higher ground. But the bits that were across fields and close to the river were wet and muddy enough. There were signs at Eye Mead near Wimborne saying that it had been returned to a wetland habitat. And they weren't kidding! Beyond Wimborne the Way follows old drove roads through the Kinsgston Lacey Estate, which is managed by the National Trust. This is good in that everything is well managed, but it does make me think it is a bit too pristine in places. Today seemed to be mostly about mills (White Mill, Keynston Mill, Clapcott Hatches) and villages with little churches that almost appear to be made in miniature (Tarrant Crawford in particular). It was bitterly cold, so my newly purchased waterproof and windproof gloves were a boon. I have cycled most of this part, so it was interesting to get a different perspective by walking it and coming off the lanes to see different aspects. I also remembered as I passed a little farm near Shapwick that Pete and I walked there yonks ago. The path we were on had been flooded up to beyond boot tops then, and as we were pondering how to get across a very kind lady came out of the farm house and lent us a pair of wellies each! This time I was taking a slightly different route, but the welly path was still like a large duck pond. My new find today was Tarrant Crawford. There is a tiny little church there, which is all that remains of a medieval abbey.
This weekend I planned to walk along part of the Stour Valley Way to Wimborne, which is supposed to be 16 miles. It had poured down with rain and hail on Friday and Saturday so I was again put off a Purbeck walk as didn't fancy slipping and sliding in the mud next to a sheer drop. My friend Annie who lives nearby came with me to start off with - this is us at Hengistbury Head in the rain. We started with a loop of the head and then set off from the official start point of the Stour Valley Way, heading back for 6 miles towards home. She turned left for home and I carried on towards Wimborne, but didn't quite make it as a) the paths were not brilliantly signposted in parts which led to me doing a bit extra a couple of times and b) the river had burst its banks in places so I had to divert around fields and c) all that mud and water slows you down. Quite a few times I was using my trekking poles to vault across pools of water. It brightened up in the afternoon but it was very cold, so I'm glad I had a spare pair of dry gloves in my pack. So the walk ended up being 17 miles all told, but I was still 3 miles from Wimborne. I would have carried on but was losing the light rapidly, and so I pulled up for a cappuccino in the Bear Cross pub. Pete brought me some dry clothes to change into and we headed over to Wimborne with Annie to have a meal. We love Prezzo vouchers from Tesco. But I did note some good tips to self along the way...even if you think you know where you are going (having studied the route before hand, because I have already walked/cycled parts of it and because I live in the area)...always follow your route on a map. My OS map was in my rucksack when it should have been in my map pocket! It's a pain to have to take your rucksack off in the rain every time you need to check the route! Check the planned distances independently of any walking web-sites. And don't set off at 10.30 am!! I'm going to do a bit more of the Stour Valley Way next week, this time with an earlier start. Highlight of the day - seeing a table from a pub garden float rapidly down river, watched by a bemused looking swan. Training for Coast to Coast walk begins, with 12 weeks to go. OK, so this is actually a picture from walking the v.hilly "Dorset Stickler" last year, but it does give an idea of just how blimmin' cold it was yesterday for my jaunt. Only had time to cover 10 miles around Christchurch and Hengistbury Head, but was good to get the legs going and has put me in the mood to get up on the hills. Hoping the weather is fine next weekend. Will have to go for it anyway, but it is hard to find places that are at least vaguely dry underfoot.... I need to get back to long distances over several days (15 to be precise), but not so intense as getting ready for the 3 Peaks Challenge. Mind you, the Lake District is pretty hilly and the ups-and-downs overall add up to Everest, apparently. I started planning when we got back from doing the West Highland Way (95 miles) last April, and yes, I know that was ages ago but I knew that you needed to book at least 6 months in advance to get the accommodation sorted, so set to task way back then to start researching online and planning how long to take for the walk and what the stages would be. So it was a case of a spreadsheet (and you all know how much I love a good spreadsheet), and a lot of time on various C2C websites to plan the itinerary. Finally plumped for 15 days walking as wanted to spend some time enjoying the scenery (and it's not a race!) Pete had already said that he didn't want to walk that distance all at once (the WHW was enough!), but he had said that he would come with me and drive between stopovers with our bags and supplies. But I was worried that it would be a bit rubbish for him just waiting for me to turn up at the end of each day, especially if it was raining. In the end we did a deal that I would do the C2C on my own (scary but exciting) and he will go to Ibiza with Neil instead. A Chacun son gout as they say! So Pete will stay with me at St Bees for the start and meet me in Robin Hood's Bay at the end. I'm sure will meet plenty of folk to walk with on the way, but am always happy with my own company and looking forward to the solitude and the open spaces too. So now the accommodation and baggage transfers are booked, the OS maps are all marked up, the packing list is typed, the guidebooks read (including Wainwright's own of course) and we're back in training come rain (today) or shine (yesterday). It's just 12 weeks to go, so better get on with the hills - plenty of Purbeck coast walks to get the legs going. |
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