🥾 Walk 41 - Ashmansworth and Wayfarer's Walk

Nineteen turned out for this walk on Sunday 14th April. This included quite a few newcomers. Forecast to be the warmest day this year, it didn't seem like that once we were up on the ridgeway in the blasting wind.

Starting from the little village of Ashmansworth, we joined the Wayfarer's Walk heading south-east. The Wayfarer's Walk is a long distance path that covers about 70 miles from Walbury Hill (near Combe Gibbet) to Emsworth (near Chichester).

We followed the Wayfarer's Walk for about three miles, crossing the A343 and ascending Sidown Hill, from where we had good views of Highclere Castle, Beacon Hill and the Hampshire Downs.

Along the way we saw a bizarre sight - a fox apparently inside a hen coop! On closer inspection the fox was in a separate enclosure from the hens. Both the fox and hens looked quite relaxed despite their close proximity. Very odd!

After descending Woodcott Down, we left the Wayfarer's Walk, turning south-west to Woodcott and crossing many contour lines through this rolling landscape. The footpath stopped at Lower Woodcott Farm and we walked up a steep but quiet road to Upper Woodcott Farm, where the route flattened out again.

Heading north-west, we left the road and followed footpaths through fields to the hamlet of Crux Easton, this time with views to the west.

As we approached Crux Easton we saw an old metal sailed wind engine. We stopped at a little green in Crux Easton for our picnic lunch, during which time a few of us went and investigated it.

Apparently this prairie style wind engine was built around 1891 and was used to pump water and grind corn. It has 48 sails in a 20ft wind-wheel atop a 32ft tower. The pitch of these sails is adjusted to regulate the speed under differing wind conditions. Although no longer operational, it is open to the public for a fee.

Having finished our lunch, we set off across a couple of fields and then the footpath stopped when it reached the A343, which is in a cutting at that point. The footpath descended onto the main road and although there was a wooden hand-rail, there were no steps on the steeply sloping path.

From there we took a quiet side road back into Ashmansworth. As we entered the village, we passed an old building that used to be the village pub. Sadly, it's not a pub anymore, so this has been one of those rare (for us) walks without a pub-stop. A good walk nonetheless. See our route on Google Maps.

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