# 🥾 Walk 401 - West Ilsley and the Ridgeway

There is a phrase 'glutton for punishment', which could apply to me. Having been soaked on last Sunday's walk, and with the forecast for this Sunday being for more of the same, I still went along to the walk. However, the sheer optimism of the ten people who attended the walk was rewarded, as there was very little rain during the walk and none of the thunder that had been predicted.

Being a joint walk with the Pang Valley Ramblers, there was a mix of BWW and PVR members, but also we had two newcomers who were trying us out after visiting our stand at the Berkshire Show on the previous weekend.

We started the walk by following The Ridgeway westward over the Chiltern Downs, with rural views to the south and a mixture of old and new industrial views to the north. These included the modern Harwell Diamond Light Source (a synchrotron) and the remains of the partly demolished Didcot power station.

![The start of the walk on the Ridgeway.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume29/images/the_ridgeway.jpg)

Soon we were heading south, through Kilman Knoll Down before joining Old Street (track). This we followed for a mile or so, up and down hill, before turning off into the woodland of High Robins.

As the path opened out at Woolvers Borders, with fields one side and woodland the other, we stopped to have our packed lunches. On the woodland side of the path were many bramble bushes, but most of the blackberries had gone past their best without being picked. A missed opportunity of those who like to make jam, apple pies and crumbles.

After lunch, we continued eastward for a short while before turning north, passing West Ilsley Stables, Hodcott House and then skirting the village of West Ilsley.

![Folley Down, on the way back to The Ridgeway.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume29/images/folly_down.jpg)

Without seeing much of the village, we left it, crossing through the farmland of Folly Down, where sheep were grazing. It was now getting surprisingly warm and sunshine was breaking through the cloud.

We rejoined The Ridgeway at Bury Down and it was a short distance back to the car park. See our route on Google Maps. As we walked the final leg, there were portentous dark clouds on the horizon.

We were very lucky as ten minutes after we had finished our walk, there was a terrific downpour, flooding the roads and bringing the traffic to a crawl. We'd have been out in that if the walk had been a bit longer!

![Passing West Ilsley Stables.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume29/images/west_ilsley.jpg)

![Sheep, watching us as we reached The Ridgeway.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume29/images/inquisitive_sheep.jpg)

*Thank you to Alistair and Pauline for leading this walk and inviting the BWWs to join them.*

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