🥾 Walk 432 - White Hill, Overton and Watership Down

On Sunday 13th September, twelve of us gathered in the White Hill car park near Kingsclere on a warm and sunny day. Most of us were BWW regulars plus a couple of visitors from other groups. After the usual reminders of Covid-19 precautions, we set off on the Wayfarer's Walk, heading south-east and up hill to Walkeridge Farm.

Continuing on the Wayfarer's Walk, we passed a small camping and caravan site adjoining the farm as we descended through a tree-lined corridor towards the hamlet of North Oakley. Here we crossed through Manor Farm and then Freemantle Farm before leaving the Wayfarer's Walk as it crossed White Lane, near Patchbourne Wood. The route so far, was very similar to a walk I led in July, but that was about to change as we turned right and headed south-west along a byway through woodland.

The woodland gave way to open fields as we approached Ashe Warren Farm, and soon we were walking along quiet lanes. After a couple of junctions, we left the tarmac to join another byway, this one being part of the Harrow Way - an ancient trackway that crosses the south of England from Seaton in Devon to Dover in Kent.

We stopped off to have our picnic lunch in an adjacent field with views of the North Wessex Downs. The transmitter mast at Cottington's Hill was visible in the distance, acting as a marker of the area from which we'd started the walk. Soon after crossing the B3051, we left the Harrow Way, turning right and heading up hill and up the map. This path was lined by tall hedges that bore sloes, elderberries, hawthorn berries, rose hips and many other wild berries that we ought to have identified.

The path became a lane, which joined a minor road with a long straight section that we followed for about half a mile, carefully keeping out of the way of the occasional but fast road traffic. Leaving the road for a bridleway, we passed through woodland and then open fields. At Ashely Warren Farm, we passed a field of crops in which a few sheep were grazing. They looked up at us rather sheepishly (pun intended) making us wonder if they were actually supposed to be there!

Our route suddenly looked familiar to me again as we re-joined the Wayfarer's Walk where it passes the gallops on Watership Down. This we followed back to the car park on White Hill from where we'd started. See our route on Google Maps. We'd covered 12 miles and done 1,500 feet of ascent in total. I slept well that night!

Thank you to Lee for leading this walk.

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