Saturday 4th March was cold, grey and windy. Amazingly twenty people and a dog turned up at the railway station in Great Bedwyn. Actually, there were only eighteen of us and no leader at 10:30 when the walk was due to start. Ian, who led this walk, had been held up by train problems at Reading. These things happen, but not very often.
Luckily for us, we didn't have to stand in the cold until the next train arrived, which would have been an hour later! Matt, a prospective new joiner to the group, very kindly gave Ian a lift. Much appreciated by all of us. So without further delay, we got going and began to warm up as we headed north-east and uphill through Great Bedwyn, skirting Chisbury Wood into the hamlet of Chisbury.
Next, we turned north-west, crossing farmland to Upper Horsehall Hill Farm. From here, there is straight route called London Ride that heads south-west into Bedwyn Common. We followed the first section of it, which is a quiet lane, but the next part was clearly signposted as Private Land, No Public Right of Way. Not wanting to bring the Ramblers into disrepute, we took an alternative route along the road until the next public footpath to take us into Bedwyn Common.
A few left-turns through the forest brought us back out of Bedwyn Common and into Stock Common, where we stopped for lunch once we'd found somewhere to sit and eat our packed lunches - a fallen tree in woodland by a quiet lane. After lunch, we continued southward through farmland to the hamlet of Crofton, where the Kennet and Avon Canal is at its highest point.
There is a steam-driven pumping station here, built in 1812 to maintain the water levels in the Canal. The station contains the oldest working "beam engine" - a type of condensing steam engine with a large overhead beam, pivoted in the middle that connects a vertical steam driven piston at one end with a vertical water pump piston at the other end.
This pumping station can often be seen working and there are open days where you can be shown around by the volunteers that maintain it all. However, it wasn't running today, and in fact the adjacent section of canal had been drained while repairs were being carried out. The towpath was closed while the work was being carried out, so we followed the official detour through farmland.
We continued our walk along the edge of Wilton Water, a reservoir built to supply the pumping station. Along a narrow stretch of the reservoir, we saw several cormorants perched on a dead tree.
Soon, we were in the picturesque village of Wilton, where stopped for a drink at The Swan pub. There was plenty of outside seating, which was handy as it would be tricky for twenty of us to find a table inside.
Refreshed, we left the pub and passed a field of emus! They all came up to the low wall to great us. Ian, being an Australian, felt quite at home with these bizarre birds.
Leaving Wilton, we headed north-east through the mixed woodland of Wilton Brail and then followed the canal from Mill Bridge to Bedwyn Church Lock. Here we crossed the canal and the railway line, emerging in the grounds of St Mary's Church. We then followed the road back into Great Bedwyn. See our route on Google Maps.
Thank you to Ian for leading this walk.
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