This walk is 5.5 miles long. It starts and finishes at Win Green on the ancient trackway, known as the Ox Drove, running along the top of the Chalk escarpment at the northern edge of Cranborne Chase. The magnificent panorama on a clear day extends northwards across Wiltshire as far as the Marlborough Downs, eastwards into Dorset’s Blackmoor Vale and south to the coastal Purbeck Hills. Berwick St John provides a contrast to the Chalk downland, as it nestles one hundred and fifty metres below on the Greendand, in the shadow of Winkelbury, an Iron Age hill-fort. A track runs down the side of this once-fortified spur to lane leading to the village; the route returns to Win Green up another downland track with an easy gradient. Mud can be a problem in places after wet weather. We will meet in the car park at Win Green at 2pm..
Stout footwear, protective clothing to suit the prevailing weather conditions and reasonable mobility will be required. Please ensure that you bring water and snacks; this is particularly important in hot weather.
£10 (£8 WANHS members)
Isobel Geddes is a geologist, writer and Blue Badge Guide who regards archaeology and subsequent human history as just the latest stage in the history of our planet. She has introduced people to the local historic sites for a number of years. As well as guiding, she wrote Hidden Depths: Wiltshire’s Geology and Landscapes, published in 2000 by Ex Libris Press. Subsequently she contributed walks for The Cream of South Wiltshire Walks (Hobnob Press, 2002) and wrote a chapter on the geological history of the Marlborough Downs in the English Heritage book The Avebury Landscape – Aspects of the field archaeology of the Marlborough Downs in 2005 (edited by Graham Brown, David Field & David McOmish & published by Oxbow Books). She also produces short geology & landscape guides covering local places of interest.