Friday, July 30, 2010

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Rambling - July 2009 Report

July 12th. Sunny, warm and breezy. Showers forecast but none to be seen. Sixteen (and one dog who insisted on being leader) explored variations on getting to and from Chilton.

We made for Upton using School Path to Shovel Spring and then south across Moor Lane and south-west into Upton, by St. Mary’s. Stream Road was used to reach the Reading Road and then across to the Lynch Way a very broad track that ultimately leads to Prospect Farm, Chilton Waste and all that. We turned off to the footpath that starts just before the farm and turned to a north-going footpath just before reaching the village. This skirts the east side of Chilton and a left and right takes one to the footpath that commences at Limetree Farm and marks our turn for home.

This footpath that runs north-east back to Upton has been nicely maintained by the farmer but in places it fails to follow the legal alignment (which runs through a pretty, tree-lined cutting). We’ve seen this difficulty before and it must be corrected. We also found that the stretch which goes by the horse fields, that was once so beautifully maintained, is now totally overgrown. This will also have to be reported.

The route home from Upton was familiar, but usually in the opposite direction: We traveled through the village to the footpath that passes under the Dismantled Railway and on to West Hagbourne. Once there we turned east to pickup the extension of School Path and thence home.

Taking our lives in our hands we walked (ran?) a short distance along the road to reach the byway and track that head south towards Alden Farm. This we followed to the top of its rise where we turned east to walk past “New Buildings” and back down to the A417. The view from the top was excellent, especially looking towards Blewburton Hill whose lower level is crimson with poppies – a remarkable sight.

Again crossing the A417 we came into Blewbury and almost immediately turned left to follow the footpath back into Upton. From Upton we used the footpath north to West Hagbourne and finally reached home via School Lane.

All in all, that was a little over 6½-miles which took us just about 2½-hours. It was a very pretty ramble.

Next Ramble
Sunday, August 9th
2.00 p.m.
John Jones: 813326
Meet at the East Hagbourne Upper Cross