Wiltshire Wanders

I’d been out with my old work mates from my Nokia and EE days. Despite a bad hangover after too many beers and Prosecco, I wanted to make a bit of a weekend of things while I was down that way so arranged a bit of a weekend meet up with THO, his better half and their little dog Mac.

We took in a long planned walk around the ancient remains at Avebury. We parked up at Silbury Hill. Its a truly odd feature, centuries old, man-made but no-one still has any real idea why it was every built or what its purpose was. An arresting sight.

From there we walked across the fields and into Avebury. Past the little church.

Avebury Manor.

A little stop for a brew and a cookie.

And on to the main event, the stone circle. Apparently the circle was pretty much derelict with farmers, burying the stones under ploughed fields and seemingly not caring in any way to preserve them. Luckily someone bought the land and the stones were saved.

The stones are massive, much bigger than the one’s you see elsewhere. The circle itself is also huge, about a mile in diameter and completely encircling the whole village.

Its a fascinating walk around the edge.

Heading south there is an equally impressive stone row with two lines. As with Silbury Hill, and the Stone Circle no-one is really sure exactly what their purpose was, all lost in the annals of time.

From there we wandered over the pleasant grassy meadows and fields.

Views over the rolling hills of the Pewsey Downs.

Views back to Silbury Hill.

And on to the next site, West Kennett Long Barrow.

Most of these burial chamber sites can be a little scant but this one was pretty much intact and very impressive. You could walk several yards in and see a number of individual chambers. I was surprised and impressed.

A view along the top.

On or way back to the vans THO convinced us to take a look at Swallowhead Springs.

Like many of the sites it was clearly a magnet for – lets just call them – spiritual types. Lots of ribbons and the like dangling from branches. There is quite a lot of that around there as I discovered the next morning.

Another close up of Silbury Hill

And a photo of me and THO looking like a couple of escapees from a old persons mental institution.

THO’s better half then took the dog home (before meeting us later for a meal and a pint or two) and we headed up to the top of the Pewsey Downs for another walk.

We managed to find a sheltered spot for a brew on Adams Grave (he didn’t seem to mind) before a very nice stroll along the escarpment towards Milk Hill.

Easy walking while we chatted with great views over Pewsey Vale before haeding back to the van via the Wansdyke.

From there off to my little overnight stopover – a club site next door to the excellent Kings Arms in All Cannings.

What better way to finish a great day out than camping next to a pub for a few beers and an excellent meal!

We had plans the next day but I was awake early and found time to stop on the way over for another short walk near where we’d been the previous afternoon.

A short walk up Knap Hill with more glorious early morning views of this new – to me anyway – area.

I mentioned earlier that the area is frequented by people with a very different outlook on life shall we say. On the way back to van, a nice bloke shared with me what a nice morning it was and how the butterflies were beautiful, which they were. He then asked me if I’d seen any crop circles down in the valley and before I realised the trap I’d fallen into he was telling me about dead friends rising from the grave, ley-lines, setting up lasers on the hills and finally about alien crafts hovering above his friends house and then appearing to him on their TV screen. Friendly and harmless but clearly madder than a box of frogs so I bid him a hasty farewell and headed off for some earth/water bound pleasures.