Walking The County High Points of England by David Bathurst

Author:David Bathurst
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Summersdale
Published: 2012-07-10T00:00:00+00:00

Berkshire and Hampshire

Walbury Hill – 297 metres / 974 feet – SU 373616

Pilot Hill – 286 metres / 938 feet – SU 397601

Length : 8 miles

Start and finish : Kintbury station

Public transport : Regular trains serving Kintbury on the London– Reading–Newbury–Bedwyn line

Refreshments : Kintbury (P, S); none en route

Difficulty : Moderate

Rating : ****

Corn hill test

First let’s deal with the spoilsports. Yes, we know, Berkshire doesn’t actually officially exist anymore. It’s been split up into lots of unitary authorities during the massive local government reorganisations of recent years so, yes, we should say that Walbury Hill is really the high point of… a lot of unitary authorities all lumped together, so what’s the point of including it? But let’s rise above the bureaucratic meddlers and say that historically this was all Berkshire and many people, perhaps most people, living within its historic borders would say they still live in Berkshire today. And it’s a good, high, high point. Nothing beats it any further east across southern England. So no excuses. Set the alarm, as I did, for 4 a.m., and get out there.

Anyway, this is a ‘two-for-the-price-of-one’ walk, as it includes the summit of Hampshire, which undoubtedly is still alive and well; the two county high points are less than 2 miles apart, and it’s a delightful circular walk with superb views from what is part of the North Hampshire Downs chalk ridge. It’s best done out of the corn-growing season – you’ll see why when you get to the top of Pilot Hill – but whatever time of year you decide to do it, you need a good clear day. Assuming you’re relying on public transport, I do recommend you start from Kintbury, which has a reasonably good rail service from and back to London, via Reading; looking at the map, you’ll see the village of Ashmansworth, between Andover and Newbury, appears to be marginally closer to the hilltops you’re aiming for, but a quick Google of public transport provision will confirm that one missed bus to or from that village may mean a wait of several decades for the next.

One word of advice: cut some sandwiches for the journey to Kintbury from London or Reading, as there’ll be no refreshment trolley and, if you’re like me and think a break of journey at a busy town like Newbury will yield a breakfast bap in the station buffet, think again. Even at 7.45 a.m., hardly the middle of the night, I found the buffet closed and had to dash into the town for a hasty takeaway snack, the sprint tiring me out before I’d even got going.

Kintbury isn’t quite the archetypal picture-postcard village but it’s certainly very pleasant; perhaps the most agreeable part of it is what you see almost straightaway as, having left the station and made your way south-westwards towards the village centre, you go over the Kennet & Avon Canal. This is a delightful stretch of water, and an undoubted visitor attraction, but it was once of vital commercial importance, being part of a canal system that linked Reading with Bristol.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.