Day 6: Ogbourne St George to Avebury

 

Today is the last day of the walk. It was another bright day but cold. I slept well in the purpose built accommodation attached to the pub and felt ready for the day ahead. We are expecting to walk at least 10 miles today but the walking has been easy with very few inclines and descents. 

We walked through the small village to meet up with the Ridgeway track. This is the River Og which gives the village its name: Ogbourne St George. There is a medieval church named St George in the centre of the village.

The manor house

Here we are back on the distinctive chalky pathway that is the Ridgeway.

The clouds are gathering and we wondered if today would be the day the rain caught up with us. We have been so lucky missing the showers this week.

The walk takes us across the Marlborough Downs. This is very much horse racing country. The chalk Downs are perfect for exercising the horses.

As we walked along we noticed there were small white posts marking out furlongs at the side of this wide path.

There is the possibility of seeing one of the famous white chalk horses today. Wiltshire is the county for seeing these chalk hill carvings. Most of them date back about three hundred years. There is only one that is of prehistoric origin but that one is not close to where we are. They are created by removing the turf to reveal the white chalk beneath and are usually quite large on the side or top of a hill. I am sure we walked very close to a couple of them but we didn't actually see any of them. 

Tina went in search of one but it was difficult to make out the horse shape from her photo. You really need to be above it or quite a distance away to see the whole shape.

We were surprised to see this little goat grazing by the footpath. His freedom didn't last long though, as the farmer had noticed and soon had him back with the rest of his family.

Time for a rest as we watched the farmer chase the goat.

As we continued on we saw the name of the farm which is owned by Neil King a well known horse racing trainer.

We have now entered Barbury Castle Country Park owned and managed by the National Trust.

This hill is part of an ancient iron age hillfort which dates from the 4th cent BC to the 1st cent AD. 

This is an aerial photo of the remains of the hillfort (taken from Wiki website) which gives you a better idea of what it looks like.  The large double ditch which surrounded the fort is an unusual feature. From this view you can also see The Ridgeway path passing through the centre of the site.

 

You don't get much woodland on the chalky downs.

The long straight path can be seen for what seems like miles ahead.

This was one of the wettest and muddiest sections we encountered. There was no way round it, we just had to go through it. My boots had been kept clean for the whole of the walk but not after this section. There was just no way of getting the chalky mud off them.

But here we are at the end of our walk in the village of Avebury, home to a group of ancient stones.

This is the World Heritage Site of the Neolithic Avebury Henge. The outer stone circle is the largest prehistoric circle of standing stones in the world and has the remains of two other smaller stone circles within it. It was built between 2850BC and 2200BC. The outer circle originally contained about 100 stones and is about a mile in circumference. It is thought that this was the principal ceremonial site in Neolithic history and the most complex.

Also in the village was the Avebury Manor National Trust property with its cafe. Perfect place to end the walk. After a welcome cup of tea and snack Tina and I went round the museum and gardens whilst the boys found a pub to celebrate the end of the walk.

Jackdaws trying to destroy the roof of an outhouse.

Avebury village is very small but picturesque.

This is one of the most spectacular post box toppers I've seen outside the shop in the village. The legendary Green Man. 

The pub where we were staying for our final night was a couple of miles down the road from the village. We decided to take the bus, mainly because there was no pathway alongside the busy road and also there was a bus due! I forgot to take a photo of the pub we stayed in that night but it was very comfortable and we enjoyed an excellent meal there to celebrate the end of the walk.

 I did take a photo of my breakfast fruit platter though, as it was an amazing selection of fresh fruit which I had missed during the week. After breakfast we all piled into a minibus to take us back to the hotel where we started the walk, so we could retrieve our cars and make our final farewells, before driving off to the various parts of the country where we live.

 We had had a great week. The distances walked each day were perfect. Enough to be an enjoyable challenge but not to exhaust us. Paul has once again excelled with his choice of accommodation and planning. We are all very grateful that he likes to plan these walks and provide us with endless spreadsheets. Thank you to Jim for his generosity and seeking out a cream tea for us to enjoy. Thanks to Tim for his tech expertise which I'm sure we really did need. A huge thank you to my room mate, Tina, who had to put up with my constant coughing fits during the night. And of course Steve who is a huge asset to the group with his sense of humour and dress sense. I wonder what next year will bring.