Christopher Somerville

At nine o’clock on this brisk sunny morning a miasma of mist lay over the fens and fields of Cambridgeshire. Chaffinches sang tentatively in the hedges of Hildersham and hopped on the thatched roof of medieval Mabbutts house
First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

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The rain-swollen River Granta, usually a modest infant trickle hereabouts, went powering under the lattice bridge in the village centre like a bully trying out his muscles in the playground.

Above the village in the wide fields to the north, larks sang ecstatically. The country rolled with an oceanic swell, brown furrows of ploughland, green billows of wheat, crowned with long dark windbreaks. This south Cambridgeshire landscape seems entirely open under its great swirling skies, but it rolls into hidden valleys you don’t suspect until you are actually on them.

Up on the ridge we turned east along a green road, engineered 2,000 years ago by the Romans to connect their forts of Godmanchester and Cambridge with Colchester. During the Middle Ages the old road became so busy with packhorse trains carrying wool that it acquired the title of Worsted Street. But some called it Wolves Street, an older and wilder name.

All the land around Wolves Street ~`has been ploughed and scoured clean of native chalk grassland turf. But the long green strip of the Roman road retains its herb-rich, flowery sward between sheltering hedges. Here in spring and summer flourishes a wonderful natural garden – fragrant marjoram and thyme, scabious, dwarf thistle and St John’s Wort, foodplants for a riot of butterflies and insects that you won’t see in the neighbouring arable fields.

This morning the old highway lay half flooded and bare, a silver thread between hedges heavy with drops of last night’s rain, as if dipped in molten glass and instantly frozen. Where the even more ancient track of the Icknield Way crossed the Roman road, we struck out heavy-footed over ploughed fields to reach the tall water tower on Rivey Hill, dodecahedral and ribbed with slim buttresses. There was a wonderful view to savour as we turned back west, looking towards distant Cambridge and the misty flatlands, before we slipped and slid downhill into Linton. A valley path led homeward between horse paddocks and on under the onion dome of Hildersham’s windmill; and the floody River Granta ran close at hand, tugging and surging under willows, rushing its cargo of twigs and bubbles before us into Hildersham.

Start: Pear Tree Inn, Hildersham, Cambs, CB21 6BU (OS ref TL543484)

Travel: Bus – 13A, 13B, X13 Cambridge-Linton (www.travelineeastanglia.org.uk)
Road – Hildersham is signed off A1307, 2 miles west of junction with A11 near Cambridge

Walk: (7 miles, easy grade, OS Explorer 209): From Pear Tree Inn, left up street; over crossroads (547489, ‘Balsham’). In 350m, left (549492, ‘bridleway’) on track for ¾ mile to meet Roman road (548505). Right for almost 2 miles, crossing minor road (561498) to cross B1052. In another 200m, opposite noticeboard, right (yellow arrow/YA) across 2 fields to B1052 (572486). Left for 200 m; on left bend, ahead to pass water tower (568480). Right (blue arrow) past Rivey Wood. At bench (562480), left downhill to road in Linton (560473). Right; left down Symonds Lane; pass Granta Leys; first right down lane (‘Icknield Way’) to cross River Granta. Pass bowling green; right (‘Roman Road Walk’). At end of playground, left up to kissing gate (556471, YA). Ignore stile on left; go through gate. On between horse paddocks; cross drive at Little Linton Farm; follow YAs back to Hildersham.

Refreshments/Accommodation: Pear Tree Inn, Hildersham (01223-891680; www.peartreecambridge-bb.co.uk)

Information: Cambridge TIC (0871-226-8006 – local rate);
www.visitcambridgeshire.org

2011 Gower Walking Festival: 4 – 19 June; www.mumblestic.co.uk

www.ramblers.org.uk www.satmap.com www.LogMyTrip.co.uk

The sun beamed on bean rows and potato ridges in the gardens we passed on our way out of Borough Green.
First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

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If Kent is the Garden of England, the stretch of idyllic countryside round this village on the northern edge of the Weald is a particularly lush corner of the vegetable plot. The trees are thriving well, too – there are enough deep pockets of forest left to give a flavour of how dense and green the sprawling old Wealden wildwood must have been before the Kentish ironmasters began stripping the ancient forest for charcoal.

A tangle of bluebell woods runs down the twisting Basted valley, skirting the old millpond with its white-browed coots and delicately stepping moorhens. There were mills all down the River Bourne here, all gone now in favour of fabulous new houses. We walked the woodland paths past long-forgotten watercress beds, then climbed a flinty track onto the roof of the downs, with heat-hazed views over rolling, darkly wooded country. Near the triplet oasts at Yopps Green – how long since they last dried a load of hops? – we turned onto a bridleway and came down off the ridge to Ightham Mote.

A dream of a moated Elizabethan manor, Ightham Mote contains a far older hall house, dark panelled and timbered. This ‘vile and papisticall house’, as it was styled in a Catholic-bashing report of 1585, is truly a place of secrets, of concealed passages and priest’s holes. Tales say that Ightham Mote is haunted by a Grey Lady, the ghost of Dame Dorothy Selby, who gave away the Gunpowder Plot by warning her cousin not to attend Parliament on 5 November 1605, and was walled up alive in the house as a punishment. It never happened like that – but who can stop a good gothic yarn?

We could have stayed all afternoon at Ightham Mote – most of the visitors seemed set to do that. Tearing ourselves away at last, we climbed steep Raspit Hill and followed the path over an overgrown common and into Oldbury Wood. One of the largest Iron Age hill forts in Britain lies hidden in the wood, its earthen ramparts rooted with oak and sweet chestnut. The invading Romans captured it from the Belgae warrior tribe in 43AD as they advanced towards the Thames – perhaps ‘with extreme prejudice’, if the burned defences and mounds of slingshots excavated here tell a true tale.

Picturing the mayhem, we followed the ancient trackway through the silent, tree-smothered old fort and out into the late afternoon sun.

Start & finish: Borough Green & Wrotham station TN15 8BG (OS ref TQ 609574)
Getting there: Train (www.thetrainline.com; www.railcard.co.uk) to Borough Green & Wrotham station. Road: M25 (Jct 5), M26 (Jct 2a); A20 to Wrotham Heath, A25 to Borough Green.
Walk (8½ miles, moderate grade, OS Explorer 147): From Borough Green and Wrotham Station (609574), turn right over the railway. On the following right bend, keep ahead along Borough Green’s High Street (with National Westminster bank on your right). Cross A25 at the end, and continue along Quarry Hill Road (‘Church’). Opposite the church, turn left (608572, ‘footpath’ fingerpost) and follow the footpath south out of Borough Green, crossing a couple of roads and keeping the same direction, to descent through woods to a road near Basted mill pond (607563). Turn left past the pond.
You pass a Southern Water pumping station on your right, and at the foot of Plough Hill fork right (607557) through the woods along the valley bottom. At Winfield Lane (606550) turn right uphill for 100 yards (100 m); then turn left over a stile (fingerpost) and on through an orchard. Cross a river and continue up a stony lane between orchards for two-thirds of a mile to the road in Yopps Green (602542).
At Yopps Green turn left along the road past the three oasts. Opposite White Beam house turn right (602540; concrete bridleway marker) along a bridleway. Keep heading west over crossing paths for a third of a mile (0.5 km) to a T-junction of paths at the top of a rise (596539). Turn right (‘bridleway’) for a third of a mile (0.5 km) through woods to A227. Cross the road (591541); bear left through a gate and along a bridleway (fingerpost). In 200 yards (200 m) bear half-right over a crossing of paths (591539) and continue along the wooded ridge. Follow the path downhill beside a hedge; at the bottom, turn right along a lane (589534) to reach the road at Ightham Mote (584534).
To continue the walk, keep on between the house (on your right) and the lake (on your left). Bear left at the end, then through gates and right up the road for a third of a mile (0.5 km), passing Mote Hill Cottage on your right (583538). In 100 yards (100m) bear left (‘bridleway’) up a woodland track for ½ mile (0.8 km) to cross a road (580546). Climb steeply uphill (‘bridleway’). At the top the path doglegs left and right to reach a crossing bridleway (579547). Turn left for 50 yards (50m), then right (blue arrow) down steps and on northwards across the wooded land of Raspit Hill for a good half-mile (almost 1 km). Pass ponds to reach A25 (579555). Turn right for 200 yards (200m), cross the road with great care to the central reservation, then on to a bus stop at the far side. Fork right here past a National Trust ‘Oldbury Hill’ notice, on a bridleway that rises through the trees.

The bridleway soon levels out. Follow it north for a quarter of a mile (400 m) to a 5-way junction of tracks (582560). Bear half-right (‘bridleway’) and follow this bridleway, crossing various paths, for another quarter of a mile (400 m) to a T-junction at the northern edge of the trees (584564). Right down a bridleway here to follow Oldbury Lane to the A25 (592565). Cross and go down Sevenoaks Road opposite. At A227 turn left, then right up Tycewell Lane opposite the George and Dragon Inn (595566). In 150 yards (150m) bear right up a path just before an oast (fingerpost). In 200 yards (200m), at the top of a bank (598566), bear left along a fence. Just before the A227, turn right along a path (599570), under power lines and across a minor road (602570). Continue along the path for a quarter of a mile (400 m). At a housing estate turn left, then right up Tilton Road. By a ‘Staley Avenue’ sign, keep ahead up a short path. Turn right at the end, then left up Quarry Hill Road (607571) to return to the station.

Lunch: Mote Restaurant, Ightham Mote (01732-811314); George & Dragon Inn, Ightham (01732-882440).
Ightham Mote (NT): 01732-810378, ext. 100)
More info: Sevenoaks TIC (01732-450305); www.visitkent.co.uk

The rolling landscape where Gloucestershire shades into Oxfordshire is thickly woven with footpaths and studded with villages of mellow gold stone.
First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

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In this north-east corner of these delectable hills you can walk in classic Cotswold countryside, but without those camera-clicking Cotswold crowds. However, if you would like to hook up with a merry bunch of fellow-walkers … then 21 May is the date for your diary. That’s when thousands will be converging on Blenheim Palace for the Breast Cancer Care charity’s annual Pink Ribbon Walk – 10 or 20 miles (you choose) through gorgeous countryside to raise money and awareness, to hear and share stories, and to have a damn good party into the bargain.

On a brilliant day of blue sky and balmy weather Jane and I set out to explore this overlooked corner of the Cotswolds. From Stonesfield, as pretty as a picture among its trees, the Oxfordshire Way took us up among big yellow fields of oilseed rape where yellowhammers in the hedges wheedled for a-little-bit-of-bread-and-no-cheeeeese. An invisible lark poured out song like the trickle of a brook. Views were big and broad, with a heat haze softening the dark green of spinneys and windbreak woods.

Down in the valley of the River Evenlode, swallows skimmed the stone-tiled roofs of Fawler. Dark Lane led us between hedges carefully tended by the Friends of Wychwood Hedge-laying Group, up a cowslip-spattered valley to Finstock. On through the environmentally-friendly farmland of Wilcote Farm with its generous field headlands and vigorous patches of yellow archangel. All around lay evidence of a countryside loved and cared for, its wildflowers and birds given the elbow-room they’re so often denied in more rapaciously farmed regions.

At North Leigh we went into St Mary’s Church to admire the north chapel with its fan vaulting and richly carved 15th-century alabaster tomb of Sir William Wilcote and his wife Elizabeth. Over the chancel arch hung a splendid medieval Doom painting, the Saved and the Damned all naked and prayerful, with a coal-black Devil and his red-faced acolytes jeering the Damned into eternal fire. Outside, all seemed a dream of peace – horses cropping the meadows near Holly Court Farm, the smooth gurgle of the Evenlode round its meandering bends, and the splashing and laughter of picnicking families by the river as we made our way back up the old cart track to Stonesfield.

These Oxfordshire Cotswolds really are beautiful country. I wish I could be a fly on someone’s trainers on 21 May. The Pink Ribbon walkers are going to have the most amazing day of it.

Start & finish: near St James’s Church, Stonesfield OX29 8PT (OS ref SP 394171)

Getting there: Train (www.thetrainline.com; www.railcard.co.uk) to Charlbury.
Bus (www.stagecoachbus.com) service S3 (Charlbury-Oxford).
Road: Stonesfield is signed off A44 Woodstock-Chipping Norton.

Walk (8½ miles, easy, OS Explorer 180): Park in ‘square’ (actually a triangle!) by St James’s Church, Stonesfield. With your back to church, bear left along High Street. Opposite Methodist chapel, left down walled lane (‘bridleway’). At bottom, cross road and go up stony bridleway (390173; ‘Oxfordshire Way/OW’). In 400m, ahead over crossroads along tarmac lane. In another 400m pass end of woodland belt. Road bends right by Hall Barn Farm Cottages, but keep ahead here (383177; blue arrow/BA) through gate (OW) and on down right side of hedge. In ½ mile, at crossing of bridleways, left off OW (375180) on bridleway (BA) descending to Fawler. Left along road. Opposite bus stop, right down lane (372170; ‘Finstock 1’ fingerpost). Cross under railway and over River Evenlode. Follow path on far bank and through shallow valley. Keep ahead at ‘Right of Way’ arrow among trees (368166); on up Dark Lane to Finstock.
Right past Plough Inn (362161); left up side of Plough (fingerpost) on path on right side of pub car park. On (yellow arrow/YA) through kissing gate, up field edge. At far end, through kissing gate (362159); don’t turn right here, but keep ahead with hedge on left. Path doglegs left and right, then crosses field; through Ramsden Mill Longcut woodland strip (364156); on along wide field paths to road (367151). Left for 20m; right (‘Wychwood Way’/WW fingerpost) through Holly Grove wood. At end of wood (372143), on along hedgeside track (YA) for 2 fields to turn left along North Leigh Lane. In 300m pass footpath diverging to left (374136; fingerpost); on next bend, bear left (‘WW’ YA) along path in tunnel of trees. In 400m, right along End Farm drive (379134); in 20m, left (‘Church ½’ fingerpost) across fields (kissing gates, YAs) to St Mary’s Church, North Leigh. (NB For Woodman Inn or Mason’s Arms, turn right from church to top of hill, then right to pubs).
Continuing walk from church – left along road; in 20m, left (‘bridleway’ fingerpost) along farm drive. In 400m, right over stile and down hedge; cross brook (385140), through gate and up fence to road (386143). Left for 50m; right down Holly Court drive (‘Bridleway, Ashford Bridge 1’). At buildings bear right to T-junction (386147); left and continue, following BAs by brook for ½ mile to road near Ashford Bridge (385154). Right to crossroads by bridge; right (‘East End, Hanborough’), following path on right bank of Evenlode (‘Stonesfield 1½’ fingerpost). Under railway; on to kissing gate; aim across meadow to cross footbridge (383164). Up cart track opposite; at road, forward to Stonesfield ‘square’

Walk as described covers only part of Pink Ribbon Walk.
Lunch: Plough Inn, Finstock (01993-868333; www.theplough-inn.co.uk); Woodman PH (01993-881790) or Mason’s Arms (01993-882005), North Leigh.

Breast Cancer Care (www.breastcancercare.org.uk) Pink Ribbon Walks 2011 at Scone Palace, Perthshire (14 May); Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire (21 May); Cholmondeley Castle, Cheshire (4 June); Petworth House, West Sussex (11 June). Info: 0870 145 0101 or www.pinkribbonwalk.org.uk

Isle of Man Walking Festival 2011: 15-20 May (01624-664460; www.visitisleofman.com)
Llanelli Festival of Walks, Carmarthenshire: 27–30 May 2011, www.llanelliramblers.org.uk

www.ramblers.org.uk www.satmap.com www.LogMyTrip.co.uk

Tibbie Shiels Inn stands beautifully positioned on the narrow isthmus that separates the Loch of the Lowes from its bigger sister, St Mary’s Loch.
First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

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James Hogg, the Scottish Borders shepherd-poet born in the nearby Ettrick Hills, would call into the inn from time to time around the turn of the 19th century. Hogg, who left school at 7 years old, was often dismissed as a rough-arsed yokel, a ‘boozy buffoon’ and a bit of an oaf. But today a handsome statue of the man looks past the inn towards the Captain’s Road, a stony old track that carried Jane and me up into the hills on a blowy morning.

The rounded hills bulged on all sides, dotted with circular stone sheepfolds, evidence of the sheep farming that once dominated these borderlands. The old pens down by the Crosscleuch Burn lay so neatly walled into compartments they could have been built as an example of good practice. But there’s little shepherding as James Hogg would have recognised it in the back hills today.

In a roadless valley beyond Earl’s Hope we found Riskinhope Hope, once the home of a shepherd and his family, now a hollow square of stone walls under tattered shelter pines. We sat and munched our sandwiches, trying to imagine life in this isolated cleft with only the trickle of the sike and bleating of sheep to break the silence.

Up on the ridge beyond the views were immense, out over sombre brown hills under an enormous sky. We followed an old grassy track down towards the main farm of Riskinhope, still flourishing in the green valley of the two sister lochs, its farmer striding with stick and dog among his flocks.

Along the lochside path grew monkeyflowers, broad yellow trumpets spotted with scarlet. There were early purple orchids and ragged robin, butterworts and milkmaids, mint and thyme – a floral carpet laid alongside the Loch of the Lowes. Here is a scene of absolute stillness, caught by James Hogg in his poem ‘Caledonia’:

‘Sweet land of the bay and wild-winding deeps
Where loveliness slumbers at even,
While far in the depth of the blue water sleeps
A calm little motionless heaven.’

The Ettrick shepherd helped his lifelong friend Sir Walter Scott to collect ballads for the latter’s hugely successful 1802 collection Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. Hogg, a lifelong fiddle-player and singer, later lamented that setting the old Border ballads down in print had killed them off as a living oral tradition. I hope his shade attends the music sessions that flourish at Tibbie Shiels Inn. It would give the old shepherd pleasure to find out just how premature his judgement was.

Start & finish: Tibbie Shiels Inn, St Mary’s Loch, Selkirkshire TD7 5LH (OS ref NT 240205)
Getting there: Signposted off A708 (Yarrow-Moffat).
Walk (5 miles, moderate, OS Explorer 330): Follow Southern Upland Way/SUW waymarks up Captain’s Road (waymarked ‘Ettrick via Captain’s Road’) for 3 miles via Thirlestane Burn crossing (247200), Earl’s Hill, Riskinhope Hope abandoned farm (250183) and on for ⅔ mile. On ridge, opposite end of forestry down on your left, pass SUW post; in 400m, on Pikestone Rig, come to 2 SUW posts 20m apart (244176). Descend to lower post (yellow arrow/YA pointing left); bear right here on clear grass path, down to Riskinhope Farm. Through gate in fenced field; down through lower gate; ignore YA pointing ahead past farm, and bear right through trees along lochside path for 1 mile to Tibbie Shiels Inn.

Lunch/accommodation: Tibbie Shiels Inn (01750-42231; www.tibbieshiels.com)
Tea: Glen Café, St Mary’s Loch (01750-42241;
https://sites.google.com/site/glencafestmarysloch/home )
More info: Selkirk TIC (01750-20054); www.visitscotland.com/surprise
www.ramblers.org.uk www.satmap.com www.LogMyTrip.co.uk

The Royal Oak sits snug, tucked down out of sight in a steep cleft of the Sussex Downs a few miles north of Chichester.
First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

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It’s hard to prise the regulars out of this delightful walker-friendly pub, especially Shagger Shepherd. Old Shagger hasn’t left the place since 1680, when he was shot dead in the bar for stealing sheep. He’s been seen by many since then, and photographed by landlord Dave Jeffery. If you should meet Shagger, don’t offer your hand – it’ll go straight through him.

On a steamy, showery morning we set out from the Royal Oak up a broad flinty track through woods of yew and fern beech on Philliswood Down. The pale sun struck gold out of the grass hummocks of the Devil’s Jumps – five Bronze Age bell barrows in a row, lined up with the rising sun at midsummer solstice. Out of the trees on the open downs, the ancient track of the South Downs Way stretched into the distance along the ridge, a ribbon of pale grass and rutted chalk. The view opened out dramatically, pastoral lowlands stretching away north from the foot of the downs escarpment, and a southward prospect of snaky cornfields and woods dipping to a hazy hint of sea.

We turned off the South Downs Way with its hurtling cyclists, and dipped steeply down a woodland path through the yews on Didling Hill. There are still enough sheep in the pastures below to get Shagger Shepherd shot all over again, but long gone are the great days of Sussex Downs sheep farming. Back then the shepherds in broad-brimmed hats and thick cloaks would give thanks in the little chapel of St Andrew, known far and wide as the Shepherds’ Church, in its lonely stance by the lane to Didling.

In one of the diminutive, iron-hard oak pews we sat out a quiet ten minutes, overseen by the fiercely moustached Green Man carved on the pulpit. Then we walked on through timeless farming landscape, from mellow, red-tiled Didling to neat little Treyford. Back up a stiff old track round Mount Sinai to the roof of the downs under clearing skies, and on through rolling barley fields. Obliterated by the green and gold corn lies the herb-rich sward where Sussex Downs shepherds once stood in all weathers, solitary men with their chins on their crooks, ever alert for bloat and scab, rough winds and rustlers.

Start & finish: Royal Oak Inn, Hooksway, near Chichester PO18 9JZ (OS ref SU 815162)
Getting there: Hooksway is signed off B2141 between Petersfield and Chichester. Park at Royal Oak – but please ask permission, and give them your custom!
Walk (6 miles, moderate grade, OS Explorer 120): From Royal Oak turn north-east up broad track, the middle one of 3 (red arrow/RA, ‘Restricted Byway’). At crossing of tracks on Philliswood Down, keep ahead on South Downs Way (824169). In ¾ mile, leave the trees; in 300m turn left (837174; ‘bridleway’, blue arrow/BA) to descend Didling Hill. In ¼ mile, on left curve, turn right up bank (833177; yellow arrow/YA on post) to descend steep woodland path. On down road to pass Didling church (835181). In Didling, keep ahead (‘Ingrams Green’); in 150m, left (837185; YA, fingerpost) through Manor Farm farmyard. Cross stile; follow YAs through hunting gates and along hedges for ½ mile. Cross stile; down through trees, over stream (827187); keep ahead (fingerpost, YA) to road on bend in Treyford. Right (ahead) to T-junction (824188). Left; on left bend, ahead through farmyard (fingerpost). Follow stiles and YAs into field with earthworks. At bottom left corner, cross stile; right (823185; ‘bridleway, BA) along bridleway between fences for ½ mile. At crossing of bridleways, ahead (BA); at next hedge crossing, left (815188; ‘Public right of way’; purple arrow/PA on fingerpost in bush); up trackway between hedges. In 150m, left (PA) up steep track through Mount Sinai wood. In 250m, ahead across track (PA); at top of incline, ahead (816183; ‘Restricted Byway’, PA). In 350m, at junction of paths, cross wide chalk track (815179) and keep ahead on grassy path through trees. In 600m, descend to trackway (816173). Ahead (‘Public right of way’, fingerpost). In 50m, ahead through gate (‘bridleway’, BA); cross field and follow bridleway to Hooksway.

Lunch: Royal Oak, Hooksway (roaring fires, resident spectre, good beer and food): 01243-535257; www.royaloakhooksway.co.uk
More info: Tourist Information Centre, 29a South Street, Chichester (01243-775888, www.visitchichester.org);
www.ramblers.org.uk www.satmap.com www.LogMyTrip.co.uk