We are the Winchester Ramblers. We open the way for everyone in our local community to enjoy the pleasures of walking.
Steven L.
After the previous day’s group Grand Day Out, enjoy a gentle, mid-summer stroll on Salisbury Plain. In essence we amble round the bounds of the World Heritage Site that surrounds Stonehenge. My plan is to take it easy and enjoy a lazy summer Sunday day out (so it’s bound to rain!)
Over 10 miles a series of surprisingly varied landscapes will reveal themselves. They deserve to be seen and better known in their own right. If you like open vistas and big skies, with the odd fine view across the Avon valley, this is the walk for you.
Plus the walk also comes with 5,500 years of history. Not only the ancient (including the Avenue, Woodhenge, Durrington Walls, Cursus and more barrows and burial mounds than you can poke a stick (or walking pole) at), but also the historical (the Battle of the Nile, early airfields and military railways, and Thomas Hardy) right up to the modern (New Age Travellers, orange dye, the legendary traffic jams on the A303 and, of course, Spinal Tap).
We walk mainly on grass with some paths and tracks. The ground under-foot is good. There is one section where we will go bush-bashing across a field of long grass, some of which is a bit tufty. So those less confident in their balance may feel happier with a walking pole. When I pre-walked it, the grass was above knee hight and full of wild-flowers, butterflies, skylarks and signs of deer.
The Plain is not quite as flat as the name might suggest but the climbs and descents are gentle. There may be one stile.
We will meet at the Airman's Cross which lies between the English Heritage Visitor Centre car park and the Visitor Centre itself.
There is no need to pay any admission charge. Access to the landscape surrounding the stone circle is free; it is open access land owned by the National Trust. The walk passes close by the Stonehenge stone circle but does not go into the enclosure for which there is an admission charge. If you want to go in after the walk, members of English Heritage and National Trust can get in for free. There is potentially a small charge for parking (£2) though I have not yet been asked for it.
This is a picnic walk. Please bring drinks, snacks for one (or quite possibly two) morning break(s) and a picnic lunch, as required. Most of all bring your imaginations and sense of wonder.
Please let the leader know you are coming as we may set off early, if all known walkers have arrived.
We will meet at the Airman’s Cross which lies between the English Heritage Visitor Centre car park and the Visitor Centre itself forStonehenge
