The Three Downs Way, Wiltshire. June 1993
The Three Peaks in
order:
1. Roundway Down
(679ft)
2. Cherhill Down (846ft)
3. Tan Hill (965ft, 10ft short of the highest UK Downland summit)
Motto: The old
Wiltshire saying: 'Wiltshire born and Wiltshire bred, strong in the arm and
weak in the head' can be recycled with the replacements 'and Meths bred' and
'strong in the leg' to suit our redoubtable but past their sell-by date
enthusiasts.
This jaunt took place
during the year long interval between our leaving Malawi in 1992 and taking up
our present situation in Botswana early in 1994. It qualifies as a mountain
club outing only in so far as the Downs of Wiltshire though no more than hills
are at least the highest of their kind in Britain and compared with our
flatland surroundings in Botswana positive giants. Ah, how we miss the
mountains here — from our Kalahari home it is 1,000km and more to the
nearest proper heights such as the Drakensberg or the Chimanimani Mountains.
And Mulanje? Well that's a good 900 miles and Zimbabwe and Mozambique to cross.
But back to business
and the Three Downs. We set out on a misty summer morning from Devizes, our
beginning and ending point — along Quaker's walk (suitably named for the
faint hearted) towards open fields and the ascent up Roundway Down. This takes
you under high electricity pylons designed to give the general impression of
ladies lifting their skirts in order to cross puddles. They often fizz and
crackle with electricity and 'charge you up' when you pass underneath. Properly
crackling we then fair zipped up the first 'peak' on our list to the ramparts
of a small iron age fort at the western edge. The trail then continued across a
downland plateau which was the site of the 1643 civil war battle of Roundway
Down or 'Runaway Down' as the victors claimed it on account of the beaten
Parliamentarians sensibly making off and not waiting to be dispatched by pike
or pistol. Here we spread out in pairs and strode like Wiltshire bustards (wrongly
thought to be extinct) over the open downland.
Then, blessed relief,
a refreshment station — our first, near the Devizes-Beckhampton road:
beverages and buns supplied by our hand-picked support team Antonia, Sadie and
Penny — cheerfully keeping us on the road.
By now some of the
walkers were feeling the first strains of legging it — but no mercy
— on to the rise leading up to Cherhill Down and the monument at its
summit (erected by Lord Lansdowne in the late 18th century mainly to celebrate
himself — an early Meths member perhaps?). Mist unfortunately smothered
our long distance views but we could take in a look at the Cherhill White Horse
on the adjacent combe alongside us (this is another 18th-century creation but
Meths cannot be indicted for this one).
We next retraced our
steps partly towards Baltic farm for our lunch break at which certain Meths
members asked for and received alcoholic support. The more ascetic of us chose
tea or squash.
Part two then, the
long afternoon beckoned. Two peaks down, one to go as with the Ndirande lunch
break on the 'real' Three Peaks marathon. Axeman by now had armed himself with
an umbrella to provide support and protection from the elements. We walked
along in his wake following the rampart known as the Wansdyke. This stretches
for some 20 miles or so and for a 6th-century earthwork is still in impressive
condition. It gives you a fine viewing platform to cross the road at Shepherds
Shore and continue the long haul up to the high downs, here called the Wansdyke
Downs to Tan Hill and the walk's summit. This by the standards of southern
England is wild, open, deserted countryside and the home of curlews, lapwings
and skylarks. Naturally a Meths party like ours could be trusted to lower the
tone of this rural solitude and bring some robust vulgarity to the scene. This
we duly did as nobody else was there to witness it.
After Tan Hill we
cantered down in exuberant form past Rybury camp (a Bronze Age hill fort this
one) to Cannings Cross farm, Axeman giving in to the temptation to open his
umbrella and be blown down the hill or so he fancied. Did he get blown over? My
memory is blank on that one. Then across open fields to the Kennet and Avon
canal crossing at Woodbridge bridge: after this we began the long trudge home
on the canal towing path that takes you all the way into Devizes. This was far
too level for us hearty hilltop types. It is some five or six miles into the
town following the looping and winding canal course. Conversation I think
flagged on this section: we hardly took in the farmland or village hamlets or
even the celebrated spire to our right on Bishops Cannings church. To a man I
could sense the mental images each of us had of Wadworth's 6X beer, Devizes' best known
product. This we knew was our waiting reward and sure enough a few hours later
we were all sat at the Elm Tree Inn, enjoying a pint and supper there,
cheerfully toasting another most enjoyable and companionable Meths outing. 'Up
the Col', one and all. Peter Tolhurst
Participants: Peter "Up the Down"
Tolhurst (leader); Ian "Mad Axeman" Mason; Brian "Air Malawi's
Last Hope" Sayers; R Theobald (ex Malawi).
Support team: M Bamford (ex-Malawi); J Saunders
(local friend); Antonia Tolhurst; Sadie Mason; Penny Theobald.
Related website: Wansdyke Project 21
©
WDYFO, 1993