Route:
- Fisherton Anger
- Lower Bemerton
- Quidhampton
- Wilton
- Ditchampton
- Great Wishford
- Grovely Wood
- Baverstock
- Dinton
I grew up in Old Windsor - the original Windsor - where there was once an Anglo-Saxon royal palace. In the 11th century, William the Conqueror built his new castle a few kilometres down the road near Clewer. The new Windsor grew up there, swallowing the village of Clewer.
Now I live in Salisbury where there is a parallel story. The original Salisbury was at a place now called Old Sarum. (Sarum is a latinisation of Salisbury.) In the 13th century, a new cathedral was built a few kilometres down the road, and the new city of Salisbury grew up around it, swallowing the nearby village of Fisherton Anger. I began my walk here, where I live, near Salisbury train station.
I walked out of town through Lower Bemerton and Quidhampton along a road that follows the river Nadder upstream. The river then splits in two, one part still being called the Nadder, and one part called the Wylye.
I walked through Wilton, and exited through adjoining Ditchampton, following a road that runs parallel to the river Wylye. The river gives its name to the settlements of Wilton and Wylye upstream, and Wilton gives its name to the county of Wiltshire.
The next settlement - Wishford - is also named for its relationship with the river. I wanted to see its ford for myself, to demystify the name, and turn it back into a description. Doing this feels like a way of connecting a little bit with the people who first described the place. Just outside the village, I walked down the river bank and found that the Wylye was very shallow and could easily be walked across. Somebody had placed some stones in the river, forming a tiny jetty from the bank I sat on. I don't know if these were remnants or beginnings. I added a couple of stones before I walked into the village.
I'd hoped to stop at the Royal Oak, but it wasn't open for another half an hour. So I left the village, and the river and walked up into Grovely Wood, which sits on the ridge that separates the valleys of the Nadder and the Wylye.
Two sisters from Denmark moved to the area, shortly before an outbreak of smallpox that killed a lot of people. The sisters were blamed, because of their coincidental arrival and their strange language, and called witches. They were taken to the woods and murdered. Today some gnarled old beech trees stand where they were killed.
I left the woods and walked into Baverstock, which barely exists. I passed a cottage, in the process of being reclaimed by nature, that had a sign on it saying something like The last house.
From Baverstock, the footpath was lost in a dense thicket, which I had difficulty getting through. I then descended into Dinton, which sits on one side of the river Nadder. I'd entered a new river valley, but I didn't see any of the river this time.
I finished the journey at the Wyndham Arms, which shares its name with a pub in Salisbury. I had a pint of Butcombe, whilst the landlady looked up the times for the bus back to Salisbury for me. I had to wolf down my beer in five minutes to catch the last bus for two hours.