Anniversary Walk

So what do most people do to celibate a wedding anniversary, go out for a nice meal with wine, go away somewhere for the weekend. We were are a bit different, neither of us like the idea of wasting money going to some over priced restaurant for a meal we would not enjoy. My wife would rather spend the money to cook a nice meal at home (which would feed the whole family for less). Instead we opted to go for a walk along the Ridgeway above where I used to work and bring along a little treat of Cheese scones and Coffee. It was a beautiful morning when we set out and this is what I saw.

On the way towards the A34 end of the ridgeway I took this view over towards the Harwell Campus

The A34 is a road that goes from the M4 Motorway to Southampton and a tunnel takes the Ridgeway under it. On the side is this mural which is now suffering a but from age

After getting back for our Cheese scones an welcome hot coffee I popped off to get a few more photos
Here we look towards the Rutherford part of the Harwell Campus

 This is towards Didcot, notice the tall stack to the right, the blew it up and demolished it on Sunday Morning, No I did not get any photos time, we has a serious storm on with 50-60mph winds.

Next time I get a photo from up here it will be a whole new scene

This building is part of Rutherford and is called
TS2 part of ISIS neurton source

These are the two reactors from the Atomic Energy days Of  Harwell and AERE.
they were called Pluto and Dido 

Last of all Diamond Light Source where I used to work, if you click the link you can see what I did there. We enjoyed our Cheese scones and Coffee and no doubt in the future we will go back up there for another walk

Taking Part if Our World Tuesday

From the Ridgeway

The end of January my wife & I went of for a walk along the Ridgeway above were I used to work, I looked back and took this photo of the sky with the clouds on the horizon.

I'll show a few more photos on Tuesday

Happy Skywatch

A Ridgeway Walk

Carrying on with my series of The Rigdeway path which is one of those ancient paths that was used around 5000 years ago and runs from Overton Hill, near Avebury, to Streatley, then follows footpaths and parts of the ancient Icknield Way through the Chiltern Hills to Ivinghoe Beacon 

Today I will show you some of the path from outside Streatley to Lowbury Hill where I was walking. The main reason for the walk was to get photos for another blog I am writing. There are quite a few photos in today's blog.  In retrospect I should have taken a map with me but felt I knew the area well enough not to get too badly lost

Above my start was here in the carpark along Rectory road. On the right is a view of the field beside the ridgeway

The path here is quite easy going if a little uphill

Looking back to the carpark

Above the first signpost showing a nearby footpath and a footpath in a different direction

If you saw my Skywatch Friday photo of Streatley Warren, well this is looking down from near the top

Another signpost and path, the one to the right will take you to to a Village called Aldworth

This is were I'm going to turn off to Lowbury Hill and as you can see I have to negotiate a large muddy area

bit of a contrast to the path I just walked along

and the way it looks going on

but once your past it the footpath is quite easy to walk on

Near Lowbury hill you rejoin the more substantial path with takes you to the Fair Mile

Lowbury Hill and on the top an Ordnance Survey Triangulation Pillar, the view looks towards Chilton

This one on the edge of the remains of a Roman Temple looks towards the Fair mile 

Going back I took a wrong turn and ended up back on the Ridgeway lower down

Because I don't remember this part

Anyway I followed the path back

till I got to this fork where I had to take the left one which I knew would  get me back to the carpark. 

Hope you enjoyed my little walk this week

Tanking Part in Our World Tuesday

The Great Barn

 

The last panel in this series of the Ridgeway Mural shows the interior of the Great Barn in East Ilsley 

 Barns like this were built in villages to store grain for the winter. I've not been to the village so cannot tell you if it is still standing but I will find out

Taking part in Monday Mural

The Compton Hundred

The next panel on the mural comprises of three sections depicting the local churches  in the area

 They are pictured within a tracery that have tomb effigies at the base. These exist in one of the churches in the last panel. The Compton Hundred may have been an old Saxon Name for the Village

 The first three churches are Farnborough, Catmore and West Ilsley I have only visited one of these for the Church Explorer which is Catmore the other two are on my list to visit. 

 The next two are East Ilsley and Compton, again I have only visted one Compton 

The last two are Chilton and Aldworth both of which I have visted.  If you click on the links you can see what the churches look like.

Taking Part in Monday Mural

The Battle of Ashdown

Last week I showed the mural on the ridgeway under the A34 this week I will show the first of the pannels and explain the story behind it. This panel is on the East Ilsly side of the tunnel and dipicts the Battle of Ashdown where the Saxons lead by Alfred the Great who was only a prince then 21 years old beat the Danes. The Battle is though to have taken place near Thorn Hill by Compton a few miles away from where the Mural is. You can see the Thorn tree to the left of the uprased sword.

 The Mural has been here a number of years  and now suffering deteriation from the dampnot to  mention the idiot who decided to Tag it. After reading about the battle & knowing the places mention in it I will try and write a longer blog showing where all the places in the story took place. 

Taking part in Monday Mural
 

A walk along the Ridgeway

Saturday saw my wife and I go for a walk along the Ridgeway not far from where I work, I did have my reasons and one was to get a photo of the Mural I showed yesterday. It was not a long walk but a pleasant one being it was a nice sunny day.

This is the Ridgeway which leads from Bury Down to Gore Hill

looking back here you can see the carpark on Bury Down

one of the sights you cant miss round here Didcot Power Station

 This section is quite straight & easy to walk & ride along

you also notice signs leading off to one side of the other

You were allowed to drive along here once but now it's restricted

This is the part where you drop down to go under the A34

 or you can take the path to the right

 You will head downhill 

before going under the A34 through this tunnel

the out the other side 

 The ridge way carries on here and will take you to Compton

 The path here looks quite rutted which is not helped by the local farmers who drive tractors along it making the deep ruts

 

We did not go much further but I walked up to the back of  the mast looking over towards Chilton

which is the village you see below

On the horizon you can still see the powerstation looking down below the stack you can see a crescent which is where the Didcot to  Newbury railway went till it was closed, the scar is landfill where a local farmer started  waste company and the hole lot was filled in wiping out the history of it

The other thing that sticks out is the A34 which you can see here

 That was it, we decided to head back to the car & go home. I'll bring another section of the Ridgeway in the future when I get a chance to visit again.