Two county tops for the price of one today, both located a few miles apart on the same ridge, together with an excursion to see some gruesome history.
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| Coombe Gibbet where in the 17th Century the bodies of executed miscreants were hung as an example to others. |
Walbury Hill is the summit of the North Wessex Downs as well as the highest point in Berkshire, and the highest point in South East England. At the summit is an iron age hill fort, Walbury camp, but the true summit is marked by a triangulation pillar which isn't actually on the main path, the Wayfarers Walk, and therefore involved a cheeky sprint south in order to bag it.
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| Summit of Walbury Hill (Berkshire) |
It was a glorious sunny day, but bitterly cold, and carrying on eastwards along the ridge brought us just into Hampshire, and to Pilot Hill, it's highest point. The spot marked by another trig point in the middle of a bolted cabbage field.
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| Trig point at Pilot Hill (Hampshire) ....... |
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| ...... surrounded by hundreds of bolted brassicas |
From up here you can see Stargroves, which was the country house and recording studio of Mick Jagger back in the 70s. Looking further north, Newbury could just be seen in the distance. The various byeways, bridleways and footpaths were all really muddy and the best way back today seemed to be to simply retrace our steps back to where we had parked, though we did also walk up to Combe Gibbet to see the notorious double gibbet. This gave probably the best view of the whole seven mile walk!
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| View to the north from Pilot Hill |
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