On King Down

Well its been another grey week down here in Dorset but I’ve still managed to get out and do a lot of walking – well, when you live in England, you have to go out whatever the weather 🙂 ! In any case, it all adds to the variety of walking, so just embrace it 🙂 !

But I thought I’d brighten things up on here by sharing some pictures from a walk I did last week when we had some spring like sunshine. This is one of my regular walks because it is not far from where I live and I always enjoy it.

This is King Down which is actually not that high but still has amazing views. It is not far from the hill fort of Badbury Rings and on the top of the down there are two round barrows, one of which you can see in the picture above. When it is warm and dry, I love to sit on top of that barrow and listen to the skylarks singing above me – it is a beautiful spot with views all round.

This visit was not quite so peaceful as they were crop spraying so my accompaniment was skylarks mixed with tractor engines 🙂 ! The day was fortunately very still but if its windy, I never quite feel comfortable walking in places where crop spraying is taking place. I have known farmers stop spraying when they see me, to let me pass which is good.

Dropping down the other side of the down, my route takes me past the lonely cottage above. In the distance beside the conifer plantation, you can see what was Tarrant Rushden Airfield. Famous for its glider operations during WW2, it is now defunct although the main runway and some taxi ways are still evident, as are the old hangers.

The sunshine was spring like and there was evidence of spring on the ground too with some lovely clumps of primroses. The ground was pretty boggy though when you moved away from the main track. And that is another benefit to this walk, you can follow mostly wide gravel tracks so avoiding sinking up to your knees in mud 🙂 ! Not that I mind mud or rain, but sometimes its just nice to keep your feet dry!

The terrain along this walk is varied which always adds to the interest. You encounter open downs, farm tracks, an ancient hill fort, grassland, and some lovely old woodlands too. Soon these will be filled with bluebells but come in the autumn and they will be filled with all manner of fungi – always something different. Oh, and there are farm fresh eggs along the way too, so I picked up some of those 🙂 !

As you know, I am a stills photographer but recently I have been playing around with video a little. In fact I shot some video on this walk but since I use the free version of WordPress, I can’t upload it here. I may change that though and maybe upgrade so that I can post some videos when I am blogging my walks.

I would be really interested to know your views, and whether you think this would improve the blog and make it more interesting. Please do comment and let me know.

Well, this was only a fairly short walk but a delightful one nonetheless. Thanks for visiting The Dorset Rambler and for walking it with me.

Until next time,

Your friend
The Dorset Rambler

If you would like to contact me, my email address is terry.yarrow@gmail.com – comments and feedback are always welcomed.

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