Off for another stomp on a glorious autumn afternoon. We drove along Middle Road to Shorwell and parked near St Peter's Church, changed into our boots and headed to the footpath behind the church. This led past some pleasant houses, and a glorious patch of fungus, and uphill towards the downs. The path led gradually upwards towards Chillerton TV mast, with a steep climb at the end past a disused chalk pit.
Once we reached the fenced off TV mast we hit a problem; we followed the perimeter to the left and came to a barbed wire fence where the path appeared to plunge down the side of the chalk pit. Very steep, so no thank you! There didn't appear to be a way through, even though the map showed a footpath, so we turned round and followed the fence to the other side of the TV mast. This at least gave us some beautiful views of the surrounding downs and coast, and the village of Chillerton, bathed by the light of the late afternoon sun. Gorgeous.
However, when we got to the other end of the fence we could see the path over another never-ending barbed wire fence. Hmm. No way through seemingly, so, I'm not sorry to say, we hopped over a 'No entry' gate and high-tailed it for 100 yards until we found a gate onto the footpath. We were a right pair of nervous Nellies, quite concerned somebody would come out and shout at us, but they didn't, thankfully! Once home I looked at the route online and realised that if we hadn't cut up past the chalk pit the path would have led to where we wanted to be. Nice to know our map reading skills aren't improving...
When back on the path it was a straightforward walk back along a couple of tracks and through a field to Shorwell village and the car. Another nice drive along Middle Road, with a glimpse of this months super moon towards the end. Perfect!
Distance: 4 miles
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| Fungus |
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| Lovely landscape |
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| More lovely landscape |
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| St Peter's Church |
