The Ridgeway and Uffington White Horse Sunday coach walk

Thank you for your interest in this Sunday coach walk.

To book a place:

- click the blue + symbol above to increase the ticket count to 1 - only one ticket can be booked per booking since we ask for the name of each walker - then click Next

- on the following page click the Checkout button then complete the questions, click the Accept box and press the Confirm button. You will receive an automatic acknowledgement when you submit this form.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DURATION OF THIS EVENT SHOWN ABOVE IS ONLY APPROXIMATE AND CANNOT BE GUARANTEED; IT WILL DEPEND ON FACTORS SUCH AS THE WEATHER AND THE WALKING PACE OF THE GROUP.

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Our Sunday rambles usually have three levels of walk, strenuous (A), moderate (B) or leisurely (C), led by Birmingham Ramblers group leaders. Join us and enjoy a great day of social walking with our friendly members.

Please note: Our walks are often on rough tracks and rights of way through fields, woodland and hills. Walkers should preferably wear walking boots and other clothing suitable for the weather. Unless otherwise described, please bring a packed lunch and refreshments for the day.

This Sunday walk has 3 levels of walk:

- A walk:  Walk distance: 11 miles.

- B walk:  Distance 9.7 miles, ascent 973ft. 

- C walk: Distance-7miles: Total ascent 700ft.

Walk leaders:

- A walk: Brenda Cameron

- B walk: Jane Hartley

- C walk: Celia Howell-Jones

Walk Details:

These walks are a great opportunity to see sites used and occupied by ancient people in the rolling countryside with great views across the Wiltshire and Oxfordshire downs. Walkers on all three routes will have the chance follow in the footsteps of bronze age man, who used the Ridgeway to travel across England on higher, drier land. Along it’s route are many historical sites. We will visit Uffington ‘Castle’, which occupies the summit of Whitehorse Hill, and is a rare and outstanding example of a large Iron Age Hillfort. The famous White Horse is the oldest chalk-cut hill figure in Britain, perhaps over 3,000 years old and Wayland’s Smithy is a Neolithic chambered long barrow that was once believed to have been the home of Wayland, the Saxon god of metal working.

- A walk: The walk traverses the arable country of the Oxfordshire/Berkshire Downs and has several interesting ancient archaeology features. We start on The Ridgeway south-east of the village of Ashbury and walk south and will pass Ashdown House which the National Trust describes as an Unusual Dutch-style house on the Berkshire Downs.  We get a splendid view of this very fine house making for great photos.  A short distance away is a collection of interesting farm buildings and stables although seemingly devoid of any human activity! Leaving that behind we make a short ascent up grassy Weathercock Hill and enjoy some super views all around us from the top.  A long easy track and Woolstone Down Gallops follow and at the end of this section we start to get views of the hill fort ahead at the same time enjoying views into the valley below. The Iron Age hill fort is Uffington Castle which we explore and get a good view of the curiously shaped Dragon Hill below us.  We follow a good path down and ascend the hill for a walk round it. This area is also famous for the Uffington White Horse a prehistoric hill figure, 110 m long, formed from deep trenches filled with crushed white chalk;  we pass close by although at time of writing the immediate area round the monument is roped off for conservation reasons.All round here is a good place to see a red kite or two For the last part of the walk we return to The Ridgeway and will eventually come to the historic site of Wayland Smithy. A Neolithic chambered long barrow, it was once believed to have been the home of Wayland, the Saxon god of metal working.  We should have time to briefly explore this site before the final short section to the end of the walk. Bring a picnic lunch.

- B walk: This is a circular walk from Ashbury Folly. We initially follow the ancient Ridgeway West for a short distance before turning South towards Hailey Wood and Ashdown House (NT). We shall go through the Wood passing the attractive Ashdown House then turn North-East, climbing up past Crowberry Tump and onwards to rejoin the Ridgeway eastwards towards Uffington Castle, an ancient fort; and Dragon Hill then views of the White Horse cut into the chalk hillside. Retracing our steps along the Ridgeway we come to Wayland Smithy, a substantial long barrow burial site, and return to the start.

- C walk:  Starting out on the Ridgeway south of Ashbury, we walk East to Waylands Smithy where we stop for a coffee and inspection of the site. Then we continue on between banks of chalk down wild flowers to Uffington Castle, the ancient Hillfort offering extensive views of Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. After marvelling at this 3000 year old site we wiggle to see the White Horse close up before descending sharply towards Woolstone and having our picnic with a distant view of the chalk sculpture. After a picnic lunch we divert to Woolstone for refreshments before climbing back up to the Ridgeway. This has a steep section of climbing on the road, 250feet over 1/4mile, We’ll take it slowly and stop for rests. Once back on the Ridgeway we go west admiring views and stopping at the Smithy again before returning to the coach. Map Explorer 170

There are a limited number of total places for the walks, which is set by the capacity of the coach. Whilst we hope that everyone will be able to be accommodated on their walk of choice, the allocation of places for each walk will have to be done on the day. No-one will be expected to walk at a higher grade than they prefer - thus, for example, if you prefer the B walk you will not be asked to join the A walk but may be asked to join the C walk. The booking form allows you to specify your preferred walk

It will only be possible to join the walk by coach, which will be picking up at 09.00 at the layby at the side of St. Chad’s Cathedral, Queensway, Birmingham B4 6EU. The coach fare will be £5 with 3 options for payment:

- Cash on the day in an envelope with your name and the date of the walk. We are unable to give change for cash payments

- Cheque on the day, made payable to COBRA, in an envelope with your name and the date of the walk.

- Bank transfer in advance of the walk

For payment by bank transfer the walk coordinator will contact you about a week in advance of the walk with bank details. For payments on the day, please put the exact fare in an envelope with your name and date of the walk on it, which will be collected on the coach - unfortunately we are unable to give change for the coach fare.

Note that you cannot pay the coach fare through our Eventcube account. Your booking for the walk will still show £0.00 but you do have to pay the £5 coach fare on or before the day of the walk.

The Birmingham Ramblers recently bid for, and won, a grant from the Inclusive Communities Fund which is part of the legacy of the Commonwealth Games. This grant is specifically to assist with coach transport to encourage new people to join the Sunday walks and start walking in country areas.

We will be using this fund to subsidise coach-based walks, such as this one, in areas which offer opportunities to new inexperienced walkers as well as challenges to regular walkers under the banner Keep Fit for a Fiver. As this suggests, we are reducing the coach fare for this and some other selected walks to £5 for all, be they regular walkers or new faces. Anyone who has already paid the usual £20 fare by Bank Transfer will have the £15 balance refunded to their bank account. Please will regular walkers note this and, if paying by Bank Transfer, please pay this subsidised fare of £5.

If you are joining us for the first time, please take note of the warning above that our walks are often on rough tracks and rights of way through fields, woodland and hills. Walkers should preferably wear walking boots and other clothing suitable for the weather. For the safety of the walker and the whole group, the walk leaders reserve the right not to take anyone who, in the opinion of the walk leaders, are not suitably fit or equipped for the walk.

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If you find that you are unable to join us after booking a ticket it would be helpful if you let us know by sending an email to bhamramblersenquiries@gmail.com or let us know though our contact form at https://cobra.eventcube.io/support-hub/contact - this will be passed on to the walk leader and will prevent any delay to the start of the walk should the leader be waiting for you. Please note that some walks have a waiting list so tickets are NOT TRANSFERABLE; if you are unable to join us then please cancel your place to free it up for someone who may be on the waiting list rather than transferring it to someone else.

Bookings for this walk will close at 06.00 on Monday 29 July 2024. Shortly after bookings have closed the walk coordinator will contact you by email to confirm that you will still be joining us on this walk; this is needed since there are limited seats on the coach and we like to release any unused places to others who may be on a waiting list. The coordinator will also give you our bank details if you have chosen to pay the coach fare by bank transfer. Please check your email, including Spam and/or Junk folders, shortly after bookings have closed for this walk and reply to let us know whether or not you will be still joining the walk.

If you would like to join this walk after the bookings have closed please email bhamramblersenquiries@gmail.com or contact us through our contact form at https://cobra.eventcube.io/support-hub/contact to enquire about any late availability for the walk.

General Information

This is one of several walks and activities offered by the Birmingham Ramblers. If you have found this page through a web search or other means and would like to find out more about the group then please visit the Birmingham Ramblers web site; new members are always welcome.