We are the City of Birmingham Ramblers. We open the way for everyone in our local community to enjoy the pleasures of walking.
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. Distance-7miles: Total ascent700ft. Map Explorer 170. Leader Celia Howell-Jones.. Booking is essential for these walks. The fare is £5.
GENERAL INFORMATION: 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.
BOOKING ESSENTIAL, please use the link above for our booking page. Coach fare £5, payable cash/cheque or in advance by bank transfer.
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.
The coach pick-up is the layby at the side of St. Chad’s Cathedral. B4 6EU.
