7 of us set out on from Corsham in sunny but not too hot weather, on what we knew would be a hilly walk to Colerne and back.
Our walk took us through the Pickwick area of Corsham which was the inspiration for Charles Dickens’s The Pickwick Papers. We then followed a lane taking us past Middlewick House, the previous home of Camilla Parker-Bowles and now lived in by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd fame. We followed a gravelled road which was once the main turnpike road from London to Bath, and turned off into fields and the first of our steep declines, where we stopped briefly to admire the lovely views.
Of course, the decline was followed by a bit of uphill walking through the woods and then a bridleway back down to the Bybrook where we stopped under the shade of trees, with the sound of the babbling brook, for a coffee break.
Then it was off uphill again through Monks Wood, an ancient woodland, where we emerged into fields with fantastic views.
We followed a lane to pass Euridge Manor which was once owned by Sir Walter Raleigh and is now a wedding venue. Our path took us uphill to the village of Thickwood and then on a welcome flat walk along to Colerne. We stopped at Colerne for lunch and eagle-eyed members spotted a flag flying which was identified by google as being the official flag of Yorkshire, it being 1st August which apparently is Yorkshire Day.
After being enthused by this knowledge, we set off down a hill from Colerne to cross the Bybrook again at Widdenham Farm. We then had a very steep incline to emerge near Rudloe Manor before heading downhill through woods where we ended up at the bottom of the steep hill which had been our original decline.
This meant that we now had to walk back up this challenging hill, which though daunting, we all paced ourselves knowing that this was the last summit and that we would now be on our path back to Corsham. I think that everyone enjoyed the walk (although I did hear one person say that they didn’t think that they would do it again!) and the views were certainly amazing.
