The Pitfalls of Planning Your Own Route; Weekly Walk #19 from Pepperbox Hill

Planning a route on paper can often be misleadingly simple, appearing to connect where it doesn’t, and showing paths where they may no longer exist. My circular walk from Pepper Box Hill Nature Reserve a few miles South East of Salisbury led me across over-grown, long-since-used paths, but was a test of my map-reading skills, and had me ready by the end to find more successful routes.

I should’ve known when I swung off the A36 onto a tiny byway that things were going to get interesting. It was a peaceful, pretty place with good views all around, but I was surprised at how difficult it was to access for a National Trust site. Its named after the brick tower atop the hill, which was built by politician Giles Eyre in 1606 as either a viewpoint for ladies following a hunt, a place for highway men, or a lookout post for the home guard.
 

I set off right from the car-park along the byway and, after passing a footpath hidden behind trees, followed it down the right-hand side of an open field to Whelply Farm. After a bit of trial and error in my attempts to find the path, I continued through the farm and left across another field and eventually into the village of Whiteparish. I followed a footpath the other-side of a single track lane and took a right at another path, where I had to wait to pass a man trimming the over-grown grass and weeds.

Two deer running along the footpath

I turned left at a cross-road of paths and back through a field with friendly donkeys to a busy segment of the A36. Here the path turned into a barrage of nettles and I had to cut through a field to get around. I followed into woodland near Brickworth Quarry and had to double back to find a footpath leading into a field. I had a snack stop before continuing across the field for what I hopped would be an easy stretch.

At Moor Farm, I spent about 20 minutes trying to find the footpath. The map showed it going directly past farm buildings, but I found either a sea of nettles leading to what looked like a fence or a boggy section behind the barn. I almost gave up and walked the farm track, but decided to duck under part of a barn and walk around the field, and found the style was on the other-side of the nettles; not exactly a great path to walk!

After two minutes I was lost again but eventually cut through a field to reconnect with a footpath following the edge of woodland. Now on the final stretch, I had to use my compass to find my way uphill and into a thicker section of woods. Perhaps it was my foul mood or tiredness, but I swear the woods were out to get me, tricking me with their enclosed branches, tripping me up where they sought fit. I even stumbled upon a mossy tree stump surrounded by bluebells, and seeing as I couldn’t imagine many people walking this way, figured I was trespassing upon a fairy home.

I finally found myself back at the A36 where I’d swung my car in earlier, and once again had to dive across the busy road. Despite the hardships, I had done it, and was proud to have at least walked my circular, though next time I may have to pick a more tried and tested route, one with less farms and fewer fairies!

I used the National Trust website to research Pepperbox Hill. You can read more about it, here.

You can see a summary of the route, here.