Old track

I love this avenue of Beech trees flanking the Faulston Drove as it descends into the Ebble Valley from Faulston Down. The drove is the course of a Roman road, quiet possibly a trackway long before that, one which has seen continuous use right up to present day. The graffiti scribed into the drove's venerable trees have stories to tell too, of loves and lives in a rural setting, and broader events of national importance, such as the coronation of Edward the VII and the sinking of the Lusitania. It's a veritable walk through the ages; and on a morning such as this morning a sublime one.

Broad hedge or narrow wood

I can't make my mind up as to whether these represent broad hedges or narrow woods? You'll come across a lot of footpaths like this, shown as open paths on OS maps, although upon visiting you'll find a path running through a couple/few meter wide band of shrub and tree. I'm not complaining or ought, they're handy for crossing this exposed landscape under a relentless summer sun, particularly with your hound in mind when the more shaded walking the better. We took this example this morning; a branch off the Ackling Dyke which crosses the Ox Drove before descending through Church Bottom into Broad Chalke and the Ebble Valley about 2 miles or so. A lovely route.

Back to the Chase

Our Walk through Cranborne Chase today, looked like this. From the top: we began our ramble early this morning taking the Ackling Dyke (Roman Road) through Knighton Wood, emerging on the ridgeway we followed the Romam Road through ripening fields of Barley, enjoying fabulous views along Croucheston Drove and into Croucheston Hollow, continuing on the Roman Road we descended into the Faulston Drove, with it's stunning view out over Throope Down, we chilled for a while by the cold clear River Ebble, before following the Ebble Valley with the high ridge towering above us to Broad Chalk, where we rose up to the ridgeway again via Church Bottom. Nine miles this morning of absolute perfection and back to the car before 10.00 and the heat of the day. Again, fabulous walking, and again, few folk about. A real tonic body and soul.

And did those feet?

And did those feet in ancient time, walk upon England's mountains green? You bet they did, and they left plenty of traces of their passing by too. England's quite small really, so it's no surprise that the landscape is so abundant in the relics of foregone times. Again today we found ourselves walking the rural byways of Dorset and as if to perfectly illustrate my opening statement, through time. We parked up at the Kingston Lacy end of the 700 tree Beech Avenue created in 1835; past the Bronze Age round barrows of King Down (above); on past a really rare Romano-British barrow (35m diameter and 6m high, surrounded by a partially filled ditch); on past the architecturally fantastic farm buildings of Hemsworth with it's origins in the 16th century; past the earthen remains of a an earlier medieval settlement, listed as Hemedeswordes in the Doomsday Book; past the site of a 4th Century Roman Villa famed for it's fine mosaics; past woodland hiding the foundations of wartime accommodation; across the World War Two airfield of Tarrant Rushton from where, on D-Day, the gliders took off for the famous attack on Pegasus Bridge, the first allied troop in occupied Europe; along the Ackling Dyke Roman Road; below the ramparts of the majestic Iron Age hillfort of the Durotriges, Badbury Rings; and finally back to where we began. And that doesn't take into account the history I don't know, or that which remains hidden. A real walk through time I'm sure you'd agree.    

Old straight track

Bridleway you say? If you're an elf riding a stoat, maybe. This section of the old Roman road, Ackling Dyke, just north of Badbury Rings, is tightly flanked by thick towering country hedge, making the already slim path, very narrow indeed. It felt akin to being in a maze, just a long unimaginative straight maze; The Ackling Dyke runs across the softly rolling chalk farmland like this for about half a mile. It's a long time since I've walked these tracks, not since Norris got too old to walk them, 5 or so years ago. I like this landscape, although predominantly farmland there's diversity too, and a lot lies hidden too, less walked tracks to find, secluded spots and views are just amazing. Obviously, this shot doesn't show those views to their best. 

The chase

The Chase was stunning this afternoon. Walking through the Chase is like walking through a magical realm, a walk through time and space. For nearly two millennia people have taken the route I chose up onto the chalk ridge, today it's a picturesque coppiced hazel lined path, although its course is defined by a much earlier Roman road. People have, of course, walked this landscape for far longer, the land here bears testament to thousands of years of human activity through layer upon layer of archaeological monument and fieldwork. The top of the chalk ridge is exposed and the chill wind bites hard, but, man, the views, from up here you can see for miles, you can see so far you're looking into other counties. Above there are only a few smudges of cloud in a halcyon blue sky, and they're swiftly dispatched by the piercing winds. Flocks of birds resting amongst the ridges naked canopies, occasionally take flight in unison, swirling around before disappearing back in to the canopy, whilst high above larger birds circle and soar, gracefully following the contours of the terrain out of view. Throughout the afternoon the young sun tried valiantly to warm the world, and in the hollows he made some headway, though on the hills, no chance, here the hatches required battening down, the cold could not be overlooked. Along the sunken trackways the hedgerows rustle and every copse you pass is filled with the sound invisible activity, clearly not all the land's as asleep as you'd imagine. Now down around the base of the hills, shining threads weave through the valley, the Ebble, a glistening crystal clear chalk stream which bubbles and gurgles as it rolls over its gravelly bed. I love chalk streams, to me they epitomise the waters of life, they're always so clear and inviting, they've a magical quality. I follow a tree lined drove back up from the Ebble Valley towards the ridge, it winds its way slowly up the hillside through the warren of valleys and hollows. The day is drawing on now, the shadows were beginning to lengthen, and as they do darkness spills over the land consuming knolls and woodland as it spreads. It made for a lovely world of contrasting rich green hues. Soon the Roman road came in the view and the walk neared its end. What fantastic walking though. I'm the only human in this expansive landscape, I saw not another soul. The Chase was stunning this afternoon.

What did the Romans ever do for us?

When I walk, I walk for a variety of reasons, it's health and fitness, for the hound, to escape, to think, to connect with nature or to connect with our past. If I'm lucky, I can tick several of those boxes in a walk, and if I'm really lucky I can achieve all of them. Today I was really lucky. Cranborne Chase the destination, our route, a stretch of the Acking Dyke, a Roman road constructed shortly after the invasion of 43AD by the Second Legion Augusta, and which after all the intervening years still remains remarkably well preserved in places. Musing on the Roman road, the ''What did the Romans ever do for us?'' sketch from 'The Life of Brian' came to mind. I thought of the many technological advance the Romans had brought us which faded, along with the Romans after their departure in 410AD, all eventually to be completely forgotten. And asked myself, how does that to happen? Why would a people allow that to happen? Why wouldn't life just carry on as it was, how did they just stop living in one set circumstance, opting instead for a far lesser ones. There's evidence of deserted villas being squatted, though not inside, rather shanty shacks built against the outside walls. We stopped building in stone, building roads, maintaining infrastructure and buildings, the urban population left the towns, the quality of our wares deceased, and industries collapsed, institutions too. Why? Why turn your back on advancement wholesale. Did they fear Roman influence, was it superstition and beliefs or was it out of disdain for the colonizer, the outsider? Even though those colonizers, who'd come from across the known world, had been here for nearly 400 years by then. Whatever it was, it was self defeating, an act of cultural, economic and technological devolution, which took us centuries to crawl out of. Of course, we didn't really need to take that path. We chose to. That got me thinking about Brexit, is 'cutting our noses off to spite our collective faces' a particularly British/English thing? The comparison is compelling. I think, even though the Romans left us, and this time it's us leaving Europe, the end result will surely be comparable...degrees of cultural and economic collapse.  I'm all for Living History, although this is taking it too far! 

Crystal clear

Nestled in a hollow, right next to the Ackling Dyke Roman Road (course of) is the Crystal clear pool of an emerging chalk spring. So beautiful, water so clear it's as if it's not there.  These chalk springs and the streams they feed are a feature of the Cranborne Chase landscape, and are always full of life. They always look so inviting, give your aching feet a refresh, though even on a hot summers day, coming from deep underground as they do, the springs and streams numb your toes in moments. Not that I'm trying that today. 

John Ironmonger

You come across as manner of oddity whilst out wandering. There's a cutting through Ackling Dyke, the Roman road, at Harley Gap, and on one side, set into the Roman road's Agger, is a memorial stone to 'John Ironmonger 1919-1986'. I wonder why John has a memorial here? It's a rather cool spot. I don't know who John was, I don't know whether he was an ironmonger or not, but I know someone cared a lot about him, it's in beautiful spot for a memorial stone. Well placed on the top of Harley Down, a hill with good views across swathes of the chase, across it's history, and close to many of the areas most important prehistoric sites. There's continuity in it too, when you think about it, it's little different to the Chase's barrows in motivation, the permanent memorialising of a person at a significant place in a landscape significant to that person. It's well old school, really. 

I've done an internet search on John Ironmonger 1919-1986 and turned up absolutely nought, he shall remain a mystery, like Townley Shenton.

On the road...

On the road back in time. I though I'd explore a different aspect of Cranborne Chase on today's walk. I parked up between Gussage St Michael and Gussage All Saints and took 'Ackling Dyke' the Roman road the 4 or so miles to top of Wyke Down, where I sat a while on one of the prominent barrows and took in the full majesty of a landscape steeped in millennia of human activity. Well, it would be rude not to. But for an ever so slight kink just before you reach Harley Gap, the course of Ackling Dyke is, as you'd imagine, quite quite straight.  Build around the mid first century AD Ackling Dyke is your standard (ish) Roman road, it's constructed on a substantial Agger (embankment), about 15m wide at the base, with the road surface would be about 6m wide, and on either side would have been a broad drainage ditch. The section which runs for nearly 2 miles through the Drive Plantation is stunningly well preserved. The Agger shows few signs of degradation, the road surface still, for the most part, flat and the drainage ditch and low outer bank are clearly visible (on the woodland side, other side mainly ploughed out). Quite wonderful. The road would have given the local population a strong message, 'we are Rome, and this is all ours' type of thing. The road cuts through all manner of prehistoric features, features which although probably not visited any more, still held sway in the folklore and imaginations of the people.  Just like our colonial railways, the Roman roads weren't benevolent gifts to improve the lot of the locals, they were for communication, military and exploitation purposes. Ackling Dyke was certainly made to impress, and two thousand years on it still does. I really recommend this as a walk, I've not seen a better preserved length of Roman Road.