Ashwan one

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Ashbury to Wantage (Ashwan 1) review.

I can’t really add much to the thorough earlier review. I walked The Ridgeway from Wantage to Ashbury in the morning, including a break to join in the annual Scouring of the White Horse. Lunch in Ashbury, and then walked this Slow Way back to Wantage in the late afternoon.

The route is basically well-signposted footpaths (Photos 1 & 2) between villages. The good news is (as of August 2022) all the pub break points are open for business. I visited The White Horse in Woolstone.

There’s a brief glimpse of the White Horse itself (Photo 3) from the path out of Woolstone. The white dots are bags of chalk for the Scouring.

The road through Kingston Lisle has an ascent on a bend, but does have a narrow pavement (Photo 4).

It is road walking for the mile between Sparsholt and Childrey (Photo 5). There is a decent grass verge.

Footpaths and lanes (Photos 6 & 7) lead into Wantage. I made it into town just as the light was failing. It’s a short urban walk to the end of the Slow Way at Alfred’s statue in Market Place.

Starting in Ashbury the route largely follows a series of footpaths below the B4507 which runs along the northern spring-line of the Berkshire Downs below the Ridgeway all the way to Wantage. The footpaths are punctuated by sections on the side roads through the spring-line villages giving the visitor an opportunity to explore them.
From Ashbury to Sparsholt, most of the footpaths are alongside or through the middle of fields. The paths were generally distinct and easy to follow although a couple were overgrown with summer vegetation. There are several gates and I lost count of the number of stiles to cross. Some of the fields contain livestock. There is some road walking (with and without pavement) through the villages of Woolstone, Fawler, and Kingston Lisle but I found them all very quiet.
After Sparsholt the route makes more use of the road with quite a long section to Childrey and another section after crossing the B4507 at East Challow to Letcombe Regis. These have no pavement and are both a bit busier than the earlier roads so take care.
At Letcombe Regis, a tarmacked footpath takes you all the way into Wantage, just a couple of streets away from the end of the route in the market place.
Along the whole route, there are several potential refreshment stops with pubs at Woolstone, Kingston Lisle, and Sparsholt (at least) plus a village store and coffee shop in Childrey.
Note that approx. 14km into the walk, I encountered a Road Closed sign across the right turn into a byway. The attached closure notice appeared to be well out-of-date, coming into force on 1 February 2020 for a maximum of 6 months. I ignored the sign and continued along the byway without any issues. There was no sign of any maintenance work in progress and no Road Closed sign at the other end of the byway.
Overall the route is pleasant enough (especially the first half) and made an interesting change from the nearby Ridgeway walks. For visitors new to the area though, it may be tempting, as a more scenic option, to climb up to the Ridgeway from Ashbury to Waylands Smithy, following it to take in the Uffington White Horse and then on to Segsbury Camp where you can drop down to Letcombe Regis to pick-up the footpath into Wantage.

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