Wiltshire
Recently extended out to the Berkshire border, yet never straying outside the Wiltshire county border, the new Mid Wilts Way (MWW), researched and designed by James Alsop from Wiltshire College, Trowbridge, is a 68-mile route that takes in some of Wiltshire's finest countryside and downland areas and could be walked in either direction.
At its eastern end the walk starts/finishes in the attractive village of Ham, located just to the south of Hungerford, and at the western end finishes close to the Dorset border in the heart of the pretty village of Mere; the Angel Corner Cafe serving as the ideal spot to contemplate what has been achieved or what lies ahead.
In all eleven villages lie on the route providing accommodation and refreshment, the nine others going east to west being Wilton, Wootton Rivers, Oare, Seend Cleeve, Keevil, Steeple Ashton, Bratton, Upton Scudamore, Horningham and Kingston Deverill. The walking is varied with extended open downland stretches on the ancient ridgeways of the Wansdyke over Tan Hill, passing burial mounds and white horses, as well as over easier terrain on the Kennett and Avon Canal with the interesting Caen Hill lock flight, and some lovely vale walking skirting below the western fringes of Salisbury Plain.
The book covers the original 55-mile route from Wootton Rivers to Mere, but the extension to start at Ham is waymarked. The route is coincident in significant sections with the Wansdyke Path (with information on the earthwork on the weblink on that route's page), the Wessex Ridgeway and with the White Horse Trail that provides a link to the start of the Ridgeway National Trail. The road section between Dunge (ST543898) and Bratton (ST528910) has since been downgraded to an alternative route and the main route here is now coincident with the White Horse Trail.
Down-loadable outline route descriptions are provided free on the website below - the route is waymarked. Train services run to towns near to the route at Hungerford, Pewsey, Melksham, Westbury and Warminster.
Details:
| Path Type: |
Paths Marked on OS mapping |
| Waymark: |
MWW in green on white arrow discs |
| Attributes: |
Average Gradients
Canal
Downland/Wolds
Heritage
|
| Start: |
SU330630 -
Ham, Wiltshire
|
| Finish: |
ST812323 -
Mere, Wiltshire
|
| Open Date: |
2007 |
| Web Sites: |
Mid Wilts Way
|
