Yesterday, I went down to Wessex to ride some of the the Drove Roads. There are a number of these, ending at Salisbury, and the ones I rode are in very decent condition. They are artefacts of a vanished piece of agricultural history, where beasts were driven to Salisbury Market, slaughtered, salted down and the beef sold to the Royal Navy in Portsmouth, a ready buyer.
With the coming of the railways, and the development of refrigeration, this trade entirely disappeared, and I have not been able to find much about the drovers. I understand that they were not popular - rough fellows, from the back country, confident of their ability to deal with a herd of truculent beasts, sell them, and return home with the money without fear of robbery. The drove roads in this area are ridgeways, presumably the least valuable land, and the drovers may not have been welcome in the prosperous valleys.
I set off near Salisbury and took the Old Shaftesbury Drove, which follows the ridge to the north of the Chalke Valley. It is metalled in parts, with small hard flints, rather like the piece of track at the Mount, in Guildford. It is tree-lined, with hedges back from the track, to keep the beasts in place. It is in generally good condition, looks as if it will drain well, and is an easy ride.
Above Fifield Bavant I turned off, went down to the valley below and climbed up to the next ridge where the Ox Drove runs. I preferred this one, it is much more open with excellent views. The surface is much more varied, and it is obviously still in use. Some tarmac, some flint and some chalk, damaged in parts by agricultural vehicles. Some parts will obviously flood, they were barely dry yesterday. It is not such an easy ride.
At Melbury Abbas I went down the Zig Zag Hill - a very apt name - across the Melbury Vale and up Gold Hill in to Shaftesbury. This is the Hovis Hill - it's a good ride in the sunshine, but it's not a patch on some of the bergs in Flanders.
A good lunch in The Mitre, on the High Street, which has excellent views across the valley to the various ridges, then back home. The journey back was not so much fun.
It's a very good morning's ride, recommended, and the Wessex Ridgeway starts near here and goes most of the way to Lyme Regis. I'll take a look at that, by and by.
1 comment:
The last time Gold Hill got a mention -- was in a write up by the late Mike Morley he had in the past cycled up it ! My attempt failed,gears not low enough !! I did a sketch I'll try to dig it out it's the same view as your pic..
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