Walbury Hill - Combe Gibbet - Buttermere Circular

Tony Brotherton

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Walbury Hill - Combe Gibbet – Buttermere – Combe – Walbury Hill

Explore the delicious hill country where Berkshire, Hampshire and Wiltshire meet. This six-mile walk visits the highest villages in Berkshire and Wiltshire and affords superb views over Hampshire to the south and the Kennet Valley in the north, in as rural a setting as the south of England offers. The walk may be coupled with Walk 574 to give a fairly strenuous thirteen-miler.

England - South England - Berkshire - Countryside

Features

Birds, Butterflies, Church, Flowers, Great Views, Hills or Fells, Wildlife
7/18/2015 - Wendy Jenkins

Yes this is a very lovely walk with stunning views and worth doing, but would say we really struggled at Waypoint 6 as I think quite a bit has changed since this was initially written. Landowner is doing quite a bit of work putting up new fences and it is very confusing to try and find where we needed to go as per the guide details and lack of signs did not help either. In the end even with our OS map we struggled but found a different way to to rejoin the main track to the Gallows Down and the car park. Also be aware of quite a lot of cyclists and also quite a lot of motorbikes as well across the top of the downs.

1/22/2014 - John Morton

Walked on 22nd Jan 2014. My first comment is that I'm glad I re-proofed my boots 2 days earlier. Its a great route, the countryside is lovely, the views from the hill are spectacular, but today, after so much rain, the ground underfoot was just awful. I wouldn't do this route again until we were in a prolonged dry spell. For the first couple of miles,after Combe Gibbet, the path is really badly rutted due to 4x4 activity, and with the rain, the ruts are full of water, and the tops are very slippery,so it made for difficult walking. I would really say this is a spring/summer walk unless you rally don't mind getting muddy. (and you've got good waterproof boots) In terms of printed directions, my only comment would be to read the instructions carefully. They are accurate, but you have to be clear where you are going at each way point, so read the instructions carefully each stop. In terms of correction, at the end of point 2, the dilapidated gate seems to have gone, and all thats left is a single gatepost, but don't worry if you miss the turn, there's another left turn about 200yds further on, straight across the field and if you miss that, the track joins the road you are aiming for after another 300yds after that. The final pull back up to Walbury top is OK if you take it steady. It is steep, but slow and easy wins the day, and the views from the top are worth the effort. The little church in Buttermere is probably worth exploring, but I just cracked on with the route. Maybe next time. And I can imagine the walk along Buttermere bottom on a warm spring/summer morning is just wonderful. Today in January, it was a bit slippery underfoot and I spent more time watching my footing than admiring the view. Take fluids as theres no pub en-route. With the caveats about it being a spring/summer route, I would highly recommend it. I did it in 2hr 24m and that included diverting over to the trig point at Walbury hill and plenty of map-reading stops.

11/10/2013 - Barry Hood

An excellent walk with far reaching views at the start and the end of the walk. Lovely mixture of hills and woodland and 2 churches on the route definitely worth a visit. Superb.

6/11/2009 - Walkingworld Administrator

With thanks to Andrew Long for his updates, June 2009.