DH, RW, AC & Sully
There is a great walk on Fontmell Down. Drive out from Shaftesbury on the top road to Blandford and as you reach the top of Spreadeagle Hill you will find a free car park on your right. This is the starting point for a very straightforward and satisfying walk of about 2 miles in total with spectacular views across the Blackmore Vale. Ideal for a calm sunny afternoon when you will be able to pause occasionally and look out across a huge distance with any amount of interesting features visible such as the farmsteads and hamlets of North Dorset and Somerset.
Don’t choose this walk when a force nine gale is sweeping across the country and all sensible folk are tucked up in front of a roaring woodburning stove in a Wincanton café (see the Shortest Walk Yet). In these conditions, it is not recommended to find the highest point on the landscape, join up with a couple of tottering crocks and strike out from all forms of cover against the wind to find out which of you can be blown over to Wiltshire first.
If anyone else had been mad enough to make this trip, they would have seen Adrian, Dave and myself clinging on to each other in the hope that our combined weight would somehow tether us to the ground. The first sign of trouble was the slamming of all car doors which had not been braced open with some kind of steel girder. Only hats with no brim stayed on very long…otherwise they were swept off for Sully to retrieve. We set off towards the Cross Dyke which marks an Iron Age boundary…probably where the ancient folk tried to prevent vulnerable old guys wandering out of control in hurricanes.
In fairness, these chalk downlands are ideal walking territory and we would have made short work of this trip in calmer conditions. Adrian seemed especially light and if we had tied a string to his boot we could have flown him as a human kite. I can imagine he might have joined some buzzards in scanning the open ground for small prey. The whole area is preserved for wild life, flowers , insects and butterflies - in abundance no doubt when they aren’t being blasted by the elements.
We turned past the standing trees and there was a brief respite as the walk dipped below the edge of the Down and we made better progress back towards the B3081 before the wind at our backs drove us at a brisk trot towards safety. Just a stretch of footpath alongside the road and we made it to the cars. It had been exhausting just remaining upright and hanging onto our hats.
The nearest café is located at the Compton Abbas airfield – on this day there were no fliers foolish enough to take off but there were a surprising number of people there before us. Quite popular with the biking community it appears. The few planes about were lashed to the ground with impressive securing ropes. We put away a full English with well-brewed tea all round and time to reflect on just what a crazy group this must be.