We have actually walked the Mere - White Sheet hill 5 mile loop a couple of times pre Covid. The first time it was just Richard and myself and at a later date we were joined by BFS & PCL with their respective dogs, possibly the last time Phil’s golden retriever came with us.
The walk starts at the Free town car park near the market place, and immediately we climbed up to the Wessex Memorial, a replica of the memorial at Hill 112 outside of the French town of Caen. The panorama to the south across the Blackmore Vale is truly spectacular.
Our route takes us in a clockwise direction, along Castle Hill to the west before crossing the A303 and turning north across gentle undulating farm land with a good wide path alongside.
On reaching the north west corner we then turn east and start our ascent, firstly to a tree topped knoll, the site of a fatal air crash in WW2, where we pause to pay our respects at the memorial stone. Heading on the great chalk escarpment of White Sheet is soon on us and we make the 80m climb, slowly and steadily, as best we can do.
On reaching the top the first time, the pair of us walked along the ridge before heading back to the only gate onto the lane, a mistake that added about an extra mile. We didn’t make the same error the second time!
A steady descent soon had us back in Mere, where a short drive up the road to the Hill Brush Company kindly provided a full English breakfast for the both the 2 and the 4 legged weary walkers. Definitely a good local challenging walk! Recommended by me!
