We started by walking along the top of the Downs towards Five Knolls. The route is part of the Icknield Way, a path which dates back to prehistoric times and is thought to be the oldest in the country.
Looking back you can see the ridge of the Downs running into the distance.
These bumps two of the Five Knolls, prehistoric burial sites built 4,000-4,500 years ago. Archaeologists also found around 100 skeletons of young men in shallow graves on top of the prehistoric site, which date to the 5th or 6th century - it was decided they may have been defeated Saxon invaders who were killed and buried on what was already an ancient site.
Soon after Five Knolls turned round the end of the Downs and started walking back along the bottom. Here I was looking up towards where we had just walked, with lots of willow herb in the foreground.
We passed the gliding club and watched as this glider was towed up into the air by the small plane in front. The Downs are often windy, so good for gliding, hang gliding and kite flying.
Getting back up from the lower path to the higher one was challenging. This was steeper and longer than it appears from this view back down. M slipped and fell at one point, but fortunately didn't suffer any real damage apart from a scraped wrist.
I managed to get a photograph of a rather shy peacock butterfly. It sat with its wings shut for ages until I moved the grass and persuaded it to open its wings and fly off, just giving me time to catch a glimpse of its "eyes".
This has to be one of my favourite local walks, although the hilly parts make it quite hard going in places. We got home in time for a late lunch, and have spend the rest of the day mostly being lazy, although I did fit in a short yoga session in the late afternoon.
1 comment:
Just gorgeous!
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