The Clarendon Way | Walking Winchester to Salisbury | Walk the Chalk | Episode 9

The Clarendon Way is a 26 mile / 43 km long distance trail between Winchester, the ancient capital of Saxon England, and Salisbury close to the Clarendon estate after which the walk is named. This is one of several paths that link the chalk ridges of the North and South Downs to the Wessex Downs, part of a range of hills that runs from the south coast to almost The Wash, and which I'm planning to walk later this year. The trail itself also lies on chalk, and although not as spectacular as those mentioned above, it's not without some charm, and shares many of the natural features of such a landscape with its more illustrious siblings. The walk, unless you're running it as a marathon event, typically takes two whole days for most people. In my case, travel constraints meant I had to finish early morning, which drove me to a 3 day schedule - a half day at the start, then a full day, then a couple of hours to finish off on the third day. I had a few challenges navigating this trail, largely caused by the Ordnance Survey map not yet reflecting the current line of the path due to some recent re-routing. So at points I didn't know whether to believe the map or the waymarks. The most useful resource for this trail is Nick Hill's drawn map (https://nickhillmaps.co.uk/), which usefully shows the old and new routes. In this Episode: 00:00 Intro / Winchester 02:16 Leaving Winchester 03:39 About the Trail 06:57 First navigation problem 09:33 Back on trail 11:15 Farley Mount Country Park 12;57 Day 2 / Descent to King's Somborne 21:02 Crossing the Test valley 23:36 Broughton 24:44 Byways 27:46 Day 3 / Early start 28:18 Clarendon Palace 29:17 Thoughts on the Walk 32:26 Salisbury 33:17 Recap I walked the trail in January 2023 Walk the Chalk is a personal project to walk the main long distance trails passing over England's chalk formations. It takes in parts of 6 National Trails and numerous smaller trails. In this series I set out to explore what makes the chalk landscapes so fascinating and to understand how the geology has shaped history. South Downs Way (Ep 01-07) St Swithun's Way (Ep 08) Clarendon Way (Ep 09) =================================================== Corresponding Blog Posts: Account of the walk: https://backpackartist.com/2023/01/27... Navigational Issues: https://backpackartist.com/2023/01/30... =================================================== Main gear used on the trip / seen in this video: Shelter: Luxe Lightwave II Pack: 3F UL Gear Qi Dian 40+16 Sleeping Bag: Cumulus Quantum 350 Mat: Thermarest Neoair Xtherm Pillow: Exped REM pillow Stove: Trangia Triangle with gel burner Pot: Trangia 25 series kettle Mug: Vargo Titanium Bot 700 Baselayer: Chocolate Fish Te Mata 260 hoody Trousers: Paramo Enduro Trek Outer layer: Alpkit Jura mountain smock Puffy: Montane Flux jacket Shoes: Salomon Xultra 3 Mid GTX Hat: Outdoor Reserach Radar Cap Warm hat: Crocheted by my daughter Trekking Pole(s): Alkpit Carbonlong PLB: Garmin InReach mini Watch: Garmin Fenix 6 Pro Headtorch: Petzl Bindi Lantern: UCO Original Candle Lantern Table: Cascade Designs =================================================== Video shot on Shot on DJI Osmo Action and Google Pixel 6 =================================================== Music: Div Kid, Dan Lebowitz and The Great North Sound Society - all from the YouTube Audio Library =================================================== Find me at: Website: https:\\backpackartist.com Twitter: https:\\twitter.com\backpackartist Instagram: https:\\instagram.com\backpackartist If you enjoyed this then... https://www.buymeacoffee.com/matthewking