Milk Hill

County - Wiltshire

Elevation – 294m

Date – 03/01/2022

Distance – 4.6km

Elevation climbed - 116m

There’s something about being stuck indoors all over the Christmas holidays that eventually leads to boiling over and NEEDING to get out.

With this in mind I plotted a “last day of the holidays” adventure with a dual purpose:

1. To knock off a cheeky County Top early doors for the yeara

2. To try out my new trisuit.

Perhaps foolishly, I have signed up for a duathlon in March. This requires a combination of trail running and road cycling, and being a man that means I need New Kit…so I purchased a Huub Trisuit in the Boxing Day sales. I’ve never worn one before, and frankly I was sceptical of the running part of it (would the padding not chafe and impinge on the run?) so I conjured up a day which would test all elements AND tick off a CT.

Thankfully (unless you’re nature), New Year is very mild this year, so stepping out in the trisuit (plus arm warmers, fleece and cycling jacket) wasn’t too much of a shock to the system. I rode to the station and it was just fine, nice and comfy.

The train took me out to Pewsey in Wiltshire. Once you get past Reading the landscape becomes increasingly rural and wild, and stepping off in Pewsey and pedalling through delightful thatched cottages was heartwarming, right up to the point I crested a hill and saw the North Wiltshire Downs glaring at me. I’d plotted the route and knew there was a big climb ahead before I could dump the bike, but in reality it was absolutely fine.

I got to Pewsey Down car park (absolutely rammed with Bank Holiday Brits who were clearly also sick of the indoors) and chained my bike and helmet to a handy gate. I’d packed a pair of running tights just in case it got a bit nippy and given the breeze up there I whacked them straight on. I was grateful for it as I’d have been freezing in bare legs.

Swapping bike shoes for walking boots I crossed the road and headed into the landscape. It’s a stunning part of the world, and if you’re in any way interested in archaeology it’s like being at a theme park, with huge barrows, defensive earthworks, and some of the clearest hillforts at every turn. There was even a white horse, although it seems nobody had bothered clearing it recently so it was more of a beige horse. By the time I got onto the Mid Wilts Way long-distance footpath the whole Vale of Pewsey languished in front of me, and frankly it was stunning in the hazy January sun.

North Wiltshire Downs rising from the Vale of Pewsey

Adam's Barrow - a Neolithic grave monument.

Less stunning was the constant mud on the chalk, leaving me to curse the decision to leave my trekking poles at home as I gave my best newborn giraffe impression at each gate. The path swung around Milk Hill to the north, with the whooping of an excited parascender in my ears surrounded by the ubiquitous red kites over a glorious natural bowl.

Parascender. There were about a dozen red kites circling him like vultures smelling death...

Whilst the path skirted the summit, I’d heard there was a gate through which you could reach the top. I’d gone almost all the way round when finally I found it, and several Barbour-clad dog walkers had the bizarre site of a man in leggings jogging over a broken field past a rusty water container whilst staring at the OS app trying to find the summit. Eventually I did, putting up a lapwing and several hundred finches and buntings as I cheered, and remarked once again how crap the views are from many County Tops.

At the summit. Exciting, huh?

I got back onto the path asap and descended easily (apart from the mud) back down to the car park for a fast 9k ride back to Pewsey. Sadly the train times had denied me the pleasure of a lunch at what I’ve heard is an excellent pub at the wonderfully-named village of Honeystreet.

Back to the car park. Note the hillfort dead ahead!

The trisuit was perfect for both cycling and walking (and the little bit of jogging too), and I’m minded to do more bike/walk County Top duathlons this year as a result. Watch this space!