Warminster to West Lavington: Greater Ridgeway Day 8

Another fine day, walking around the edge of Salisbury Plain looking down on the cloud covered lowlands.

Not as cold this morning so the frost was confined to the shadows of hedgerows. After a late start due to a bit of shopping I climbed out of the provincial town of Warminster, by a golf course already busy with groups of men and their equipment. Looking back the view of the hills I had crossed yesterday was stunning, they looked like headlands into a sea of white mist reflecting the sunlight. 

Salisbury Plain Military area.

For most of today's hike I had the plateau of Salisbury Plain on my right. A military training area, frequent signs warned me to keep out. Although farmed there were no signs of any settlements. On my left the land dropped away, a steep slope somewhere nearby. I stood in clear blue sky but looking down the view was of a white sea, in which islands of land or the tops of trees were periodically visible. At one spot everything beneath me was concealed by cloud, then the cloud thinned and the town of Westbury miraculously appeared. Nearby was a large deep pit where the chalk had been quarried. Someone thought it had some recreational use, subtly changing the signs so they appeared to say they were a "play area".

Sign on a quarry slightly disfigured with red paint so as to change its meaning.

On the chalk hills that I am following on this trip a number of white horses have been cut into the hillside. These representations have been created by removing the turf to reveal the white chalk beneath. Today I stood above the Westbury White Horse, based on one originally created in the late 17th century. To avoid the task of keeping it white by periodically clearing soil and vegetation as nature tries to recover the rock, this "White" horse has been rendered in concrete, that might once have been white, but has now weathered to insipid, greyish tones. Not as impressive as those in which the chalk is exposed. Above the white horse there were the banks and ditches of another iron age hill fort, the steep slope below makes it an obvious defensive location. 

Westbury "white" horse.

Long, straight tracks surfaced with crushed stone and grass covered bridleways led me through a green landscape softened by the warm light of the low winter sun. After a long descent I arrived at my lodging for tonight, a small apartment. Money was taking from my card on booking with an App, an email followed with the code for the key safe. In this way I was able to enter and make myself at home without having to speak to or bother anyone. Sign of the future?