LAST DAY: EXTON to WINCHESTER: CABBAGES & KINGS

Yet Alfred is no fairy tale;
                                                His days as our days ran,

He also looked forth for an hour
                                     On peopled plains and skies that lower,

That is the head of a man.

From those few windows in the tower

Today is the last day of walking the 100 mile South Downs Way! Just look at that distance covered. This is a sign along the Way just before Winchester. Wow. 

My Lunch Stuff Plus a Hard Boiled Egg and Pilfered Breakfast Bacon

Though I'd ended in Exton yesterday  I wanted to see the church in Corhampton . 

The Ancient Yew

Corhampton Church, built in 1020, is undedicated to any saint but consecrated holy ground. It has an ancient yew tree by the door that's possibly older than the church!  

Corhampton has one of the best preserved Saxon sundials in the country, I've never seen this before, how does it even work? And another fascinating device - a Sanctuary Chair. Believed to be early medieval, although it could be Saxon, fugitives sitting in the chair couldn't be arrested.

Sanctuary Chair

Though not clear to see,these 13C wall paintings are of the life of St Swithin, in particular the incident with the lady whose eggs were smashed and St Swithin restored them.  

Just Wonderful

There was a Roman sarcophagus in the churchyard planted up with flowers. Can you imagine?

A Nice Building Being Restored

Onward! The day started with mist but later cleared, then cloudy again, which I welcomed because walking in the hot sun wouldn't have been pleasant. It's been sticky and warm. I'm glad I chose to go East to West, the sun and breeze has been behind me the whole time while those walkers I see coming towards me are squinting and wearing sunglasses. 

Not Too Bad

It takes some imagination for this one, but these  lumps and bumps are all thats left of the lost medieval village of Lomer, right in this guys backyard. I'd be out there with a metal detector every day. Plague was the number one culprit of these villages disappearing. Again, it's evidence that I'm walking where people long gone have been. I took a moment to think of them.

Lost Village of Lomer

I used one of these water fill ups once, but honestly, I had trouble trusting them.

Maybe a Cross Dyke and Walking Between Medieval Hedges on Gander Down

Some Hedge Factoids

• When: Roman, Anglo-Saxon, 13thC, 15thC, 18th-19thC
• Where: Lowland areas
• Why: Field boundaries
• How: planting bushes or trees and pleating them together at an angle as they grew
• Materials: huge variety based on local availability, but the most common were hawthorn, blackthorn, and holly

A lot of effort and ingenuity has been brought to bear on the problem of dating hedges. Several historians have advanced mathematical formulas for calculating the age of a hedgerow based on the number of plant species found in a certain length of hedge. As an extremely rough rule of thumb, one species of hedge plant per 100 years seems to get close to the truth. 

Unfortunately, recent years have seen the disappearance of many miles of English hedgerows. It is easier for modern farmers to string new metal fence wire than to maintain ancient hedgerows. Conservation efforts have introduced incentives to farmers to maintain the hedges, and losses have slowed somewhat

Looking back at Gander Down I could make out some kind of field system.

The Keepers Cottage, sweet once, but now surrounded by the stink of pigs, a run down trailer and a yard full of abandoned plastic toys. A poor dog barked alone in a kennel.

A quiet path under the Beech trees was mysterious and magical. I could see how some of England's authors could write about hobbits, fairies, and animals that served tea in their trunks. 

Now sold as garden ornaments, staddle stones were used to raise the building and keep the grain from rats, 

Village and farm walking is the best. I like passing gardens and peeking into peoples lives. It's not always scenic, but always interesting.

Can It Be?

Typo!

What Does It Mean?

Home stretch!

Over a bridge crossing the M3, just for walkers. Do this in the States? I think not! 

The Way passes the Black Rat and the Black Boy Pub, then beside the ruined walls of Wolvesey Castle. I walk beside the fast flowing River Itchen, to the City Mill and the finish.

Just Past the Bridge! 

The Way doesn't end here at King Elfred's statue but it should. Alfred ( Elfred 849-99) is considered the true first king of England after having defeated the Norsemen and ruled Wessex, Mercia and Kent as a united Britain. Winchester was his ancient capital.

Neolithic settlements, meeting places, stock gathering grounds, drove roads, ceremonial events. Long barrows, tumuli, Romans, Celts, Saxons. Camps and hill forts, cross dykes, field systems, churches, villages - living, shrunken and lost. Plague, manors, farms, sheep, quarries, rivers, cows, horses, pigs. I passed them all, and add to the list - ME. Somewhere my footprints are in the chalk and mud. Sitting in my house one day looking at the map of the South Downs Way, none of the places meant anything to me. Now they do. Oh yes, thats the farm with the cafe; yep... thats the hill where that wonderful woman with the dogs stopped to talk. Long after the map is returned to the shelf I'll see the Way. There's a great pride of accomplishment having weathered the weaker days,conquered the strong ones,walked 100 miles, and in a place I feel so connected to.

Till next time!  

"The time has come," the Walrus said,

To talk of many things:

                                          Of shoes—and ships and sealing wax


                                              And cabbages—and kings—






                                           





For paths run through people as surely as they run through places










And so I end this pilgrimage.