Clarendon Way Introduction: A Little Dinky Path

Published 25 July 2012

The author standing behind a street sign saying 'Clarendon Way'

Setting off on a long distance walk is like setting off on an epic adventure. One that will take you across a huge distance and provide you with many things to see. Over many days you will travel across part of the country, or, in some cases, even across a whole country.

Or will you? After all, what is a long distance walk? Well the Long Distance Walkers Association’s website considers that any walk over 20 miles will do, and that means you could do a whole long distance route in a weekend. If you can find one that’s that short anyway. And we did.

At twenty four miles the Clarendon Way is probably do-able in a day if you really wanted to push the boat out. Running between the cathedral cities of Salisbury and Winchester, over not particularly lumpy terrain, makes it even more achievable. But where would the fun be in that? Far better to take your time and do it all at a leisurely rate.

Even better over our trip, the Clarendon Way would lead us through history. It would be a trip of gentle meandering that would include an old charity, somewhere where Cromwell’s troops pitched up and a folly dedicated to a horse that didn’t die.

All that spread over just two days; an ideal walk to make a weekend of.

So we did. Which is why, on one Saturday morning in November 2011, I stood outside the ruins of an old Norman hunting lodge being looked at by a lama.

One mile in, and the Clarendon Way was already looking interesting.

Next – as the mist slowly ceases to hug Salisbury Cathedral, two walkers head on out. Their aim? To get to the pub before it gets dark.

And yes, it has taken me far too long to post about this walk! Although trust me, this delay is nothing to some of the walks I haven’t written posted about yet!

Comments

Kirsty Tyre

26 February 2023 at 7:16 pm

Wow, I’d never even heard of this walk! I live in Bournemouth, so this will be a nice easy one to access! I was actually on your site looking for info on the Cotswold Way, but now I’ve go totally sidetracked – thank you!

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