White Horse Hill

Gavin and I took advantage of the May Day bank holiday to head out to the country, both to hike and see the famous White Horse Hill! I may have said this before, but we've become a bit obsessed with a program here called Time Team. It follows an archaeological dig for three days somewhere in the British countryside. The team will look for artifacts from any time period, but what I'm quite taken with are the Iron-Age hill fort digs. These hill forts are massive earthworks created and maintained, literally, thousands of years ago. It's amazing to think of the human power it took to sculpt them from the hillsides and you can still see them from miles away.

After some careful researching in my fabulous Walking in Britain book, we hit upon the jackpot: quintessential English towns, the fantastic Ridgeway National Trail which linked up the White Horse Hill earthwork, an Iron-age hill fort and burial ground and the legendary spot where St. George slew the dragon! All within about a four mile radius, no less! It was a gorgeous spring day, despite the 30 mph winds and we had a great time.

the White Horse Hill (better to view it from farther away)

rapeseed oil fields

where St. George slew the dragon

the white horse up close

approaching the hill fort from the Ridgeway

climbing one of the garrisons to the hill fort

Wayland Smithy, the Iron-Age burial ground