Stage 31 - Wessex Ridgeway - Bratton Camp to West Lavington - April 23rd 2026
- John Tippetts
- Apr 8, 2025
- 6 min read
Updated: 22 hours ago
Official Stage Statistics
Route distance – 10.79 miles
Duration - 4 hours 13 mins
Total ascent – 778 feet
Total descent –1233 feet
Highest point – 754 feet
Logistics
Stay overnight at Premier Inn Salisbury South
Drive to Central Car Park in Salisbury & park car
Walk to railway station
Catch train from Salisbury to Westbury Station
Taxi from Westbury Station to Westbury White Horse
Walk from Westbury White Horse to West Lavington
Catch bus 2A from West Lavington to Salisbury at 15:41 Journey time 1 hour 11 mins
Drive to Premier Inn Trowbridge & stay overnight
My Walk
This west to east stage across the northern edge of Salisbury Plain would begin at the top of Westbury Hill with a short walk to the Westbury White Horse and Bratton Camp. Almost immediately the path would rejoin the Imber Range Perimeter Path (IRPP) and the White Horse Trail (WHT) would also join the party. Much of today’s walk would be shared with one or both of these trails. Parts of the IRPP are byways open to all traffic (BOATs), so I’d have to watch out for vehicles. Whilst this stage might not have too much ancient history associated with it (apart from Bratton Camp), the far-reaching views throughout the day would make up for it.
For this stage I’d driven from home to Salisbury the day before and stayed overnight in the Premier Inn South hotel so that I could I have an early start for my walk. It was a cracking morning with a clear blue sky. After parking my car in the Central car park, I walked to Salisbury station and caught a train to Westbury. Westbury station to Westbury Hill and the white horse is about 2½ miles and much of it is up a steep hill. Whilst I was happy to walk it in the reverse direction, I didn’t fancy this uphill walk, so I got a waiting taxi at Westbury station.
The taxi driver dropped me off at Westbury Hill and I set off towards the chalk horse and Bratton Camp.
The ‘Respect The Range Westbury Giants’ artwork at the top of the hill and close to the IRPP immediately caught my attention. These steel figures represent how members of the public carrying out common activities on the training estate such as dog walking, hiking and cycling can carry out these everyday activities close to military training.
When I first saw them, I immediately thought of the ‘Standing With Giants – For Your Tomorrow’ installation that commemorates the 1,476 lives lost on 6 June 1944 under British command on D-Day. It therefore didn’t surprise me that the Westbury Giants were designed by the same charity.
The Westbury Giants installation was originally intended to be just temporary in 2024 but after planning permission was granted in 2025, the figures are now a permanent fixture. So effective and apparently very popular!
About 15 minutes later I reached into my jacket pocket for my phone but it wasn’t there. I checked all the pockets of my trousers and rucksack……and it wasn’t in any of them! OMG – what do I do now? I retraced all my steps to where the taxi driver had dropped me off but no joy. I knew I’d had the phone at Westbury station because I took a photo of the attractive stone ‘WESTBURY’ sign ‘planted’ in an embankment, so I assumed it had fallen out of my packet in the taxi. There was nothing for it but to walk back down the hill to the station. Hopefully the driver would be back there, or if not, I could explain to other taxi drivers what had happened and hopefully one would know who my driver was.
I was about ½ mile from the station and suddenly I saw the taxi coming the other way. The driver recognised me, opened his window and held out my phone! I was ecstatic!! He had a passenger in his taxi but told me to jump in and after he’d dropped her off, he’d take me back up the hill again. He explained what he’d done to try to find me and his actions were far and away above and beyond what I’d expect anyone to have done. Needless to say, I gave him a healthy tip as well as paying again for the ride back to the top of Westbury Hill. An expensive start to my walk but in the end, worth every penny. So, thank you once again the driver from A2BTaxis Westbury One of my dad’s sayings was ‘Better to be born lucky than rich’. Never had this been more the case! I would enjoy today’s walk all the more thinking of this man’s honesty and kindness.
Right. Reunited with my phone, now in a trouser pocket, I could proceed and thoroughly enjoy my walk.
Across from the Westbury Giants was the Westbury White Horse. This horse is the oldest of the 8 Wiltshire chalk horses; nobody is certain but it’s believed to date back to the late seventeenth century, probably to commemorate the supposed Battle of Ethandun, thought to have taken place at Bratton Camp in AD 878.
In 1957, the local council concreted it over and painted it white in an attempt to save on long-term maintenance costs. However, since then it has had to have regular cleans including this one in 2018 White Horse Clean It was last cleaned, repaired and repainted in 2023. The paint alone was rumoured to have cost about £25000; was it really a good decision to concrete over? On the day of my visit, it was looking in tip-top condition.
The horse was carved on the same hill as Bratton Camp, a bivallate (two ramparts) Iron Age hillfort at least 2000 years old, covering about 23 acres. Bratton Long Barrow within the fort is estimated to date back to 3000 BC, following excavations in the 19th century that uncovered human skeletons and cremations. The fort is intersected by the road from Bratton at its eastern side. It’s unfortunate but from the air, the horse is too close to the fort – a bit late to move it now however!
I managed to get some photos of the horse and hillfort with my drone. I’d been half expecting to get warnings on its controller that I was in a restricted area, being so close to the firing ranges but I didn’t.
Finally, I got going in earnest. The path took me from the hillfort towards the IRPP, which at this point was a wide, straight byway, the surface of which was easy to walk on. To my left were great views over to Edington Hill and beyond. All the land to my right was off limits.
All around Salisbury Plain, the roads connecting the plain with the surrounding countryside feature brick-built guard-posts, staffed by security officers whenever there is military activity beyond such points. They are known as vedettes. Just after passing vedette post 6 (unmanned on the day of my walk), the Wessex Ridgeway and IRPP parted company with the WHT and continued along a more traditional ‘green’ walking path along the edges of fields. With this being rapeseed season and the sky being so blue, it was wonderful walking along the path.
The path gave way to a gravel byway again and the WHT rejoined us. 2 miles further on at New Zealand Farm Camp, the Wessex Ridgeway parted company with both the IRPP and WHT for the last time today.
I was now walking across wide downland with fabulous views. Soon I could see the village of West Lavington where this stage ends.
As I got closer, I passed the playing fields of Dauntsey’s School, which I assumed just had to be a private school. Sure enough - £30000 a year for day pupils and £49000 for boarding pupils – inclusive of VAT of course)!
10 minutes later I arrived in the village. It was 3 o’clock. My bus back to Salisbury was due at 15:42. Time for a pint at The Churchill Arms to celebrate the completion of this stage and not losing my phone for the duration of the walk! Despite the drama at the start of the day, this had been yet another fantastic walk. I'm really enjoying the Wiltshire section of the Wessex Ridgeway.
My bus arrived a few minutes late and was full of school students but at least there was an empty seat for the 70 minute journey to Salisbury. I really couldn’t care less how rowdy they were; I was just grateful to have a comfortable seat. Back in Salisbury, I had an early tea at Wetherspoons. Being a Thursday I went for the curry deal! I then drove to Old Sarum to get some drone footage, before driving to the Premier Inn Trowbridge, which is where I’d be staying tonight.
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