Test Way: Ibthorpe to Inkpen Hill

Notes

General Data

This leg is the highest of the entire Test Way; the river is not often in sight as it climbs up onto the ridge that marks the watershed of the river. Superb views can be had over the Kennet plains to the north at the end of the leg.

Distance		7.6 miles
Ascent		915 feet
Descent		417 feet
Est. time		3 hours 11 minutes
Difficulty		easy

Map of the leg

Maps courtesy of Google Maps. Route for indicative purposes only, and may have been plotted after the walk. Please let me have comments on what you think of this new format.

Directions

This walk starts off at a road in the little hamlet of Ibthorpe. Turn right and start following a road northwards with a large house on the right. The road soon curves to the left, and when it curves to the left once more turn right up a track that heads past a series of farm buildings.

Continue along this track as it continues to climb, When the track forks take the main track to the left, eventually passing a large barn on the right before passing under some electricity pylons. The track becomes more enclosed as it starts to heads northwestwards, passing under the electricity pylons once again to reach a junction of tracks. At this junction turn right to head northwards, passing under the pylons once more as it climbs uphill, before curving to the left to head northwestwards to end at a road. Turn right and follow this road as it heads northwards for a few hundred yards until it passes Manor Farm on the left to reach the little hamlet of Linkenholt.

At a road junction turn left and walk westwards to pass Linkenholt church, and when the road curves to the left take a path that heads off to the right along a surfaced drive. When this curves sharply to the left continue straight on along an unsurfaced track. When this enters a field continue straight on with a fence to the right. At the bottom of this field and enter some trees as the path plunges downhill before joining a track that emerges out from the trees with what looks like a house on the right. When this track ends at a junction with another track near the house, turn left and start following a track northwestwards along the bottom of the valley.

The track passes a little brick building on the right before entering trees and slowly becomes rougher as it heads on until it emerges from the woods at the intersection of several tracks. Here turn right and start following a path steeply uphill with the trees on the right;the gradient soon slackens and continue along this track northwards. At times the path follows a track and others it is a path; keep the hedges to the right, the left and then the right as the path slowly climbs before ending at a junction with another track on Inkpen Hill.

Turn right and follow this track as it heads eastwards, initially climbing up to pass Combe Gibbet before descending down to reach a road and, on the other side, a car park. This marks the end of the Test Way and the start of the Wayfarers Way.

Places of interest

Combe Gibbet

Combe Gibbet is a tall double wooden gibbet situated on Gallows Down in Berkshire. The original gibbet was erected in 1676 to hang George Broomham and Dorothy Newman, who together killed George's wife and son.

Immediately to the east is Walbury Hill, Berkshire's and south east England's highest point, and further to the east is Pilot Hill, Hampshire's highest point.

Two long-distance walks, the Test Way and the Wayfarers Walk, both start in the immediate vicinity of the gibbet for their journeys to the south coast.

location UID #201

Linkenholt

Linkenholt is a tiny, peaceful village in northwestern Hampshire. The entire village of was sold for £25 million in 2009 to a Swedish billionaire. The classic Hampshire-style church (rebuilt in 1871 on the site of an earlier church) was not included in the sale.

location UID #173

Hursbourne Tarrant and Ibthorpe

Hursbourne Tarrant is a small village situated on the River Swift in northwest Hampshire. It has many fine buildings, not least of which is the 12th-century St Peter's church. The village has a pub, the George and Dragon, and also a busy shop and post office.

A decoy airfield was built near to the village during the Second World War. It was designed to attract attacking bombers away from the main Andover airfield.

Adjacent to Hurstbourne Tarrant is the little hamlet of Ibthorpe, which is dominated by the chequered-brick Ibthorpe House. Jane Austen frequently visited her friends Martha and Mary Lloyd at the house. Many of the other houses in the hamlet are thatched, making it a particularly scenic place.

location UID #113