The Ox Drove: A Very Muddy Ancient Track and a Wild Camp

A walk along an ancient track - actually several ancient tracks - from Salisbury to Shaftesbury, with a wild camp in the middle.

The Cranborne Droves Way runs from Salisbury to Win Green, where it links with the Wessex Ridgeway. Much of it follows the ancient Ox Drove track, and the route also includes some other old droving tracks and a section of Roman road.

It passes through the downland of Cranborne Chase in Wiltshire. To complete the walk from Win Green to Shaftesbury I also followed a short section of the Wessex Ridgeway and the Hardy Way.

The Ox Drove was featured in this Jack Hargreaves' "Old Country" from the 1980:    • Exploring the17th Century Roads of En...  

It's also featured in the book "Ancient Trackways of Wessex" by H.W. Timperley & Edith Brill: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ancient-Trac...

The walk from Salisbury to Shaftesbury took about 10 or 11 hours, and given the lack of daylight this time of year (early January) I split it up into two days, with a wild camp in the middle. So more al fresco cooking - this time I had a go at "pasta e fagioli" (pasta and beans), and of course brought along some Gevrey Chambertin.

I tried to keep this video relatively short, but if any of you are a real glutton for punishment I alternatively have a nearly hour long version here:    • Ox Drove / Cranborne Droves Way (Long...