Route: Cranborne Droves Way

The Cranborne Droves Way goes between Win Green, where it links with Wessex Ridgeway, and Salisbury, where it links with the Sarsen Way. It follows mainly two old droving routes - the Ox Drove and the Old Shaftesbury Drove. It is signed on the ground with its name and ram's head logo on a green disc. It is also marked on the OS 1:25,000 mapping.

This Cranborne Droves route is mainly across open, rolling downland, with visible evidence of ancient earthworks - tumuli and burial mounds - as well as past agriculture in strip lynchets below Throope Hill. Part of the route is along the Ox Drove, an old droving route, while nearer to Salisbury the course of a Roman Road is followed. The route ends in Salisbury near the Cathedral.

Much of the Cranborne Droves Way route lies within the Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs AONB. Most of the AONB is farmland. Half of this area is cropped and about a third is grazed, the rest is mostly woodland and set aside land.

The gpx starts at Win Green and finishes at Salisbury. The corresponding vertical gain is about 220m. If tackled the other way round, it would probably be about double this.

More information can be found at https://ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_path.php?path_name=Cranborne+Droves+Way