In this episode, we embark on a breath-taking 28-mile cycling adventure through the stunning Cranborne Chase National Landscape, straddling the borders of Wiltshire and Dorset. From the legendary Ox Drove Way—an ancient route steeped in history—to the enigmatic ruins of Old Wardour Castle, we immerse ourselves in a world where nature and heritage intertwine in spectacular fashion.
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[Music] What going on people? I’m fully active in the Crumb Chase National Landscape taking on an epic ride to an old ruined castle with a special guest Neil. Neil, introduce yourself to the community. Hey, I’m Neil from Neil’s World. We’re talk about financial journeys. I’m just joining along with the maroon lifestyle today just to get a tour of my local area and just stay tuned to see what we got in store for you. That is it. Let’s do it. Right. I think this is the Camtabus airfield. Well, this is a Camtabas airfield. So, we’re going to go and check it out. Um, you can get flight lessons here. There’s a cafe as well. This airfield is a unique place to stop and enjoy the beautiful views and observe the comingings and goings of aircraft from the light aircraft community. [Music] The Font Mel and Melberry Downs endors it as a landscape for all seasons. you can find an array of wildlife and archaeological features to explore. So, we’re heading on to the Oxro of Way heading up to Wind Green Hill, which is the highest point within the Crumb Chase um national landscape. [Applause] On Wind Green, you can find panoramic views for miles over the veil of Ward Hour. At 911 ft above sea level, it is the highest hill within Cranborn Chase. Kestrels hover and red kites soar above while below cow slips and frog orchids bloom in spring and early summer. Come on. Right. Just Yeah. So, we’re just enjoying the scenery at the minute. Um, but it’s really good to have Neil on board with us. Um Neil, can you just how long have you been in the finance business then? Just let us know what’s going on. About six six to seven years now. Um taking on the finance financial world itself. And finance is a thing that has always should always be of interest to everyone. You know, it’s like your health. No one pays attention to it until it goes until it gets bad where where your financial your financial fitness should be of interest to you at all times. So when my wife and I were trying to get things together to get our first place, that’s when financial literacy was like, you know what, I needed to be able to get myself better financially educated in order to provide a early retirement lifestyle for myself and my wife and my family itself, have my kids have a better start than I did. Um, so that’s where that stems from. And just like I’m here today, you’re probably wondering why a financial person is out cycling with the maroon traveler. But it’s because just like it’s a lifestyle. Your health, it’s a lifestyle. Your finances should be a part of your daily check-ins. Just like you check your banks daily. If you if you don’t, you should do get get regular checkups with your doctors, your vehicles, and stuff like that. Same with your finances. So everyone is should be thinking about their finances and how to plan their early retirement or the retirement in general and what you want to do. And if you’re earning say 1,500 per month now and if you find it a challenge to survive monthly, how much more challenging would it be surviving on half of that when you’re retired? And that’s where the whole financial game and understanding of your finances and what it means to be retired and having passive incomes should be of interest to everyone. The ox route in Wiltshire and Dorset area is an ancient driving route. These routes were vital for transporting animals to markets such as those along the channel where cattle could be shipped to supply the Royal Navy. Today, the Ox Drove is popular for walking, cycling, and horse riding, offering scenic views into the area’s history. [Music] Um, so Neil, just for the community to understand, so with your background and you sharing valuable information in your channel, um, how long have you actually well, how much outdoors stuff do you actually do like the maroon lifestyle? cuz um I do running, cycling, um I’m massive into CrossFit as well. You know, I train every single morning, 5 days a week except for the weekends. So, this is me doing something outside of my norm. I think he’s showing off people. He doesn’t early morning person. He doesn’t look like he trains 5 days a week. Rise and sees the day early in the morning. I’m off not having that. Yes, people. So, we’re here on the Oxro Oxro way. Uh we’ve been on here for quite a few how many kilometers now? Probably 14. We’ve been on what? Probably past 14K. Yeah. Right. Okay. So, we’re on the Oxro way now, guys. And um basically this route used to be used back in the Iron Ages to herd cattle um between Wilton Salsbury Market um back in the days. Um however um once we go further up through this tree line, I’ll try to show you some views. But um we’re sort of like in between two counties at the minute. So we have Wiltshire on the left and we’ve got Dorset on the right. Okay people, we just stopped for a water brick and we just got off of the Oxro way. So we’re going to keep going now to a village called West End until we saw Hanreal in the river Eel. Uh but the river Ebble is actually one of the five rivers of the city of Salsbury. So let’s keep going and see what the rest of the route has to offer. But so far uh very good views. Um Neil’s loving it in his element. Um indeed it’s been good. That is it. So we’re going to keep going and we’ll see you [Music] soon. Bloody hell. Neil, get out the way. Come on Tia. I’m joking. I’m joking. Just deck it steady. Oh, it’s quite steep here, isn’t it? [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] All right, I’m ready. Oh, you’re going in a terrible mood. Is that terrible mood? Is it Slow down. I think I go. [Applause] Uh, keep going. Keep going. should be coming up to the right now. Yeah. So, I think it’s somewhere down there. Yep, that is it. Right. Gallows Hill is a site of special scientific interest on the north side of the Ebble Valley. It lies within the Cranborn Chase and West Wiltshire Downs area of outstanding beauty. Neil got a bit tired, so had to wait around for him. So, we’re on top of Gallows Hill now. But we just had some food. Uh Neil’s feeling sorry for himself, so I thought good opportunity to make sure he gets some rest and ask him a few questions. Um anyway, Neil, what would you say the difference with your background and experience? What’s the difference with from saving and actually investing? Well, it’s a massive difference because with savings, it’s good because you have the cash in the bank and quick access to it, but you’re not in line with inflation. So, inflation is eating away at the value of the money in the bank, as well as the interest rate you get on that money in the savings account isn’t as good as if you were investing in say the S&P 500 or you’re buying in the ETF. So for people who are not familiar with those terminology, what what are those? So it’s exchange traded funds. So these are the basket of different stocks options within one ETF which you can just buy that and it’s the easiest way to invest anyways. It’s always better to have a balance. So if I had £100 or£10 to invest or to save, I would rather invest £8 and save two pound. And that way I’ve got an emergency funds and I’ve got exposure to the stock market. So never put all eggs in one basket. Well, thank you for that. We’re just going to head off from Gallows Hill now, head down towards Old Ward Castle, do a bit of um exploring in the area. Then we’re going to show off from there, have some refreshments, and carry on with the route. We’re just going to head down to Old Wardro Castle now. It’s a 14th century ruined castle. Um but just a quick snapshot of its history. It was built as a luxurious residence rather than you know how the castles are normally built in a fort style. Oh yeah. So it’s built for more luxury. All right. So guys, this is a very popular route for cycling. Um, so if you ever want to come check out old Castle and the surrounding area, uh, I think some of this path borders between Wiltshire and Dorset as I mentioned before earlier. Um but perfect route, perfect opportunity uh to come and check out the national landscape. Considering this morning it was quite Yes. dark and I was thinking it’s going to rain. Yeah. Turns out to be a wonderful day. Yeah. Awesome day. Shave Lane is a charming byway that leads to old Wardor Castle, an old residence known for its innovative design and romantic ruins. Man has inhabited this area since prehistoric times with Bronze Age burials, Iron Age hill forts, and Saxon bed burials all found in the local area. Are these speed bumps or steps? [Music] Built by John Lord Levelvel, Old War Castle was a 14th century luxury residence for the Levelvel family until confisc skated by Edward IV during the war of roses 1455 to85. The Arendel family then purchased old Ward in the 16th century and upgraded it into a fortified mansion. The Arendels then lost the castle during an English civil war and later recaptured it causing significant damage. The courtyard provided access to all areas of the castle. At its center was a well that was essential for its water supply. There were a dozen bed chambers arranged over five stories, including suites of rooms for the loss and their guests. In the 18th century, the Arendelle family transformed the ruins into a landscaped park and built new Wardar Castle nearby a neocclassical country house while old Wardar became a ruin admired for its beauty. Okay people, welcome to the new Wardo Castle. It looks slightly similar to Stored. Do you think it looks similar to Stored? Yeah. Mansion. I believe so. It does, doesn’t it? Yeah. It’s built between 1769 and 1776 for Henry Arendelle, the eighth Baron Arendelle of Word. The house is considered one of the finest Palladian houses in Wiltshire. New Ward Castle is approximately 0.75 miles from old Wardor Castle, which was left as a landscape feature within the parkland of the new castle. Okay, people. We just left. Well, we probably left about what, half an hour ago. Yeah, half an hour. Half an hour ago. So, we um we’re doing a few inclines now. So, legs are starting to burn a bit, but we’re heading towards Shaffbury. Is Shaffbury a village or a town? We’re heading to the town of Shaffsbury. Um, there’s this cafe up there which we were planning on doing resupply mission. Get a warm drink, but highly likely it’s going to be closed when we get there. But we’re going to keep pushing and you got anything to say to the community? We should definitely get out and explore. That is it. I’m out. That was cheeky. It is downhill. Wow. [Laughter] This is the man that goes to gym seven days a week, people. He was bragging earlier. Said he did loads of spinning. True. Cycling. Yes. Gym seven days a week. Yes. We’ve been climbing for the past 15 15 minutes, I’d say. Um, but it’s not a really really steep climb. It’s just a gradual. It burns. Yeah, it burns. Um, so I think we I think we’re somewhere between 150 to 200 m above sea level now. And so far so good. What do you think about the the route so far, Neil? It’s been real good. Really, really good route. Would you recommend it? Yes. Despite the challenges, it’s good. Uh you need to have good fitness level um for this one um guys cuz it’s really really hilly. Um so bear that in mind. However, I’ll put the route up on the screen. So, when you do come, make sure you got loads of water with you. And um plan a few pit stops as well, places to get supplies. There’s loads of places around. Or you can just do what we’re doing, pack everything you need and just roll through. Right. So, Let’s try to make sense out of this. Just go have a look down. Shot. Everything shot. Yeah. The museum. [Music] So Neil’s decided to have a race. So we’re just having a race now. And um as you can see, he’s trying his hardest to catch me, but it’s not happening today. [Music]
1 Comment
This was truly and great day and enjoyed every bit of it. Even the burns 🔥 going up the hills