For the White House Farm trig point, I parked just up from the Wigmore Village Hall. There was a space on the roadside so I seized the opportunity! After that, I headed up toward Wigmore Castle.
The route I had planned went left, however while I had the weather, I popped right to take a little detour around the castle remains.
Not much left of Wigmore Castle! The signs helped paint a picture of what the castle should have looked like. Spoiler alert! You need quite a vivid imagination! It was pretty cool though – always nice to stumble across interesting things while trig bagging.
Tourism done, it was back to business.
I followed a route I had created in Plotaroute, it took me up and around the castle, into a field with an electrified fence. Navigating around the fence, I hopped over a gate onto what I thought was a lane and followed this. Turns out it was a private drive but because of how I intersected with the lane / drive, I missed the signs. More about that later!
I followed the ‘lane’ up through a farm, through a few gates (still sticking to pre-made tracks) thinking nothing of it. Heard the rumblings of a quad bike in the distance, then it sounded like it was really travelling! Uh oh!
Turns out, the suspicion I had that it was a farmer were correct. I was chased and flagged down. Enduring a barrage of abuse and not losing my cool, I diffused the situation as best I could. I wasn’t vandalising anything, minding my own business heading toward the trig. Turns out I’m an unwelcome trespasser!
The trig was extremely close – just in the other field. I pleaded to bag it as it was right there! I need all 70 otherwise the challenge has failed already!
Anyway, the lady farmer escorted me to the White House Farm trig point.
Obviously, my character and demeanour is that not of a standard trig bagger!
However, I couldn’t tag the pillar itself, it was between a new barbed wire fence and a hedgerow – just out of reach. I took my photos and explained about the blog and the personal challenge to remain active. As it always is with these things, never judge a book by its cover. Reign in the aggression and attitude until the facts have been laid out and you’ve sufficiently gauged the situation and the person.
After being escorted back to the farm, the situation was diffused amicably and a quick chat to the mother of the farmer made everything better. Us, trig baggers never mean to overstep the mark or intentionally set out to upset people! SO don’t assume we are – it was an honest mistake and a polite word of advice would have sufficed. Shouting and gesticulating does nothing more than exacerbated the situation.
It’s all good though – easily the most dramatic and eventful one to date but if you intend on bagging this trig point, please, please, please just knock on the door of the house and let them know you’re there.
They’ll escort you, as they did with me. Turns out they bought the trig pillar just to keep the land in was on less travelled. Understandably, the sheep in the field had lambs and the farmers were just looking out for their livestock. In the other field bordered with the hedge were cows and calves… And a bull for a bit of spice! That’s why they didn’t take me into the other field! Concerns over inadvertently bringing TB into the field was another of the farmer’s concerns, which, I appreciate, may have warranted the initial angry outburst at finding me on their land.
Something to bear in mind if you’re heading for this one and something for myself to bear in mind if I find myself passing a farm en-route to a trig point!
Check out my other, less eventful Herefordshire trig point bags here. Also, if you didn’t already come via the ‘link in bio’ from Instagram, check out my profile here!
Grid reference: SO 39963 69627 | T:UK waypoint: TP6891 | Taken from www.streetmap.co.uk
