Planning a Ridgeway walk

Ridgway path sign
One of the only photos from my brief Ridgeway foray 2 years ago.. MANY more photos to be taken next time 🙂

Two years ago I spent a couple of days in my old home town of Wendover (or as near a home town as I had I guess – with a Dad in the Air Force). One of the things we did as kids was play out in the beautiful Chiltern forest that flanked Wendover and also the RAF camp of Halton. Where we lived in something like 14 different houses over years of being posted back and forth! And we used to walk the woods with my Dad and the two dogs on a sunday. I love the moors and hills of Marsden and I’ve spent half my life (yikes) here now but I do miss those ancient woodlands.

So when I stopped over in Wendover I walked part of the Ridgeway Path on one of the days and the intention to walk more of it has stayed with me since. In fact I’d planned to do two or three days of the Ridgeway and meet up with my daughter on probably the last day and walk with her to the end point of Ivinghoe Beacon. Where we could head back to her house in Milton Keynes. We haven’t arranged dates and I hadn’t got my itinerary started but after reading Chrissie’s report on her walk along the ancient trail / road of Peddar’s Way .. which after a bit of research I discovered is part of the Greater Ridgeway – I was galvanised. I wouldn’t have time to walk all 87 miles (between five and eight days depending on your pace and itinerary) but a trail walk was in order!

So I’ve bought a book  (Nick Hill, The Ridgeway) – all my planning seems to start with a purchase – and I’m currently working out the logistics and itinerary, which is always fun to do. If I could, I’d stretch to four days of walking but I think I’ll have to just make a long weekend of it and walk three days, ending at Ivinghoe. And I want to wild camp at least one of those nights but need to check out where. Okay, back to the book..

Ridgeway Book maps Nick Hill
A couple of maps in the Ridgeway Book (see link above) – I’ll be doing both these sections and the final leg, time allowing

7 thoughts on “Planning a Ridgeway walk”

  1. I really like the small bits of the Ridgeway I have done. There’s quite a lot of it nearby actually, although it’s also always windy and maybe that’s why we end up doing more sheltered walks! You won’t be short of nice pubs anyway.

    Reply
    • Thanks Paul. On the back of this I heard from an old friend (who I haven’t seen for years!) who still lives in the area and often walks the Ridgeway on this section. I may have a wild camping companion and a reunion to boot, great stuff.

      Reply

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