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Published: Apr 7, 2024 by
Walking the ridgeway national trail
Read all about my adventures walking the ridgeway in April 2024
- Walking the Ridgeway
- Ridgeway Day 0 - Avebury circular walk - 7 miles
- Ridgeway day 1 - Overton Hill to Liddington - 15.5 miles
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Ridgeway day 2 - Foxhill to Court Hill Centre, near Wantage - 12 miles
- Ridgeway day 3 - Court Hill Centre, near Wantage to near Streatley - 12 miles
- Ridgeway day 4 - Wallingford to near Watlington - 10 miles
- Ridgeway day 5 - Near Watlington to Princess Risborough - 12.5 miles
- Ridgeway day 6 - Whiteleaf Hill, near Princess Risborough to Hill Farm camp site - 10 miles
- Ridgeway day 7 - Wendover woods to Ivinghoe Beacon - 9 miles
We were driving towards the layby where we parked the day before, but noticed that this section of the ridgeway was all road. As exciting as the prospect of walking a bridge crossing the M4 was, we decided to turn around and park the car at Foxhill and start from there instead.
The only downside to starting at Foxhill car park is that the path goes straight up hill to Charlbury Hill. Our legs felt a little sore from the previous days long walk but we soon warmed up by the time we reached the top.
This section of the walk passed through more agricultural areas with farmers fields lining the path, before changing to a path surrounded by hedges on both sides. This section seemed very quiet and peaceful with no one else around for quite a while, before people started appearing once more. This signalled that we were getting closer to the neolithic long barrow of Wayland’s Smithy.
Wayland Smithy was a short walk from the path and was definitely worth taking time to stop at. It was a fascinating site to walk around and explore, despite the fact you can’t actually go inside. We stopped for a bite to eat, using the surrounding trees to shelter from the wind, the remnants of storm Kathleen still following us.
We rejoined the path which soon opened up, revealing Whitehorse Hill and Uffington Castle up ahead. You can’t actually see the white horse from the ridge as it is below you. We saw it when we drove past it earlier on our way to the start so decided we didn’t want to detour too much from the path. I hope to go back sometime and spend more time investigating this area.
The path carried on up and down, before reaching Kingston Hill, where there was a fairly sharp climb, but great views at the top. We stopped here for another snack, sitting on the grass bank, looking out towards Sparshot.
The path continued alongside some more horse gallops, before crossing the road and carrying on past the Devils Punchbowl. I found this section quite spectacular, the way it drops down steeply to Crowhole Bottom. I’m not quite sure why my book didn’t really mention this section, but was glad of the surprise and the impressive views.
Next, we passed the last large hillfort on the route (that I can remember anyway), Segsbury Camp or Liddington Castle. Again, the path walks alongside the castle rather than through it, but it seemed to continue for a very long way. The path went back up hill to another small car park where we were parked. We then drove to the nearby Court Hill Centre to stop for a very welcome pot of tea and a delicious cake.
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Ridgeway day 7 - Wendover woods to Ivinghoe Beacon - 9 miles
Wow, we were almost there! One last day of walking to reach Ivinghoe Beacon and the sun had come out too!
Ridgeway day 6 - Whiteleaf Hill, near Princess Risborough to Hill Farm camp site - 10 miles
Despite the windy conditions I slept very well that night, obviously needing the rest, and woke up feeling much better. My brother-in-law offered me his spare pair of walking shoes. I looked at my own boots and shuddered at the thought of putting them back on again and said yes to the loaned shoes. They were so much more comfortable straight away.
Ridgeway day 5 - Near Watlington to Princess Risborough - 12.5 miles
Watlington was quite a charming little village the first time we drove through it, but after driving back and forth doing the car shuffle we realised it would probably be better if there was a bypass of some sort. The streets were very narrow and couldn’t really cope with the large 4x4’s driving through it.