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Published: Apr 11, 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
- 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
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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
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.
We started from the Whiteleaf Hill car park where we had finished the day before and started walking along the top of the hill. Whiteleaf Hill has a large white cross engraved on the side of it, called the Whiteleaf Cross. I have to admit, I had never heard of this before, but maybe because it’s not an ancient landmark like the Uffington white horse.
We descended back down the hill and towards Chequers. Other parts of the path had been muddy over the last few days, but we had been able to walk around some of it. Here though there were signs saying to keep out of the woods on one side and signs on the other saying that you will be arrested for crossing on the other. Fun. So we had no choice but to dodge what mud we could and jump over as many puddles as possible, whilst also trying not to ruin the walking boots I had been lent.
After Chequers the path went back uphill and into the woods. We found a bench in the woods and stopped for a break and a snack, before continuing uphill and eventually into the open hillside of Coombe Hill. It was fantastic to be back out in the open and to see the views once more. We stopped at the large memorial on Coombe Hill and took in the view and took some photos. The path continued downhill towards Wendover, before taking a slight detour to avoid the HS2 works that were going on there.
Wendover was a lovely town, with a market on. We stopped at a coffee shop for a coffee and a cake, before continuing the walk through parks and to the outskirts of Wendover, where we walked along a small road, that became a track, that eventually headed into the woods.
We walked through the various woods and then turned left on the road and walked back to the campsite.
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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.