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Published: Apr 12, 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
- Ridgeway day 6 - Whiteleaf Hill, near Princess Risborough to Hill Farm camp site - 10 miles
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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!
We rejoined the ridgeway near the campsite and headed across fields before reaching Pavis Wood. There was a lot of mud in the wood tracks, but we were used to it now, picking our route through the least muddy bits and around the worst bits.
Once out of the woods we walked along a lane before going back into some more woods. This time the woods had a wide straight track. We realised it was part of Tring Park, with Tring down the hill to our left.
Once out of the woods, we could see Ivinghoe Beacon in the distance. The path crossed a few roads and headed downhill towards the bridge over the A41, continuing a bit further before reaching a road once more where it passed Tring station, which seems to be quite a large distance from Tring. There was quite a lot of road walking here along the path, before the path disappeared for the last section. We were glad when the path left the road and went back onto a track in the woods.
We continued through Aldbury Nowers, a habitat for many butterflies, with some steps up hill. The woods ended and we could see Ivinghoe Beacon in the distance once more, a bit closer than the last time we saw it.
The path followed a wide open ridge once more. Memories of Wiltshire a week earlier came flooding back. The path went up and down, but mainly up towards the beacon. It got closer with every step.
Unlike the beginning of our walk, there were lots of people out for a walk. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the weather was warm. It may sound strange, but I was actually quite glad that we didn’t have brilliant sunshine the whole way and saw a bit of everything the English weather could throw at us.
There was a lot of climbing up to Steps Hill and more woodland on top, before we finally reached the base of Beacon Hill. It was warm and my feet were hurting, but I was so excited to be almost at the end of our journey. We walked up Beacon Hill together and saw the ridgeway sign and the trig point.
It felt absolutely fantastic. We had done it! We shook each others hands and celebrated!
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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.