The Daily Mail has discovered The Ridgeway.
Britain at its best: Chalk up a walk along the ancient Ridgeway track, which takes in the mysterious Uffington White Horse, Iron Age hill-forts and Bronze Age burial mounds. Kate Eshelby embarked on an ancient walk between Wiltshire and Buckinghamshire known as The Ridgeway
In breathless tones it proceeds.
Six meditative days, beginning at Avebury and finishing near Aylesbury, lie ahead. And there’s a sense of history hanging in the air.
I was up there yesterday; what was hanging in the air was the smell wafting from our local muck spreader. But Kate Eshelby may well be on the Upper Class part of the Ridgeway, further east.
My favourite section is the first half, which mainly traverses Wiltshire, crossing wild landscapes, entering villages and stopping at lovely panoramic lookouts across the Chilterns. The freedom of the old way is intoxicating, an enjoyment shared by fellow hikers, into whom you cannot help bumping. Shortly before Wayland’s Smithy, a Neolithic long barrow near the Wiltshire village of Bishopstone, I pass two women with cow horns poking out of their rucksacks.
Oh God, not them again? I met them too, while they were divining for Crop Circles. But I kept my mouth shut this time. M'Lady has forbidden me from telling travellers that we know people who make crop circles for a living.
We start talking and I discover their love of wild camping in Britain’s primeval places. ‘Our ancient sites aren’t often worked on or brought alive,’ one of them says, referring to how special The Ridgeway feels. ‘These spots are on dragon lines [also known as ley lines] and are healing and energising,’ says the other.
You shouldn't encourage them, love, that wild camping is trespass. Git orf moi laaaand. But Healing Crystals are available from the shop in Avebury.
One tip. While passing the village of Bishopstone, be sure to stop for a meal at the quirky Royal Oak pub. Or grab a homemade brownie from the Flying Pig, a van on the verge of the route next to the pub’s organic Eastbrook farm.
That I do agree with.
Ref:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/esca ... track.html