The Ridgeway National Trail | Walking Britains Oldest Road
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 มิ.ย. 2024
- Join Abbie Barnes as they explore the Ridgeway National Trail, 87 miles from Overton Hill in Wiltshire, across Berkshire and Oxfordshire, before concluding high up on the exposed point of Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire.
Across 5 days, they visited world renowned archaeological sites, met passionate individuals, and witnessed stunning far-reaching views. Abbie began the trail expecting a long, exposed trudge along a grassy ridge, but came away inspired, and incredibly grateful that this 5000 year old track is still accessible and valued by those who use it.
Abbie hopes that by sharing their adventure along this ancient route they might encourage you to Spend More Time In The WILD.
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00:00 - Intro
02:03 - Day One, Avebury to Ogbourne St George
11:00 - Day Two, Ogbourne St George to Court Hill
28:28 - Day Three, Court Hill to Crowmarsh Gifford
39:30 - Day Four, Crowmarsh Gifford to Princes Risborough
46:36 - Day Five, Princes Risborough to Ivinghoe Beacon
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I've had a discussion about this with a friend and, from our Dutch perspective, it is obvious that part of the British psyche is the ability to go out cheerfully into any weather, be it freezing cold (known as "nippy"), boiling hot (mild), or chucking it down with rain (dryish). What is not clear to us is whether this is a hereditary trait, or part of upbringing, but you, Abbie, are definitely a master at it.
I think that’s definitely a facet of British psyche, not a ubiquitous one by any stretch unfortunately… I think upbringing is a large part of it.
What a delightful and engaging young woman she is. Someone else described her "wholesome," and yes, that's quite an appropriate description. It was a privilage to be included in her walk. I am glad she enjoyed it so much. And I thank her for having me along.
Best wishes to her.
Thanks Abbie! Best time I ever had was walking the Ridgeway in 2016. Incredible adventure....
A Trail I have walked twice - in opposite directions. I really enjoyed my time with and your Dad. A super film, great scenery, wonderful rain storms and bright sunny days. So pleased you enjoyed the Trail. Red Kites are very special aren't they? Thanks so much for taking me along
Hi. New to your channel and really liking all the content. Walked the Ridgeway in 1972 aged 15 with a friend under warm summer skies during the school holidays. All gear was heavy and not very good back then. Many fond memories. Can't imagine 15 year olds being allowed such freedoms today. I am a lapsed outdoors type and long to start over again. Just a matter of those first few steps.........
Cheerful for having shouldered a heavy pack over 87 miles! Hoping to do the guided version with my daughter this summer. I just love English history, and especially the English countryside. One can easily visualize being in another century, or millennium.
Many thanks again. Another stunning video of our country and history ❤️
Excellent. Nice to see the Ridge way again.
Good to see some Belted Galloway cattle down there.
Your father must be hugely Proud of you.
Top quality first rate video as ever
Thanks
That was a lovely walk...brought back memories of my own walk...many years before you were born...Not a lot has changed...I do enjoy your walks, please keep them up...
Terrific video, Abbie! Really enjoyed watching. You're a very engaging and enthusiastic presenter. Thanks!
Great to see more of The Ridgeway. I live near Newbury and have walked from The Uffington Horse and West Iilsley up to Waylands Smithy and The Blowing Stone.
The oldest coin ever found in Britain was found at West Iilsley on The Ridgeway.
You kept me going through this winter (in the United States) I really appreciate your raw honesty and strength. Thank you
Another fantastic video Abbie! The final sunset could not have been a more perfect ending. So informative and just well done. Thank you for all the hard work you put into your films!
Cant wait for summer when we can hopefully go out about again for day trips lovely part of the uk went to Avebury in 1992 then onto Stonehenge . Love this video thankyou x
Thanks for the video Abbie. This has been a wanna do for me since the Public Information film of the early 1970's. I was only a nipper then. At the age of 25 I planned to walk this but met and married my wife and raised a family instead. I'm now 55 and if I have that time again I'll be 85 (and probably by then would've left it too late). So have decided next year's the year without fail. Can't wait!!!
I've walked much of the Ridgeway, many, many years ago. Beautiful views. Nice video. thank you.
I did the Ridgeway in 2016 and over the last 2 or 3 years I've seen a fair few videos about the walk and so far this has to be the best one - even Tony Robinson's documentary only covered the first half from Overton to Streatley. I live quite close to the first half and it was very familiar to me when I did it, so the completely different character of the second half was surprising and made it more enjoyable for me. This is a great video showing the whole route and many of the highlights - its worth noting that there are convenient water taps along the route. I used a Harvey's trail map but the companion guide and web site are great as well. I'll be walking the Ridgeway again in May or June and I'll be watching your other videos for more ideas for backpacking walks. Thanks for publishing!
Thanks for watching Tony, glad you enjoyed the video. Sounds like you've got a fab time ahead of you - have fun!
Thanks Abbie. I walked the first sectio to Ogbourne St George last week. It was raining heavily so I spent most of my time looking down at my feet so it was good to watch your video to see all the scenery I missed in the rain and clouds!
Ah good section! Go you for getting out in the rain - it sure makes the landscape feel different and alive in a special way. Hope the rest of it is dryer for you!
watched three of your videos this week..made me remember how much I enjoy walking a trail..have cycled parts of the Ridgeway as my sister lives in Goring..always remember that descent into Streatley...
I used to play on white horse hill as a child way back in the 70s sure was nice to see it again.
Amazing! 28 years since last saw "Roger" Nice video by the way.
A most enjoyable film , thanks for sharing your experiences with us Abbie
Glad you enjoyed it :)
Excellent stuff, brought back memories, the Ridgeway was my first multi-day backpacking trip back in 1975! I've still got the guidebook by JD Westacott - more of a pamphlet of hand drawn maps - complete with my scribbles along the route (and a stern reminder from the author that "the countryside is not a place where anyone may frolic and take their pleasures as they will" which made me laugh). It must have been fairly new as a long distance path then, I didn't see anyone else backpacking and was able to wild camp each night. Listening to the traffic noise in parts of your video and seeing the main road / motorway crossings made me realise a lot of that wasn't there then - I remember it as an incredibly peaceful walk!
Did the full route with my dog a German Shepherd in June 2019.Enjoyed every single moment of your trip bringing back great memories reliving every footstep, Thanks Abbie
Terrific stuff, brilliant work. Wayland's is still a place of worship, people leave straw dolls and ribbons in the trees to invoke the power of the old religion. Very impressive.
Hugely enjoyable,almost felt like actually being there.Beautiful views,and Abbie has such an engaging personality.
Thank you, Abbie! So good.
What a great vlog! Really enjoyed that, thank you.
Abbie. I am slowly working my way through your videos and thoroughly enjoying them. Really inspired me to start getting on the trails again. Keep up the excellent work!
Fantastic job!!! More more more
Another enjoyable watch. As an ex dweller in Wantage I have walked parts of the trail before and can only agree with your comments of wonderful views and the serenity of most of the path. Thanks for filming it, brought back some old memories especially Wetland Smithey and Uffington hill.
Glad you enjoyed it!
wonderful abbie loved going along with you and i agree with pootling along coments below and your smile is a great wellcome and dont forget the SPIDER IN THE TENT LOL cheers from trev x
39:00. 100% waterproof socks with any footwear should do the trick. I gave up on waterproof boots a long time ago
Great video, love your enthusiasm.
A thoroughly enjoyable hour on a dark winters day - thank you that was great
Thoroughly enjoyed this. Felt like I was there.
Great effort Abbie, very inspiring.
Really enjoyed the walk and the stunning surroundings. Very happy I have found your channel, thank you for sharing.
Welcome to the tribe!
Hi Abbie stumbled upon your walks whilst planning a trip on the moor to moor trail. Great videos keep up the trips, and looking forward to seeing more.
Love this we are planning on riding and trading along the full greater ridgeway on horse back I appreciate your work
Gosh, that was refreshing. 5 Stars!
Thanks for watching!
Tremendous series
You make wonderful films, the editing and pace is just right for me personally, thank you for the hard work, I appreciate it. Keep on trucking, John.
Hi Abbie, good video as always, I cant wait to give this walk a crack! ATB Kenny.
A truly wonderful watch and listen Abbie and marvellous to hear you describe the sights, sounds and smells around you as you put one foot in front of the other. The Ridgeway is truly one of the UK's gems and festooned with magical places and spaces. I haven't yet walked the Ridgeway in its entireity but have visited crop circles and a number of the ancient monuments across the lenght and breadth of Wiltshire. Who can truly know exactly how old these magical sites really are and their true purpose and significance. West kennett Long Barrow near to Sidbury Hill is amazing. As always....more questions than answers. Thank you for the inspiration to walk this ancient pathway. Happy wandering. Paul :)
Thanks for watching :)
*Silbury Hill, and that place is an enigma in itself. Apparently excavations in previous centuries discovered some of the antler picks used to excavate the pool around the hill (now silted up, and a much darker soil than the surrounding fields). Interesting to note is the builders of the Roman road now followed by the A4 aimed directly at Silbury Hill from both directions, then in an act of (supposedly) uncharacteristic diplomacy built the road around the hill. There's a lot more to this landscape than meets the eye.
Love your vids Abbie, keep up the great work ;o) Looking forward to this summer
Great hat and a wonderful smile. Happy trails
Nice to see you hiking with your dad
Done the Avebury to white horse many times, beautiful Wiltshire countryside, excellent views and great walks. Glad your putting this out there.
Hi Abbie. I know a few places along this route, First Avebury Stone Circle, Silbury Hill, West Kennet Long barrow. Then Barbury Castle where I was taken to by my first wifes foster parents, who had three young child and before leaving Liddington, they shouted are we going to see Barbara Castle. the politician. I thought then that we were going to visit the politician. Everybody did not let on until we got there. Another trip out they to me to that burial chamber. Irecognised your view from nearby Goring, having cruised the Thames from Lechlade to London. Enjoy your blogs, this being the second I followed, the other being the Coast to Coast, which I also followed with Julia Bradbury, BBC programme.
Very interesting video. I walked a bit of the Ridgeway while hiking in the UK back in 1993...I remember passing Wayland’s Smithy on the way to look at the Uffington horse...I had no idea I was on a national trail at the time, though.
Fab stuff!
Great share, beautiful trail!
I enjoyed that, well done Abbie
I was thinking about walking The Ridgeway next year and came across this fantastic video, great job, lots of inspirational and informative stuff on here Thank you Abbie
Sooooo happy about this new video! Seen em all and love em all Abbie, keep up the good work!
Mitchell Shotbolt Ha, thanks! Keep following!
Fantastic Video Abbie this could have been a TV Documentary if I had not known better. Keep the vid's coming.
Back in the early 1970s I walked The Ridgeway Path the other way round East to West from Ivinghoe Beacon, Buckinghamshire to Overton Hill and Averbury in the county of Wiltshire UK. I think at the time I wanted my walk, which was a lone sponsored walk for a charitable cause, to be a kind of pilgrimage that ended at the phenomenal ancient pagan site of Avebury and with the gradual and gathering approach to Avebury in the meeting with and the passing of other extraordinary ancient monuments. I had no tent just a sleeping bag in which clothed I slept under the stars, in a hedge, under beeches beside Waylands Smithy burial mound (with an option of sheltering inside the barrow if inclement), and on top of Silbury Hill at a time the 'authorities' hadn't ownership and remunerating profiteering over the hill. It has since occurred to me that having the sun rise at one's back over one's head and lead afore as it went down had a trekker walking with the glorious sun directing the way to Avebury along The Ridgeway. 🙂 Addendum: On further viewing of Abbie's excellent and informative video I couldn't help noting at 8:53 a landscape I hadn't seen in the early 70s that Abbie scans decades later which speaks to our long gone former farmland of varied patchwork fielded crops and orchards now horrendously altered, all grubbed-up, due to EU stipulations that fields are now far larger growing single crop EU grant aided Yellow Rape Seed. 'Grant aided' aye? Why would farmers grow it otherwise when seeming to be bribed to grow the stuff? So much is witnessed of the English landscape in Abbie's scan of a Brussels and Strasbourg demanded English scenery. And, at 14:04 the 'yellow peril' proliferates ever more over ancient Downland ~ as Abbie herself exclaims of swathes of "Rape Seed Oil" either side of her Ridgeway Path walk at 18:26. There's politics in them thar fields an' hills besides sarsens and ghosts ~ aye? 😞
MVP waterproof socks! Even all day in soaking boots your feet stay dry, best thing ever! the army surplus are cheap and light enough that a couple pairs in your rucksack and you're laughing.
Thanks, I will check them out!
Wowww nice hiking !!!
Well done Abbie. Fantastic vid. x
Lovely video, Abbie. Well done.
Love your journeys and ambitions.
Love the video, excellent..
Another great video Abbie
It's a very enjoyable video.
another fabulous video. well done abbie. I wouldn't miss any one of your waLKS.
Brilliant 👍🏼😊
Well done...good old England....!!
Really enjoyed watching this Abbie. I have visited parts of the Ridgeway but this may just inspire me to walk whole damn thing! :) thank you.
love your long vids :) Thanks.
fantastic xx
Great video look forward to viewing more
Hi Abbie,
Welldone on completing the Ridgeway path. I know the route well having lived closed to it all my life and having walked it several times. You documented the walk very well but I just have to let you know that:
Segsbury camp and Liddington castle are separated by around 20 miles! Liddington is a little off the beaten track and you missed it by a few hundred meters as the path passes by to the east. Segsbury camp is not like the other hill forts. To me it doesn't seem so defensive and I think it was used mainly as a livestock enclosure?
Best wishes
Sandy
A lovely walking film, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
Js Walks just saw your walking videos J.. bloody amazing!! Do you do this for a living?
Just found your channel(and subbed) and very pleased that i did! Enjoyed this while stuck indoor's resting a sore heel.
Abbie I just found you videos and I love them! thank you for sharing I now think next time I visit the UK I will explore some of these National Trail Parks.
Thank you so much for this video! I am starting planning my own trip and you have really reassured me that I can do this! :)
Well done Abbie, great video
Thanks for watching!
another great video well done abbie
Another great video Abbie, I keep making it to another one I must do, just need to get my butt in gear and get it done 💪
Stay Wild Smiler😌
Love you’re vlogs.
Your videos are excellent! Please keep up the good work. Thank you. AK
Love your positivity
Love it!
What a lovely relaxing and informative video to watch! I’m thinking of doing the ridgeway too seeming as I often do a section of it from Avebury to Swindon. Definitely want to explore more!
Thanks for this super video of your walk along the Ridgeway I've done this many times did you meet Jackie at fox lynch campsite I am officially the last person to camp there before she left, Loved your stay at Court Hill the bench at your side is my little place where I sit and dry my clothes. This is so awesome doing it again soon just purchased new tent Hilleberg Enan just under 1kg thanks anyway all best Gary
Excellent
Fantastic work, you're an absolute natural in front of camera
Great vid. X
What a great vid, well done
What a great watch, thanks Abbie. I hope your feet have recovered?! I walk the Coombe Hill part regularly and it's beautiful. It was great to see in your video.
They sure have. Thanks for the comment. What a great area to live in.
Used to walk the Ridgeway regularly back in the 80s and 90s. Overton hill to Streatley used to be a great way to use up a weekend 😀
Great vid, very inspiring. Subscribed and looking forward to checking out all your other trips.
Thanks for the sub! Welcome to the tribe!
im from San Francisco calif usa love your videos
Great video.
The "red kite" is a symbol of the municipality of Tomelilla Sweden where I live. Stay Wild! :-))
Hi Abbie, love this video (only 15 mins in though) ...Im doing the Ridgeway starting this Saturday....I will do it in sections due to time constraints - I plan to sleep at Liddington castle (camped there before with my Dog Finley...we both got freaked out due to sheep that cough like Humans.....Thought we were surrounded by lunatics with bad coughs :-) ).....I love it there....many people think its Mons Badonicus - or the hill of Badon...... - its a legendary location, cited by Gildas, the sixth century historian of the collapse of Roman rule in Britain, as the place where Aurelius Ambrosius (King Arthur) won his decisive battle against the Saxons.....I guess you know this...anyway thanks for this - God Bless you x
Another excellent video that really captures the essence of the walk. The Ridgeway was my second long distance trail and I have to say that for both me and my son it didn't quite hit the spot. The first part is often along stony byways rutted by vehicles although the stretch after the Thames is better. The weather may have paid a part, in June 2014 it was either hot or wet. Getting lost in Wendover woods didn't help and as a result we had to defer the last section from Tring station to Ivinghoe Beacon to a glorious Saturday.
Am fond of The Ridgeway, it feels like you are walking on top of the world.
That was lovely and so well presented and explained. So clear. We were up in part of that area very recently. The White Horse now has a small low barrier as they do not want people on the chalk (whereas photos I found recently from the 90s with my then small children on a day so cold they were shivering in the rain) they then could go closer to it. I have also been to Avebury in the past. These places are so special as they are where our ancestors were 5000 years ago. It is hard to explain how that feels but anyone feeling the same will understand. It was a pity we saw cyclists recently there (I like there to be no humans anywhere on a walk but that is hard to achieve even in my native Northumberland).