The Ridgeway, Part 3 - 16 June 2007

Between Day 2 and Day 3 of The Ridgeway we had nearly two weeks of recuperation. As it turned out, that wasn't enough as one of the team had succumbed to an atypical bout of sickness. We ate and stayed the Friday night at the very pleasant Bull at Streatley and pondered our choices.


Choice A was to go with the original plan - leave the Bull very early on Saturday and walk something in the region of 24 miles to Ashbury, and enjoy a peaceful evening nursing our feet and contemplating the 20 miles still remaining.


Illness and the thought of a miserable day encouraged us towards Choice B - having a bit of a lie-in, driving a good chunk of the way and having a pleasant walk in preparation for the Sunday.


So it turned out. We stopped in Wantage and bought some forgotten supplies, then drove around for some time looking for a suitable parking place. Eventually we left the car in the quiet village of Sparsholt, climbed a hill and rejoined the path as the weather began to threaten:




Our luck held out and the black clouds gradually came and went without shedding gallons of rain on us. The stretch around Uffington took in some good English hallmarks - an Iron Age fort where we stopped to lunch, and one of the unnecessary chalk horses that are popular in this area:




We were keeping a good pace and found ourselves with plenty of spare time on this shortened route, so we stopped at a few more points of interest than our hectic schedule normally allows.


King of these was "Wayland's Smithy" (not to be confused with Waylon Smithers), a Neolithic burial chamber/shrine to the Saxon god of metalwork... Legend has it that the traveller should leave a silver penny on the mound and Wayland would re-shoe his horse. We followed suit, but it remains to be see if our walking boots will last any longer for it.




[Note to selves -go back one day and see if our tenpence is still there. We know where to look, we marked it on our photo]


The rest of the day continued in easy fashion, with the sun making an occasional appearance and the landscape being pretty and comfortable walking. We reached our intended destination - the very excellent Rose and Crown at Ashbury (a bit off the route but serving fantastic food and drink with very pleasant people t olook after you) - at around three o' clock, having walked a meagre six miles.


But we enjoyed a peaceful afternoon and evening, and were thoroughly refreshed for the proper day's walking ahead.