The same combination of threatening clouds, sun and dryness that we'd had on Saturday kept us company, and the previous day's calm walk had done wonders for morale and the lingering illness.
The stretch between Ashbury and Ogbourne St George (where we planned to find somewhere to eat, having failed to pack ourselves a proper lunch again) was free of incident and we didn't pass much in the way of conurbations. Although we did walk past one field of young pigs and another of poppies.
At Ogbourne we bypassed the unfriendly-looking pub with the violently barking dog outside and continued to the small local hotel. Here we had a good feed, adjusted our dress for cooler conditions and headed on to Smeathe's ridge
The ridge ends in a farm where we came across these stalwart young sheep, doing a sterling job of guarding this stone:
The next few miles were pleasant, but aside from some hacking through patches of nettles, they passed unremarkably. The trail officially ends at Overton Hill, but there's precious little there except a layby where you wouldn't really want to leave your car for two days.
Instead we'd parked at Avebury, and at Overton Down we peeled away from the trail and headed into the village. Fitting that our Ridgeway should end in slightly unorthodox fashion.
In all The Ridgeway is a very pleasant walk, and it comes with the usual advice of taking more time over it than we tried to. The countryside is pleasant downland with occassional forests and villages to stroll through. That's our usual walking country so perhaps we took the path a little for granted, but it recommends itself as a very pretty and peaceful route.
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