Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Britain at its best: Chalk up a walk along the ancient Ridgeway track

Britain at its best: Chalk up a walk along the ancient Ridgeway track

Kate Eshelby embarked on an ancient walk between Wiltshire and Buckinghamshire known as The Ridgeway. For more than 5,000 years, drovers, traders and invaders have travelled this 87-mile-long route. She passed the prehistoric Uffington White Horse, which is made of trenches filled with chalk

The path is as white as Elvis Presley’s jumpsuit, edged by grass illuminated in the golden dusk light. I’m walking The Ridgeway, the ancient track between Wiltshire and Buckinghamshire, feeling as free as a bird, alone with the wind and the wide horizon.

This 87-mile-long path crosses four counties, connecting Iron Age hill-forts, Bronze Age burial mounds and Celtic chalk figures. For more than 5,000 years, drovers, traders and invaders have travelled this route — and today it’s one of Britain’s 15 official national trails.

Six meditative days, beginning at Avebury and finishing near Aylesbury, lie ahead. And there’s a sense of history hanging in the air.

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.

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.

The path curls onwards to atmospheric Wayland’s Smithy, a cave-like tomb set in a beech clearing and named after a legendary Saxon blacksmith.

Nearby is the mysterious Uffington White Horse, with its front legs shaped like those of a praying mantis, as if perpetually prancing on the hillside.


Atmospheric: Wayland’s Smithy, a cave-like tomb set in a beech clearing, is named after a legendary Saxon blacksmith


While you hike, there is no need to worry about where to stay; there are plenty of choices including some excellent inns, most just a short walk off the track. You soon fall into a rhythm and each day has its own joys, from picking blackberries to spotting a glittery-green beetle with legs that look as though it has been dressed in old-fashioned knickerbockers.

Clusters of punk-pink mushrooms lie by the path. Red kites glide above, their tails flashing fox-like in the sunshine.

There is plenty of time for Grand Thoughts: how incredible it is that millions of years ago this chalk was forged by billions of crushed sea creatures; how today these grasslands are so rare, yet ecologically vital with their wide open spaces, butterflies and wildflowers. The diversity is spectacular: moon daisies, lilac field scabious, clumps of mustard-yellow lady’s bedstraw, candy floss-pink dog roses, ghost-white hawthorn flowers.

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.

Here, I bump into Tim, one of the owners. He explains how Eastbrook is a hybrid: a farm mixed with wild spaces. The results are clearly terrific as I watch bees buzz over great clumps of sunflowers and lacy phacelia.

‘We had a great bustard in one of our fields,’ Tim says. ‘And rosy starlings, a shocking sight with their completely pink bodies.’

Walking The Ridgeway feels a bit like following the yellow brick road, but instead of an Emerald City at the end, the greens and golds are all around in nature.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×