Friday Street

The Ridgeway: Day 5 – Princes Risborough to Ivinghoe Beacon (18.7 miles)

Friday 17 November 2023

It has been a sunny privilege to walk the final and possibly the most glorious section of the Ridgeway on such a clear and fine November day, with the autumnal Chiltern woodlands at their best. I know the eastern parts of the Ridgeway very well, as these are the closest stretches of the trail to my home in Berkhamsted, running through country that I have walked most weeks since moving to the area with Rachel nearly three decades ago, young family in tow. I have walked this whole day’s section on a number of occasions, including most recently with my friend Philip last February (see my Blog ‘End Of The Line’ from 21 February 2023). If anything, such intimate knowledge of the environs serves to enhance one’s appreciation of the effects of changing weather and seasons on the landscape, and certainly today the Chiltern beech-woods were aglow – a palette of autumn colour.

Along the Ridgeway I have had time for reflection on the place for such ancient pathways in our frenzied modern world, where technology and conflict seem constantly to trump tradition and humanity. It is a comfort, as well as a spiritual journey, to walk the path of our ancestors, especially along a route such as this, where there are very few settlements along the way (just Streatley, Goring and Wendover) significant enough to offer so much as a coffee to a passing traveller. Watching the red kites circle above me in the Chilterns brought to mind a story I heard just a few weeks ago; the recent discovery of an aged and ailing kite, with a ring-tag dated 1996 around its leg that had been applied to the bird when it was a chick. Ornithophiles, scientific and passing, were surprised at the find, and in particular at the kite’s longevity, back to a time when it might have been a first-generation descendant of the birds re-introduced into the Chilterns from Spain in the years from 1989. It is humbling to think that those kites circling above me today may well be the same birds that did so when I last walked the whole Ridgeway two decades ago!

I will curtail my musings here, and share a few of my photos from this fabulous day’s walk; a ramble that saw me to my destination on Ivinghoe Beacon at the eastern end of the Ridgeway National Trail.

It has been quite satisfying, if a little exhausting, to plan and to execute (and to write up) a multi-day point-to-point trek all within the space of a week or so. Late autumn, with the trees golden and the Ridgeway path largely deserted, proved to be a good time to do the trek, so it was perhaps a little surprising to meet only two end-to-end walkers passing in the other direction along the whole of the route. I last completed the Ridgeway around two decades ago, but I did it in stages over several months, and not all stages were walked in the correct sequence. I also recall that on the earlier occasions I missed a few small sections of the route, for example when diverting from the path to my overnight stops in Ogbourne St George and Wantage, and so I now have a certain satisfaction in having stayed the whole course this time around to enjoy the Ridgeway in its entirety. I confess to have been harbouring a personal agenda in going for a sub-100-hour deadline, reaching Ivinghoe Beacon 98 hours and 26 minutes after leaving Overton Hill in Wiltshire: however, the ultra-marathon runners’ official ‘fastest known time’ is an incredible 13 hours, 4 minutes (supported) or 15 hours, 4 minutes (unsupported), which is less than a sixth of my time, and I am totally exhausted – I am completely in awe of those guys and girls! I would not recommend usually this additional time pressure, as a little extra time to explore the sights along the path – cultural, historical, geographical, botanical and zoological – would have been most welcome. I guess it was the combination of the elements, the early nightfall, and a dose of inner competitiveness that led me down this hurried path, but if I were to take on this ancient journey again I would do so with a little more time, perhaps seven or eight days, during a season of longer daylight hours. But it has been a super experience, quite apart from the challenge, and I would recommend the walk to anyone seeking the unique combination of environmental interest, natural beauty and soulful experience that the Ridgeway has to offer.

I hope that you have enjoyed following these Blogs over the last week or so. For me, the exercise of reflecting and writing it all up is both a pleasure in itself and a good way of winding down from the exertions of the trail, as well as providing me with a record of my thoughts and experiences. A journey, of whatever nature, shared, is certainly the best means of travel, so thank you for your interest in this voyage. I hope to be back with another escapade in the New Year!

Lastly, a big thank-you to everyone who has read my Blogs this far, and (as ever) to Rachel for her unceasing help, emotional and practical, in supporting my challenges, and in particular for ferrying me around these last two days to and from the start and end points of Princes Risborough and Ivinghoe Beacon!

With best wishes,

Nick

And very lastly, just as a postscript, no LETJOG trek would be complete without a playlist of my Blog titles. Today’s heading ‘Friday Street’ is taken from a 1997 number by former Jam frontman Paul Weller off his fourth solo album ‘Heavy Soul’, completing the playlist for my Ridgeway walk.