The Ridgeway National Trail

A route along "Britain's oldest road", a broad track along a chalk ridge past the ancient hillforts of the North Wessex Downs, across the Thames and then along lower-lying paths through the wooded countryside of the Chilterns.

The Ridgeway was originally proposed as a long distance route by the Hobhouse Committee in 1947 and in the 1950s the RA pressed for a route tracing the ancient trackways from Seaton to Cambridge. The present, rather shorter, National Trail was opened in 1973 but the RA has continued to support a longer route. Its efforts bore some fruit in the 1980s and early 1990s with the successive opening of the Peddars Way (Knettishall Heath to Hunstanton), the Icknield Way (Ivinghoe to Knettishall Heath) and the Wessex Ridgeway (Lyme Regis to Avebury). Although only the Ridgeway and Peddars Way have National Trail status, the connecting routes are recognised by local authorities, facilitating a continuous 583km/363-mile walk diagonally across southeast England from Lyme Regis on the south coast to Hunstanton on the Wash, sometimes known as the Greater Ridgeway. A guide is now available to this longer route (see below).

Update.

Parts of the Ridgeway are currently classified as byways and can be used legally by motor vehicles. In recent years increasing use of the Trail by vehicles such as 4-wheel drives and trials bikes has resulted in severe rutting and damage to the surface of the path in certain places. Attempts to control this with a voluntary code met with limited success, and in 2002 the Friends of the Ridgeway, the CLA and the Ramblers' Association withdrew their support for the code. The RA supports a ban on motor vehicles on byways, and has called on Natural England to devise an effective strategy which protects the character of the Trail. A new management regime was introduced in March 2003, details of which are on the website below; meanwhile, we will continue to press for the exclusion of motorised vehicles.

Connects with Aylesbury Ring, Chiltern Link, Chiltern Way, D'Arcy Dalton Way, Grand Union Canal Walk, Hertfordshire Way (via short connecting walk), Icknield Way, Lambourn Valley Way, Midshires Way, Oxfordshire Way, Thames Path (E2), Two Ridges Link (for Greensand Ridge Walk), Wessex Ridgeway

Highway Authorities Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, Swindon, West Berkshire, Wiltshire

Tourist Information Centres

• Abingdon 01235 522711
• Avebury 01672 539425
• Berkhamsted 01438 737333
• Didcot 01235 813243
• Dunstable 01582 471012
• Faringdon 01367 242191
• Marlborough 01672 513989
• Princes Risborough 01844 274795
• Swindon 01793 530328
• Thame 01844 212834
• Tring 01442 823347
• Wantage 01235 760167
• Wallingford 01491 826972
• Wendover 01296 696759

Transport page.

• The Ridgeway by Neil Curtis, ISBN 1 84513 063 4. Aurum £12.99 + p&p. Order here!
  Official National Trail Guide with OS 1:25,000 map extracts
• The Ridgeway National Trail Companion, £3.95 + p&p. Order here!
  Accommodation, transport and practical information
• The Ridgeway by Nick Hill, ISBN 1 873756 88 7. Trailblazer Publications £9.99.
  Detailed compact publication with route description, extensive background notes, sketch maps, accommodation suggestions, public transport information. Forthcoming May 2006. [2006]
• The Greater Ridgeway from Lyme Regis to Hunstanton by Ray Quinlan, ISBN 1 85284 346 2. Cicerone £12.95 + p&p.
  Compact guide describing 583km/363-mile route along the Wessex Ridgeway (Lyme Regis to Avebury), Ridgeway National Trail (Avebury to Ivinghoe), Icknield Way (Ivinghoe to Knettishall Heath) and Peddars Way National Trail (Knettishall Heath to Hunstanton) with OS 1:50 000 map extracts, route descriptions and background information. See above for more information.
• Pub Walks along the Ridgeway by Charles Whynne-Hammond, ISBN 1 85306 452 1. Countryside £6.95.
  20 circular walks centred on pubs and using parts of the Ridgeway. [1997]
• Ridgeway Video Guide written and presented by Anthony Burton. Visual guide to the history and landscape of the Ridgeway National Trail. Also available as a download for your portable media player. See www.tvwalks.com for further details.

Contacts

• Ridgeway National Trail Office Environment and Economy, Holton, Oxford OX33 1QQ, tel 01865 810224
  www.nationaltrail.co.uk/ridgeway
• Friends of The Ridgeway c/o Peter Gould, 18 Hampton Park, Bristol BS6 6LH
  www.ridgewayfriends.org.uk